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Evil’s greatest tool

by | Oct 8, 2019 | Motivational | 3 comments

Evil’s greatest tool

 

I read a story recently in a book called “Chop Wood, Carry Water” by Joshua Medcalf that I would like to share with you. It goes something like this:

 

Once, there was an evil old witch who was going out of business. As such, she decided to have a yard sale to get rid of all the ‘tools’ she had used over the years in her terrible trade. At the sale, you could find things like jealousy, pride, envy, lust, anger, and deceit. And on the day of sale, people came in droves and everything was sold to the highest bidder.

 

Toward the end of the day, a man was going through what was left, hoping to find a deal. There, he stumbled upon a very worn tool that looked like it was on its last leg. Not knowing what it was, he approached the old witch to ask.

 

When she saw it in in his hands, she was startled and exclaimed, “Give it back! That one is too valuable for me to sale and is one of my best tools. It should not have been put out here.” She ripped it from his hands.

 

Perplexed, the man asked what was so great about this old, worn out tool, especially when there were others that were much newer.

 

She refused to tell him what it was. All she would say is that it was more valuable than any of her other tools and that she planned to leave it to her niece. She then ushered him off the property.

 

Some time later, as she lay on her deathbed, her niece came to see her. The niece, who was in the same business, was upset that the old witch had sold all her tools. The old witch calmed her niece down and told her to look under the bed to see what she was leaving her. The niece pulled out the old worn tool. “This? This is my inheritance?” she asked.

 

The old witch smiled and said, “It may look old and worn, but this tool is discouragement. And it is more powerful than any of the other tools combined.”

 

She went on to say that the reason this tool was so powerful was that it allowed her to attack the hearts of men without them suspecting where it came from. And once they become discouraged, she could thwart the most powerful of dreams, level the greatest of ideas and ruin almost anything without detection. And she could do all this just by using this tool to plant the seeds of discouragement in the hearts of men.

 

Armed only with this tool only, the niece went on to become one the most terrible witches of her time.

 

When I read this story, it struck me that as a real estate entrepreneur, discouragement looms everywhere. And it’s constantly badgering you.

 

It’s that feeling that keeps you from knocking on the door of the for-sale-by-owner you pass on your way home from work every day. It’s that voice that says if you make them an offer, they probably won’t accept it. It’s the doubt that says, “You can’t find good tenants to take care of your house, so why even bother buying a rental property?” It’s the thoughts that say, “The market is too high, and there’s too much competition, so you can’t find deals right now.”

 

If you give into that discouragement, you will never achieve success.

 

The author of that book said the best way to combat discouragement is to feed your heart with encouragement by monitoring six things: what you watch, read, and listen to. What you visualize, who you surround yourself with and, finally, how you talk to yourself.

 

If you’re constantly watching the news and listening to talk radio, that’s going to affect how you see things, and it won’t be for the better.

 

Instead, read, watch and listen to things that empower you. Hang out with people who are positive. Visualize the good things that are going to happen. And please, speak kindly to yourself.

 

These things may sound insignificant. But I promise you, your success is riding on how you approach each of them. Discouragement may be evils greatest tool, but you have the power to overcome it, as long as you feed your heart with the right things.

 

Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.

 

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