Real Estate Mistakes

No real estate professional or entrepreneur can go through a career without tons of mistakes.  I have made more than my share.

For reasons I have wondered about in hindsight, I have purchased properties which turned into dogs quickly after purchase.  What was I thinking?  Well at the time of purchase I was making certain assumptions that turned out to be wrong.  Sometimes the assumptions were stupid judgments on my part.  Sometimes the assumptions were good ones that turned bad when circumstances (beyond my control) changed.

Early in my career I would obsess about my mistakes.  “How could I be so stupid?” would pop into my mind every morning.  With time, however, I learned that obsessing is really just a form of self-indulgence.  What good was coming out of my obsessing?  I needed to learn to train my mind to just move on!  And eventually I did. That does not mean you don’t analyze why a deal or decision you made turned bad.  You do because you want to learn from the experience so as not to make the same mistake twice!  But once you have reached a conclusion as to why your action (or inaction) was faulty, move on … just move on.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the basketball player, Shaquille O’Neil:

“To this day, I don’t remember myself ever missing a free throw shot … Move on… always move on.”

Obviously, Shaq missed a lot of free throws but he trained his mind to forget about his misses.  If he did not do that, he could never have been a great athlete.

“26 times I was entrusted to take the game-winning shot, and missed.  I have failed over and over and over.”

                              -Michael Jordan

The only time that counts is NOW.  If you obsess over your real estate mistakes (and you will make them no matter how smart you are), you are only wasting precious energy over something you cannot change - thereby potentially impacting what is much more important:  your future.   MOVE ON, JUST MOVE ON.
 

EXCITING NEWS … THE TELEVISION NETWORK, QVC, CALLED AND ASKED ME TO COME ON THEIR SHOW TOMORROW (TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15) TO TALK ABOUT OUR SKINNY BOOK SERIES.  WE WILL BE OFFERING THREE BOOKS AND A CD – ABOUT HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CHOICES/SUCCSS WITH REAL ESTATE.  SO TOMORROW DURING A SIX-MINUTE SEGMENT AT SOME POINT BETWEEN NOON AND 1 PM EST, I WILL BE ON QVC LIVE.  I HOPE I DO WELL … BUT EVEN IF I DON’T, I WON’T OBSESS ABOUT ANY DUMB COMMENTS I MAKE… J