Well I guess it is time to go into Mr Peabody and Sherman's "Way Back Machine". Most of you reading this are too young to remember the cartoon from the 1960s.
However, there was a movie as well with Mr. Peabody (the wise dog) and his friend Sherman and their "Way Back Machine".
If I could go back in time in the "Way Back Machine" what would I differently in real estate. So the question is this. What do shooting free throws and real estate have in common to be successful?
To make my point, I have this story to tell. Well back in 1995, I was more active than I am now. I loved basketball. Now I could not slam the ball or shoot 3 pointers very well, but there was one thing I could do and that was to shoot free throws. There was the one day at Commanche Park in Scottsdale where I was playing with a friend Gregg Rahn. The weather was perfect, not much of a breeze. We were playing the game of "21" where you get rebounds and after making a 2 pointer you would get to shoot free throws until you missed.
Well this day it seemed that I could not miss. It was magical. So, I won the game of 21 after making about 10 straight free throws. Gregg was nice enough to give me a nice one bounce pass for my next shot so I did not have to move my feet (important-see later). So after the game ended with 10 in a row made, I said let me keep going because I was "in rhythm".
So Gregg kept feeding me the ball after I made shot after shot. I got the pass from Gregg one bouncce, not having to move my feet to get the ball myself, taking two dribbles at the foul line, take a breath, bend at the knees, concentrate on arching the ball over the front rim and release.
I kept going feeling very confident. I made 27 consecutive free throws! This was my personal all time Sports record. I was not going to be like a golfer playing by himself making a hole in one. No one would believe it. Not me, I had Gregg shoot a picture of me and had him notarize his signature that he witnessed the magical event that day on January 8, 1995. I have the notarized proof hanging by my garage work bench and am providing you readers to see.
No one else really cares about my "feat", but it was important to me.
So, with the story and deed told, back to the original question "what do shooting free throws and real estate have in common?. Well going back in time, I could have been a basketball player that dabbled in real estate. However, I was not good enough at basketball overall, just shooting free throws. So instead, I focus on real estate and dabbled at basketball. However, I learned from both.
What did I learn? To get good at anything you have to practice, relax, and practice some more. Simlar to the phrase "Wash, Rinse, Repeat". Basketball free throws are like that
1. Take two dribbles
2. Deep breath
3. Bend at the knees slightly
4. Concentrate on arching the ball over the front rim
5. Release
Same as in real estate, I was probably fairly poor writing my first real estate contract. However writing many many more contracts I got better and better at it. I have written far more contracts that were not accepted than accepted over the years. Over time it becomes second nature to write a real estate contract.
Similar to:
Wash
Rinse
Repeat
The end result was 27 consecutive free throws and many successful contracts for happy home buyers and sellers. I hope you enjoyed my story and learned something as well.
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