Is there a giant echoing canyon where your savings account/retirement account/college fund used to be? You bet your dollar store there is! As Americans, we watch and wait with bated breath to see what the next national monetary move is, only to gasp as the move shows lateral, with no real jump in either positive or negative direction. As a Realtor® (and an American) I began to do the same thing. Hold breath...wait...gasp. Hold breath...wait...gasp. Starts to sound a little like Lamaze, doesn't it?
You hear in the media headlines such as: "Housing Market in Crisis as Foreclosures Hit all Time High." or "Lenders Make it Harder Than Ever to Buy Your First Home.", and my formerly smooth 34 year old forehead cries out for a Botox injection. Why?! How can this be? I know for a fact people still need housing, and loans, and real estate agents, and attorneys, title companies, inspections, etc. So what's the deal?
Well here's the deal you won't find at the dollar store. The real estate market hasn't crashed, nor did it tank, or bottom out. It SHIFTED. Housing prices haven't hit a serious decline in value, they have recovered from their seriously over-inflated anything-but realistic pricing to a more stable and affordable price point. In Gary Keller's book SHIFT, How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times, he demonstrates that during periods of SHIFT, fear is everywhere, although not all of us react in the same manner. During these times, it's the 80/20 rule at work. 20 percent of the people will do 80 percent of the work or business (while the remainder of the people are still practicing Lamaze), and and then in a post-shift rebound, that 20 percent will have pushed past "survive" and will shift into "thrive" and reap that 80 percent of the rewards.
This golden nugget of clarity and wisdom can be transferred into ANY period of your life where you feel the anxious pinch of worry. Don't panic over SHIFT. Shifts are periodic, cyclical, and WILL happen again. The outcome of a shift is what you chose to do about it. During these shifting times as we all watch Wall Street and speed-read the news ticker-tapes as they flash past remember this: It's not doom and gloom, it's a SHIFT. Conserve, reduce, and retain everything from money to food to fuel. Cut up the plastic (it's made of petroleum products anyway), and be the 20 percent who are looking forward to reaping their 80 percent post-shift benefits. Get through "survive" and begin to "thrive".
I plan to be 20 percent. Do you?
God, Family, then business... man, I love my job. See y'all on the other side of the SHIFT.
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