My daughter is three years old now and she came back from pre-school the other day, singing. She is our third child and I look at her as our baby. So, when she started singing and sang the whole song from top to bottom I was astonished. Not so much because she knew the song, but because I realized that my “baby” was not a baby anymore.
The song she was singing was “The wise man builds his house on a rock and the rain came down and down, the rain came down and the flood came up, the rain came down and the flood came up, the rain came down and the flood came up, but the house on the rock stood firm.”
“The fool builds his house on the sand and the rain came down and down, the rain came down and the flood came up, the rain came down and the flood came up, the rain came down and the flood came up, and the house on the sand fell flat.”
I was so proud of her singing and mesmerized by the fact that she was not a baby anymore, but the truth of what she was singing hit me between the eyes like never before. I had also learnt this song growing up and I had heard it maybe 1000 times in my life, but this time it hit a nerve.
It really is as simple as that. Build your house on a good foundation and it shall stand.
In business this is also true. I have made many emotional business decisions where I have only focused on the “beautiful walls and the roof and the windows and the great view, etc.…” and assumed that the foundation will be strong, because a house that looks this beautiful must have a good foundation. This however has been the decisions that have failed me, because “when the rain came down and the flood came up…”. It was the right decisions I believe, but after the decision the focus needed to be the foundation and not the view, windows, walls etc.
It sounds really simple, and it is. We are emotional beings and emotions drive our decision making, but we must learn to control our emotions, because if we do not our emotions will control us. It is absolutely necessary to have the vision of the finished house before and to see all the benefits it will give us, but the same passion and energy should then be spent on the foundation.
Before you decide to put your money into any investment or business venture, check the foundation. Do not let your emotions control you. Get out of your emotions and look at the foundation. It really is as simple as “build your house on the rock”.
