The realtor was sweating profusely and rightly so. After showing me six houses in a five mile radius, he was tired of running up and down stairs, corraling cats so I could look at living rooms and answering my 20-30 questions regarding houses, the current market and life in general. I was getting tired as well and when we pulled up to the final house, I was reluctant to go in. Peeling paint, sagging roof, overgrown weeds and a sign that said “Do Not Enter” didn’t help matters. I almost told him to skip it. But he’d gotten permission to go in and I doubted he ever wanted to see me again, so venture into the house we did.

We walked slowly through the house, the poor agent apologizing for the animal feces, filthy conditions and millions of spiderwebs. I wasn’t listening, I was busy eyeing the 5 inch thick molding, the original (but dilapidated) wood floors and the 42 (YES 42!) windows. As the realtor and I talked outside about an offer, two boys whizzed by on their bikes and a neighbor walking his dog talked about the neighborhood in its glory days. I went home and told my husband that I’d found our next house.

That was four years ago. Now we’re active in the HOA, have ice cream socials, and I frequently get stopped by neighbors who tell me my house is one of the prettiest on the block (not my garden, my house. I know my limits.) We have a huge home in an established neighborhood and plenty of room for all the kids we could ever wany (although we’re stopping at 3).

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I think we’re getting too caught up in WHAT IS. Sitting in a ruinous economy, lamenting the lack of jobs, frustrated with less benefits, smaller paychecks and broken companies, we neglect to see the opportunity before us. I’m an analogy girl so here’s what I think we should do:

Grab a bottle of bleach and a broom: The first thing I did was clean the place up. It wasn’t easy and it was a big job. But we recruited a ton of friends to come in and help us sweep, mop, knock out cupboards, mop, disinfect and rip out carpet. That’s Phase 1. It makes the place liveable. What can you be doing to clean up the mess around you? Not fix it just yet, just clean it.

Knock down some walls: Over time the house had been added to. New rooms were built, porches were enclosed, apartments subdivided. All these barriers had to come down in order to make this a suitable dwelling for us. It was dirty and you don’t want to know what we found in those walls but we persisted (in fact, I don’t think I am legally allowed to take any more walls out of my home). Do you see barriers that were erected during different times? Are they still relevant today? If not, get rid of them.

Sand and Paint: My entire family will laugh when they see this because I never sand when I paint. You know what happens when you don’t sand first? The paint comes right off at the first sign of adversity. Sanding is a refining process (that’s why to buy so many sheets of stupid sandpaper), the grit gets finer with every pass. Before you can truly change the color of something, you have to prepare the surface. What needs refining in your organization? Create a plan, refine it, implement and then refine it again.

Pretty up the outside. The outside of our house was the last thing to get revamped. We ripped out fences, attempted to control the weeds, painted the house, added shutters and eventually a new roof. All these things were important but had to wait until the inside was habitable and a pleasant place to be. I see so many trying to create a personal or employer brand without actually doing any of the things that make them interesting people, expert speakers or great companies with which to work.

There’s a commonality in the above list. All of the steps require hard work. A different person would have walked away from this big, old, ugly house. Unfortunately, none of us have the opportunity to walk away from the situation facing our workforce and some long-established guidelines that many recruiters, marketers, and HR Professionals have lived with (quite comfortably) for a long time. We have to see what it could be, not what it is.