Action is what inspires motivation — so as you read this, keep in mind that our goal is to motivate you into taking action, not just passively absorbing and agreeing with us in principle. Remember, your year is determined right now. The pay cycle for most markets is measured in months, so if you’re not out there making contacts, setting up deals and making it all happen today, then you’re setting yourself up for some lean months in the summer.
Don’t make the mistake of waiting until spring to start your 2015 career! Start now, stay ahead of the competition, and set up those future paychecks by the motivated efforts you put into it today.
Most people become agents because they:
- Want to be their own boss and have control of their schedule.
- Don’t want to be told what to do and when or how to do it.
- Want to be financially secure, if not rich.
The first two goals are easy, but this third one is the challenge, and it requires focusing on what you need to be doing on a regular basis to stay on track. Ask yourself if you want to be one of the 99.9 percent of agents who accomplish the first two things but never the third. This is an area we’ve discussed in depth on Real Estate Coaching Radio, and we’d love to invite you to listen below:
How to be motivated and focused every day
Your success is determined by these three things:
1. You must be willing to do what you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do it at the highest level. There are a lot things agents don’t like doing in real estate — lead follow-up, negotiating with difficult clients, prospecting expired listings, and so on. Your willingness to overcome those things — wake up early, go out there and do the absolute best you can — is what you need to do in order to be successful.
But wait, don’t you need passion to be successful? No! Nobody wakes up every day wanting to do all those things. Be passionate about what being successful in real estate does for you — financially, for your family, however you want to view it. You don’t need to be passionate about taking a short-sale listing — it would be kind of strange if you did, right? Well, it’s OK if you don’t have “built in” passion about real estate. Some people do; others don’t — do not sweat it. You can leverage what you’re already passionate about to inspire your career, but don’t wait for career passion before you take action to pursue your daily goals.
Remember, being your own boss is a blessing and a curse — since no one is looking over your shoulder, it means that you can slack off. The problem is you don’t have that “work or get fired” pressure that you’d have in another job. So there’s no extrinsic motivation to get going and keep going — you must be your own motivation. There’s a quote I love: “When you pray, move your feet.”
2. Embrace the fact that repetitious boredom pays off. Think about where your paycheck is coming from today — probably from the repetitious boredom that you were involved with three to six months ago. Cleaning up your database, following up with past clients, pursuing leads — that’s repetitious and can be really boring … but it pays off.
We used to have “repetitious boredom pays off” written on a whiteboard in our office — while you’re in the middle of those boring tasks, remember that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but if you give up on those tasks, there is no light.
3. You must know your personal early warning signs. What are early warning signs? Here’s a quick analogy for you: Think about the way that a seismologist reviews the way the needle moves to measure earth tremors and predict possible earthquakes. It’s not a precise science, but it’s an excellent gauge of when things are getting out of control. You need to do the same thing.
So what are early warning signs? Well, keep in mind the sales and paycheck cycles for your area. How many contacts do you need to make per day to keep your pipeline full of inventory that eventually leads you to a paycheck? If you’re not making those contacts, then that’s an early warning that you’ll be in financial trouble in a few months.
Another warning sign is disregarding time management. Some symptoms might include sleeping in, slacking off, feeling burned out so you blow off your mornings, or even investing yourself in tasks that may feel like work but don’t actually lead to profits. Remember, there are only six things that lead you to a paycheck:
- Lead generation
- Lead follow-up
- Prequalifying
- Presenting (to buyers or sellers)
- Negotiating
- Closing
Another warning sign might be letting yourself go physically. Are you slacking on your exercise? Then you’re sliding out of your routine — and that should be a warning sign that you’re starting to go off-track.
Remember to stay on track by creating goals in these five areas of life:
- Financial
- Physical
- Spiritual
- Educational
- Family
Those are the main goal-oriented areas for most people’s lives. When you’re choosing minimum daily standards, try to start with these areas and decide what your standards are for each area. For instance, if you say that you’re going to exercise (physical) every day and you don’t, then that’s an early warning sign. If you say you’re going to read your children a bedtime story every night and you don’t — another early warning sign. Write down three to five items to check yourself against every day as your “daily minimum standards.” If you can’t meet those, then there’s an earthquake coming.
Tim and Julie Harris have over 20 years’ experience in real estate. Learn more about their real estate coaching and training programs at timandjulieharris.com, or tune in to Real Estate Coaching Radio every weekday at realestatecoachingradio.com.
