I have a quote framed on my desk, and while I can't say it's my favorite quote (there are far too many wonderful ones out there to ever be able to narrow it down) it is the one in which I believe the most passionately.
"An individual seldom exceeds his own expectations"
The author is unknown, however he/she succinctly summed up what I believe is the true secret of success -or lack thereof. It is something everyone subscribes to, whether you know it or not.
We've all known the folks in our business who do the right things, say the right things but just never have any success. If you've been in the industry for any length of time, you've come across one or more. They are positive, team players and should be doing great business....but aren't. Why?
In my opinion it's because deep down they don't really expect to. I'm not talking about confidence here, I'm talking expectation. At some level of consciousness they do not expect to be successful. And guess what...they aren't!
Several years ago I attended the Brian Buffini Mastermind seminar in San Diego. I was fortunate to be able to hear Lou Tice of the Pacific Institute speak about the Conscious, Subconscious and the Creative Subconscious parts of the mind. At the time I had been in business for about 14 years and had settled into a fairly comfortable pattern of making a very good income, but for several years in a row, I just couldn't seem to be able to take it to the next level. Then, when Lou Tice explained to me that our Creative Subconscious is responsible for keeping us where we think we need to be (on a subconscious level) I got it! Ok, if that's too deep for you, let me put it this way.
If you typically carry "x" number of listings, close "x" number of transactions or gross "x" dollar amount every year and know with a pretty good degree of confidence that this is what you do, what happens when your numbers aren't adding up? Do you get uncomfortable? Do you start doing things you didn't do before to get them back to where you think they should be? Of course you do. But the flip side of that, and this was happening to me, once you start to come in line with where you think you should be-and you run the risk of surpassing that level- you begin sliding. Maybe you don't return that call as soon as you know you should have, you didn't try quite so hard on that listing because you didn't really care, and besides, you have enough business and they weren't all that motivated anyway. Whether you know it or not, your Creative subconscious is sabotaging you, holding you back to keep your reality inline with your expectations.
Aha!
It was a lightbulb moment for me. My income had been hovering in the same range for about 3 years and I just could not shoot past it. The key for me? I began to change what I truly expected. I expected to jump to the next level.
I began practicing "as-if" thinking. If I were to earn "x" this year, how might I act differently? What would I do differently? Right now, if I'm earning "x" gross commissions per year, how does that look? How do I dress? How do I carry myself, present myself? How does my business run? If I'm closing "x" number of transactions this year, what do my systems look like? My listing presentation?
You can go on and on with this, but "as-if" thinking is one of the most powerful tools we have available to us in our business.
So if you're ready to give your business a shot of adrenaline, try it out.
And expect the best for yourself!
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Copyright 2008. Colleen Fischesser, All rights reserved.
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I like this blog. You make a valid point. Thanks for bringing it to the forefront of my thinking!