The Secret to Longevity . . . going from Good to Great
Don't put it off any longer. 2015 is a great time to start! A marathon runner doesn’t just become a marathon runner overnight. Marathon running takes years of work, repetition and study. Marathon runners study what they eat…they know nutrition and how the body works...they put hours into the how, the where, the when, the why and everything that they need to know about running. They are coached and have to listen to their coach daily…they follow a schedule and systems. And, of course, they run…they run day and night, they run holidays, they run all the time. All that preparation doesn’t make race day easy though…it is probably one of the most grueling events in sports.
Personally, I don’t know why people would want to run marathons. I have enough trouble getting a simple walk into my schedule and that suits me just fine. But…I know there are many people who don’t understand what a successful real estate agent does and many people have had false thinking about success. They think there is a magic bullet, or that perhaps those that are successful cheat or are lucky. Sometimes those who are "looking" at the successful agents allow their thoughts to turn to jealously or sometimes envy or sometimes bitterness.
But, the truth is, we just run. Successful agents run day and night. We run on Holidays, we have systems and we listen to coaching. Getting to the top of real estate does not happen overnight...it will at times be grueling, it will be hard, it will be methodical and sometimes tedious…but, of course, it will also be fun and satisfying. When Real Estate becomes your mission, with hard work your mission will prove successful. But, like others who don’t want to believe that you have to run constantly, you do have to "just do it" and you after time find yourself where I am today - or even better!
It won't always be easy, you need to trudge along no matter what your circumstances might be. Personally, I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed to earn a living and real estate was what I decided was the way to do it. Sucessful agents do what they are deeply passionate about, I was always determined to be the best at it and I did those activities that brought me income.
There is a concept in the book “good to great” by Jim Collins that is called the Hedgehog Concept. This concept is defined in this way: The essence of the hedgehog concept is to attain piercing clarity about how to produce the best long-term results and then exercising the relentless discipline to say, “No, Thank you” to opportunities that fail the hedgehog concept which are to have a deep understanding of three intersecting circles: 1. What you are deeply passionate about; 2. What you can be the best at; and 3. What best drives your economic engine.
Those activities are not usually fancy and there is no secret bullet. Successful agents are not lucky and we do lose a lot. But, we keep our head to the grindstone every single day and do the same activities every single day. We keep a data base and schedule every appointment, every call, every email, every letter, every activity in that database. Personally I printed my schedule out every morning and followed it as closely to the letter as possible every single day. Let me repeat that: I printed it out every morning and I went down the long list and DID IT, every single day! Can you imagine doing that routine every single day, years in and years out? That’s what will make you successful. It is not the big decisions or the fancy new trend of the day…rather, it is the simple systems and rote activities done every single day that will propel you to the top.
Good to great happens in little pieces when you aren’t expecting it, when you work your list daily, when you don’t worry about the other guy, when you pick up the phone when you are sick, when you take your kid with you to the office, when you stay calm with an irrational client, when you don’t let the day get you down, when you listen to others, when you push fear away, when you stay true to your principles, when you run and run and run and don’t stop!
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