Buying a House with a Paperclip

Why is it we often obsess over all the problems and limitations we have
instead of putting that same energy into the possibilities to get what
we want out of life? What if I told you that you could get almost
anything you really want with whatever it is you already have? Don't
believe me? Then you haven't heard about the "Red Paper Clip" guy. That's
okay. until he crossed paths with one of our JPF members in Arizona, I
hadn't heard of him either.

For our members not in Canada, you may not have heard of Kyle
MacDonald. He's just a guy from Montreal with an idea. Actually, a brilliant
idea. He decided he wanted a house. But he didn't have the money to
go and buy one. Rather than letting that discourage him, he took what
he did have, a red paper clip, and decided he would use that to get his
home.

Was he going to fashion it to pick a lock? Nope. Was he going to slip
it into his next fast food cheeseburger and sue to get the money?
Nope. He was going to do something perfectly legal and above board to get
his house via that little red paperclip. He was going to trade up.
Over and over and over. What started in July of 2005 as a really funny
idea with potential has turned into a very real shot at actually
getting him that house. And who knows, perhaps after he gets the house,
he'll trade up again. Along the way, that little red paperclip has also
turned into a record deal for JPF member Jody Gnant.

To date, the trade's have gone like this: Red Paper Clip for Fish Pen
for Carved Nob for Coleman Stove for Generator for Beer Keg and
Budweiser Light for Snowmobile for Trip to Yahk, BC for Cube Van for
Record Deal for... drum roll please.. 1 year free rent at the Arizona house
belonging to JPF Member Jody Gnant. Yes, I am serious. One red paperclip
has literally landed Jody a record deal. And all this time you were
sitting around complaining that the "man" was keeping you down. Instead,
you should have been trading up what you already had and perhaps you'd
be well on your way to wherever you want to go.
If any of this sounds too hard to believe, our US members can tune into
Good Morning America tomorrow morning (Sunday, April 16th) to see Kyle
and hopefully it will even include Jody (I know they contacted her for
the story). So now Kyle has a year in Phoenix to trade, moving ever
closer to the house he wanted. Rarely has anything so fun and so
positive and so silly and so effective come across my radar screen. It's
probably the best story I have heard in years because everything about it
is positive. The lesson for me in all this is: To get what you want in
life, spend your time looking at the possibilities rather than the
limitations in everything you already have.

If Kyle can pull this off, just imagine what you can do with far more
to start with in your life. Maybe instead of simply working harder down
the same beaten path, you should be willing to veer off into the
unknown, limited only by your creativity, passion and sense of humor. This
story really has stopped me dead in my tracks and in some ways has taken
a load of pressure off my head. I really have a lot more resources
than I've ever really thought about. And so do you. With enough
creativity and imagination you can turn practically nothing into something then
into exactly what you want.

So I challenge all of you to decide what you want and to look at what
you already have and figure out ways to use it to get where you want to
go. In the meantime, you can follow the entire story, to what I expect
will be a very positive conclusion, by visiting Kyle's link (he's
hilarious.. read his blog), Jody's link (she's ultra cool herself) and the
discussion on the JPF Website where we'd LOVE to hear your thoughts and
ideas of how you might also do something unexpected and get what you
want with what you have. Me? I am going out to buy a box of red paper
clips!

Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com
www.reinventingmyself.com