The lock

My father owns a flat, where the tenants left. They left different items behind in the cellar, which belongs to the flat.

Moving these items, such as old buckets of paint and carton cardboxes, and discarding them, would of course cause extra work to my father.

There was one obstacle, however: the cellar was left locked by the tenants.

The cellar had a lock on it. A closed lock. We don’t have the key.

My father asked me: how would you have solved this problem? How would you have opened the lock?

Before you read on, what would your solution be?

My solution

I suggested to use an angle grinder.

My father said: yes, he thought of that as well, as the first solution.

However: this was in the cellar, there was no power socket in the cellar.

My father did not have a battery operated angle grinder – and didn’t want to purchase one.

My father’s solution

My mother handed me the lock, it was open. I looked for a cut, but didn’t see any. There were a couple of scratches and dents on it, but nothing serious.

This became more and more mysterious. How do you open such a lock, without damaging it?

My father snapped it back shut, showing that it’s mechanism of locking still works.

As I’m writing this, this lock is on my desk (now locked again) – and I’ll keep it, as a reminder of the words which my father shared with me next:

Knowing, not guessing

My father said that he and my mother have opened many locks before, when tenants left cellars behind, or had locked other things.

He was confident, he knew that he would be able to open the lock.

His method in this particular case was something I would never have guessed or tried:

He hit it repeatedly with water pump pliers. Not with extreme force (to damage it), but with enough force to cause vibration and open it.

My mother said he hit it about 6 or so times, and then the lock opened. Incredible!

I would have approached this from my “mental model of locks” and would not even have attempted trying this.

Application to entrepreneurship

My father elaborated, that this is about knowing, and being sure that there is a solution, because you have solved similar problems before.

This is not suspecting, not guessing, not “attempting.” This is knowing with full confidence. Being confident, and then trying several approaches which you know (or suspect) to work, until one of them opens the lock. Literally!

He mentioned that this applies to many other areas too – like running a company, or raising kids.

This is what entrepreneurship is: you are facing an obstacle, a challenge.

Knowing that you have solved similar challenges before, that there is a way, will give you the confidence to solve the problem.

Sometimes in unusual ways, which look like walking on water for other people.

This story blew me away, and it also showed me that things like – getting clients, leading people, good marketing, getting rich, are all a matter of knowing. And then executing with confidence. It can be done, and once you have done it, you can do it again – many, many times.

What seem like intractable problems to many people – opening a lock without destroying it – can often be solved in very surprising ways.

Credits

Photo by Yasin Hasan on Unsplash & by Diogo Cardoso on Unsplash

I am grateful to my father and mother for sharing this story with me, and will keep the lock as a reminder.

P.S: This story also reminds me of the 4 minute mile by Roger Bannister – look it up, it’s worth a read.