MR. FIX-IT

In 1985 Jean and I moved from Chicago to Albuquerque, New Mexico. That was a great year. The next year the kids found us. Our excitement tapered off a bit, but we still knew the Southwest was for us. When we arrived in Albuquerque, we bought a house and had a swimming pool installed.

We had our pool, deck chairs, table, umbrella and pool toys, but something was missing -- a shelf. We needed a shelf mounted outside of the kitchen window. On that shelf we could put party items like blue corn chips with salsa and being health nuts, the juice of several margaritas.

We asked our neighbors for a recommendation for someone to furnish and install the shelf. Their recommendation -- Mr. Fix-It. Despite the dorky name, we gave him a call. An appointment was set.

Mr. Fix-It arrived, right on time, and much to my surprise (the first of many), Mr. Fix-It, the handyman/carpenter, was dressed like my version of an English professor. I explained our shelf needs and asked for an estimate.

As we walked around to the backyard, Fix (I felt I knew him well enough by that time to call him by his first name) asked me more questions about how we use a backyard than the real estate agent asked during the entire home-buying process. He took measurements, asked a few more questions, and gave me an estimate.

Since I didn't want to seem too easy, I said I'd get back to him with our answer. As a result of his previous probing questions, he got me thinking about other things, like where we were going to store the chemicals, hoses, covers, all the miscellaneous pool paraphernalia. Really into this spending money thing, I asked him for an estimate on a couple of additional cabinets.

Consider how a man calling himself a handyman/carpenter might react to that "buying signal." Fix said, "Mr. Payne, you told me you have not enjoyed a summer by your pool as yet, so I would like to make a suggestion. Before you invest additional money in cabinets, spend a summer, use your backyard, and use your pool. After you have lived with what you have for a season, if you still feel you would like cabinets, you'll have a better idea of how many and where they would be most conveniently located."

I told him waiting to order additional cabinets sounded perfectly logical (although unexpected from a handyman/carpenter), and we would be getting back to him on the shelf quote.

As we walked to his van, I saw the reason for Mr.Fix-It's rather unconventional behavior. On the side of his van in large letters read: Mr. Fix-It. That, of course, was no surprise, but under the large letters was written the reason Mr. Fix-It showed up exactly on time, the reason he dressed and spoke as he did, the reason he asked the questions he did, the reason he responded to my not-too- well-thought-out request as he did, and the reason I'm writing this story. The entire message read:

Mr. Fix-It
Adjustments to Human Environment

Mr. Fix-It didn't see himself as a handyman/carpenter, he saw himself as an "adjuster of human environment" and behaved as someone committed to adjusting human environment would behave. How might he have behaved if on the side of his van was written:

Mr. Fix-It
Net $100,000 This Year

If he believed his purpose to be netting $100,000 this year, you can bet I would have had cabinets over every square inch of the backyard that wasn't water!

Lesson: In the long run you will act in harmony with what you believe. Be
sure you know what you believe.