To dwell in possibility
I "get to" to accomplish something super cool and “over the top” at work. People ask me my why. I haven’t been able to articulate it, until now. My why is, “because I can.” I never set out to be on the path I am today. It was born out of serious of next steps. A choice to say, “I will”. The next steps took me down a path I didn’t expect to be on. It’s a path I’ve come to love. There’s a magic in it. It’s this world of possibilities I get to explore with my clients, my family, my friends, my colleagues. Work was the context for birthing it. It all started with a question; it always starts with a question. “Tell me about you. What are you hoping to accomplish?” And then the story, their story, it’s a moment in time where their story crosses my story and “I get to” help them along their journey.
I thought I was just a “Mortgage Originator”. It seemed so stupid, so lifeless, after losing a life of fullness with my late husband. Work seemed so unimportant. How could this be my path? While living under the malaise of grief I was walking toward something different, something new, I was redefining, the job and the person in it. I would take a loan application and make it a conversation. I was capturing the elements of a loan application in a way that was less mundane. We were getting to know each other. I often get off topic and have to say, “by the way, this is not part of the loan application, I was just curious, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to”. And they typically answer anyway. We are building rapport, trust, making a connection. And then I get to analyze all the data points and deliver strategic options. We define what might be possible by discovering what isn’t possible. There is a mostly black and white, and a tiny bit of gray in the mortgage business. There are rules, guidelines, we are required to follow. There are timelines, oh so many timelines, and a different definition for “3 days” for each situation. I don’t make the rules, I am required to follow them. Helping someone get a mortgage is part research part art. There’s a creativity in getting it done. It’s first figuring out the how. Then executing on the strategy. What parts to look at, what parts to ignore. It seems like there’s a red herring in every mortgage. I’m training a new assistant, there’s a part of the process I call “figuring out the puzzle”. There’s almost always a way to put the puzzle together. The client may not like the options, or the options we come up with may not be available, but I’m always looking for the variables where it works. There’s this consternation at times where I feel the puzzle coming together but it’s not quite there, in earnestness I keep searching, until I find that one window where it works! Aha! There it is, I knew it was there somewhere. This creative process, this “figuring out the puzzle”, works best with the clients who are authentic with their story. I can help them the most when they lay all their cards on the table. And then we can figure out the “next steps options” for them. Sometimes, the next step, is to wait. I don’t like waiting. But there’s something for them in the waiting also. So, I get to enter this world of possibilities with my clients. This world where there’s a flame of hope and we get to discover it together. We figure out the variables that will work and they decide if they like it or not. I get to be an allay for my clients in this process called “getting a mortgage”. It’s a non-linear system. There is this entire array of possibilities and we figure out where what’s possible intersects with what they what to accomplish and then I get to be the captain of the ship making sure it gets done that way and by my standard of excellence that I set for myself each day.
I have this amazing team of colleagues who I get to work with! It’s fascinating to me how many hands touch each transaction. It’s like this dance through a conveyor belt and every transaction falls off at some point but no one ever gives up. I get to work with these amazing people who just don’t give up. There must be a way, let’s figure it out. The consternation and dedication among my colleagues are just magical and unbelievable at the same time. I’m the front person that sets the path in motion with my clients and I have these people behind me working diligently to accomplish the goal, their goal. And if any one of the dozens of people whose hands touch this transaction make a mistake, guess who owns it? Yep me. We call it “extreme ownership”. We learned it from a Navy Seal who explained how when you’re in a battle if you stop to pick up the ones who are bleeding out and you don’t address where the oncoming fire is coming from you’re all going to die. Yep figuring out where the oncoming fire is coming from is the magic of the dance I get to show up to every day. And if there’s ever a day without oncoming fire, I get to revel in it! But most days, I dance around it, in it, thru it.
About five years ago, I took a next step. I reached out for something new. It came in the form of Devin and Taylor, two of the most tenacious, intelligent, and big-hearted people in the business. I don’t know how Devin convinced Taylor to bring me on. I had nothing to offer. I was in the gutter of grief. I had learned the nuts and bolts of the mortgage business from an amazing woman; but I need health insurance among other things. The guys, they welcomed me aboard and became the most incredible mentors and friends! For a time, I worked as Devin’s assistant. We became collaborators. It was an incredibly stretching time for me as I was getting more “at bats”, that is, loans in front of me, a lot more. I was learning how to manage the intricacies of the loan process. There was this push from behind that I needed; and Devin was pushing me further and further down the path. It was stressful, but that’s a day in the life of a mortgage originator! I learned so many things by having an inside view into Devin’s world and the magic of how he approached the business; but one of the most important things I learned during that time was the art of showing up in the moment. We shared an office. It was where the magic happened. There were a million moving parts and emails every day; the days were intense, stressful and filled with laughs. A client would come in for an appointment to bring documents or whatever. Somehow, during the walk down the hallway to the conference room, there was only enough time for about three deep cleansing breaths, during the walk toward the conference room I would leave all the stress and complexity behind and somehow by the time I got the room I would show up and be in the moment with whoever was there in front of me. It was an art form that I learned from Devin; and it was a crucial part of becoming. It’s also how I get to live my personal life. There’s this complexity, there’s movement all around, but to stop and be in the moment with someone as your paths cross, that’s the gift of this life.
The guys, they brought a magic of their own to the table. They inspired me to keep going. I surprised them, in fact, I get to keep surprising them. Well I probably surprise myself more than the two of them. They have championed me further and further. When they came back from President’s Club this year, Taylor left a note on my desk. “They changed the number of units from 85 to 100 this year, but we want you there with us next year, we know you can do it.” I had set my plan in motion for 85 units, so I said, “hell no, that’s too many”. Well, I’m about to crush 100 units for this year. That’s more than a goal or a prize. That’s one hundred families that I got to enter the fray with, in this pandemic year where life has been uncertain, difficult, we have all been pressed to our limits. I get to enter the fray and sit in a client’s moment where he or she is calling something new into motion whether it’s a move across the country, or a downsize, or an upsize, or consolidating their debt or just lowering their payment or their terms or whatever it is they have set out to accomplish. I GET TO stand in the fray with my clients and bring their goals and dreams to fruition; just as I am dancing through the fray with my colleagues. And behind the scenes there’s this dance through intensity and timelines and compliance and guidelines. In fact, I will say that while the mortgage business has taught me to embrace change, there has been more change in a few months in this business than there had been in many years. This year of the pandemic has been an enormously giant roller coast for all of us. But it also put in front of me a challenge and an opportunity to embrace the here and now a bit different, to own it all and see the magic in all of it, to see life as an unfolding journey of next steps that takes us down the path we were meant to be on anyway. I "get to" revel in the moment as it passes me by ...
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