Some time ago I was in Utah with my husband and two of my kids for a conference, and while we were there, I needed to pick up some books from Garrett Gunderson, my co-author for Portal to Genius. I love telling people about his other book, Killing Sacred Cows, and needed some on hand for a local event.

I texted Garrett while I was in town, and since it was on a weekend and nobody was in his office, my only other option on short notice was to pick the books up from his home.

He responded, "I'm out of town, so just go get some from the garage in the back of my house. We have some friends staying in an RV out front - just tell them why you're there if they ask."

I rounded the corner to his home and pulled up in front. "I'll just be a minute, kids."

The house was dark, and so was the RV, so I just went to the gate, followed his instructions on how to get in, and made my way to the back garage.  The door was ajar, so I let myself in.

A quick scan of the area produced nothing—I couldn't find any books. So, I texted Garrett again for better instructions. He didn't answer, so I called my husband. "Can you try to get a hold of Garrett and ask him where in the garage are the books?"

A few minutes later, he came back with, "You were supposed to do this tricky latch thing with the gate..."

"Yeah, I did that; I'm already in the garage—where are the books?"

"He said they're in the back garage..."

"Yeah, I know; I AM in the back garage. Where in the garage are these books supposed to be?"

"He just said it would be obvious. There's 5,000 books in there."

I was stumped. I looked around, and I saw nothing but three cars and some tools, and a few large RubberMaid-style plastic bins—not the best for book storage, and no way there would be room inside those bins for 5,000 anyway.  I checked the rafters above me. I prowled between all three of the cars, scanning every square inch, thinking I must be blind.

Why don't his directions make any sense? Why aren't they producing the results he promised?

I came out of the garage and walked out to the front again. I turned around and retraced the same steps, following the directions perfectly. I prowled around the darkly lit back yard a bit, double-checking to make sure there wasn't another back garage somewhere, and ended up back in the same garage with no greater insight than I had before.

I called Trevan again. "Honey, there are NO books in here—and nowhere to hide 5,000 of them anyway.  I'm sure if this pile of books was a snake it would've already bit me, but I'm stumped.  Will you call Garrett again?"

Trevan ended up calling Garrett two or three times. He told Garrett, "She can't find them."

Garrett responded, "I don't know how she could miss them! Is she in the back garage?"

"She says she's in there, and she's not seeing them."

To be perfectly truthful, I was getting REALLY frustrated with Garrett for not being more specific, and for not taking my frustration seriously enough to give me some useful instructions.  I felt like he was ignoring my question, leaving me to figure it all out on my own, and I was already late for an appointment and increasingly annoyed about this predicament. Why won't he just tell me something more specific like, "The books are in the north-west corner next to the white SUV" or something like that?

Finally, after going in and out three times and scouring the place, I came back to my car and took a deep breath. Glancing up, I noticed there was another RV parked out front of the neighbor's house next door, too.

Then it dawned on me.

I was at the wrong house altogether.  I had been prowling inside a stranger's home; trespassing, combing their property for something that didn't exist. Once I put myself in the right location, the instructions finally worked. I met Garrett's house guest, did the tricky latch thing, found the back garage, and retrieved the books.

Now for the lesson. (Of course, you knew I'd find a lesson in this, didn't you?)

Here it goes:

How often do you take advice on how to get what you want, only to find those instructions don't produce the promised results?

Garrett promised there were thousands of books waiting for me—an abundance of what I wanted—and his instructions were perfectly accurate. The fact that I could not receive them was not his fault. The blame rested squarely upon my own shoulders for not making sure I was first oriented to the location that was supposed to be the starting point.

Perhaps you've found hope through various books, audios, or events from me or other teachers of success principles, but are having trouble experiencing the promised results. If that's the case, then let's take a step back and find out if you're in the right starting point for utilizing those instructions, shall we?

When you don't achieve the results you expect, "check the address."
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