You become what you think about.

Is what you are thinking creating success for you?

I heard that this morning (for about the 100^th time).  I always start the day listening to or reading something inspirational to keep me focused on what is important.  As a successful entrepreneur, sometimes it can seem easier to think about problems, frustrations, and what isn’t working, than thinking about solutions and what is working.

Even though I had heard this statement many times before, it really resonated with me this morning.  Last week I had the privilege of hearing Gary Keller (founder of Keller Williams Realty) speak in Denver.  He was in town to promote his book, The ONE Thing.  You can find his book here:  http://www.the1thing.com.

Gary Keller has identified that behind every successful person is their ONE Thing.  No matter how success is measured, personal or professional, only the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you and your goals. The ONE Thing is about getting extraordinary results in every situation.  What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

Filling my mind with positive, encouraging thoughts has been my One Thing for me to be successful the last few years.  I stopped watching the news and I will literally put on headphones when Andy watches it.  It amazes me when I catch the first minutes of the nightly news.  Have you ever really paid attention?  It’s 10 minutes of the most depressing, horrific things that happened throughout the day.

Is that really how you want to end your day?  I have figured out that if there is something I need to know about, someone will tell me.  I also find it interesting that people are more apt to share something negative than something inspirational that they heard.  Maybe those people are not looking for the inspirational and fill their minds with the negative.

I kept this One Thing focus during the most recent hard times in our real estate market.  I always search for the positive in our market and convey that information to my clients.  There was a time when our team was negotiating on 75+ active short sale files.  When other agents were complaining about how slow the banks were, how depressing the clients were, I was figuring out the fastest system to process short sales and get my clients out of their horrible situation as quickly as possible.

Do I think short sales are fun?  No!  Definitely not, but, it is reality and there are many families that need the help of a good Realtor to help them avoid foreclosure.  Someone to give them hope and be encouraging during a very difficult time.

I don’t walk around in a state of denial.  I just try to fill my mind with positive, encouraging material because it is too easy to slip into negative thoughts.   So… what’s the ONE Thing that I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

This is it.  Every day.  Be purposeful on filling my mind with great things.  Slowly, it is diluting all the garbage I filled it with for years.  I am becoming a better person and it is making my life easier and ultimately bad days will be unnecessary.  My life is blessed and I am lucky to be where I am.