Driving home today I was listening to an interview on NPR with Garth Brooks. He was talking about going home to Oklahoma and realizing that he did not know his 3 young daughters very well and they did not really know their Dad. At that time he decided to step aside from his music career and be at home with his girls growing up. The line that caught me was when he said, "Don't let me fool you and think it was easy to step away because music had always been about me, me, me and now me, me, me was dead last. My ego did not handle it very well and it was an adjustment.
After hearing about that I started thinking about working with buyers and sellers and when the ego gets involved and me, me, me takes over. We all have different stories of that happening but most often the end result is not really happy for anyone. I would like to believe we all start out wanting to have a successful transaction of either buying or selling a house.
How do you know when your ego has taken hold and "Me, Me, Me" is in charge? I notice it when all of a sudden there is a want for more. This can be more of what the seller is selling, a better deal, more time, wanting more things done, or a lack of coming together in an inspection resolution.
I have seen several transactions fall apart because me, me, me took over and the ego ultimately controlled the situation enough to kill a deal. Just like Garth Brooks described it is not easy at first to recognize that me, me, me syndrome and we usually don't want to acknowledge it much less change it. It takes a lot more character in a person to have their ego step aside than stay in the me, me, me game. Just something to ponder as you buy or sell your next house. Creating a win/win situation is sometimes hard but the intent for that to be the case keeps the ego in check.
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