Learn For 2.0 with Brandon DeVere

This is a week of gratitude and thanks.

And I'll argue, perspective.

Over the dinner table yesterday as I described a challenge that our immediate family is going through, I spoke with another family member.

When he told me what his family was facing, my own challenges seemed small.

Just as I said that I truly believe that everyone gets opportunities, I believe the same about setbacks...

I believe everyone gets their fair share of setbacks as well.

It just depends on what perspective we decide to view it from. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

My business partner Brian, posted on Facebook today:

"I DECLARE... that I’ll never ever forget that I have enough right now to be thankful for an eternity!!!"

This made me stop and think about gratitude, and how easy it is to forget what we are grateful for as we continue onto the next goal.

It's ok for us to celebrate ourselves and be proud of what we have accomplished. While also not being ashamed to want to achieve more.

"Don’t forget, M has an orthodontist appointment today” a text read.

“Yeah… I know” I responded, almost irritated.

“My god, does she think I can’t remember anything”, I say to myself.

But then I think about it for a minute, “How can I blame her?”

If it happens enough times it eventually becomes reality, right?

“You remembered pasta sauce right?”

uh...

“Did you switch the laundry over?”

Shit!

No wonder Eva has to check up on me like a child to make sure I remember our daughter’s orthodontist appointment.

After all, I set my alarm 7 days a week so I don’t forget the kids at school. I don’t want to leave that to chance.

It seems like my mind is constantly running and if I get in a groove, I tend to lose track of time. I don’t trust myself to look at the clock, so I need the reminder.

It’s not even that I forget what’s being said to me, it’s more like I’m not even fully processing it.

Eva will tell me something and naturally I respond, “uh-huh”.

Eyes glossed over, only absorbing half of what she said.

How frustrating that must be, how can she deal with it?

She does, I just don’t know how.

Hopefully it’s because she knows I mean well, but really…

It’s got to be SO frustrating.

It’s not that I don’t care what she says, it’s just I can’t stop the chatter in my brain as I think of “what’s the next project?”.

I’m not doing it because I’m uninterested in what she has to say or to be disrespectful, I simply just can’t help it.

She certainly isn’t the only recipient of this aspect of my personality but definitely is the one who has to handle the majority of it.

For this I am grateful.

For her I am grateful.

I know that it takes someone special to be able go through life with me and handle my many quirks, especially this one.

I mean, I can barely do it.

I’ll admit, I do forget a lot of things, like pasta sauce and laundry.

But what I'll remember is, that regardless of how frustrating it must be, Eva is still by my side every step of the way giving me “friendly” reminders.

That…

“I’ll Never Forget"

It's easier said than done.

Certain things, like breathing, we are born with the ability to do.

But most everything else we do in life is learned.

Managing reactions and emotions are no different.

Most of us know that we have the ability to choose how things affect us. We may not be in control of what is happening to us, but we absolutely have control of how we react to it.

That doesn't mean we are good at it.

That is another learned skill that we aren't born with.

It takes practice.

Yet, for some reason, we have an unrealistic expectation of how quickly we should be able to master this skill.

We know that many times we need to, "get over it".

But sometimes it's not that simple, it's not something that comes naturally to us.

It is a learned skill and we should allow ourselves time to learn how to master it.

The more skills I acquire, the more I require of them.

I used to want to learn random things that just made "Now" money.

But now, I require that any skill I learn will be something I can use in the future, and across multiple industries.

I have no interest in learning skills that I don't plan to use in the future

Today when I logged into the MLS I was notified of the association offering their condolences to a number of agent's families that had passed away.

It reminded me that most people never retire from real estate. 

They either just quit, die while still an agent, or have retired from something else and have become a real estate agent for fun, or as something to do. 

After that, I listened to Colin Cowherd talk today about how you will never become wealthy by being conservative.

He was talking about football, but it made so much sense.

He said if you play it conservative by staying at the same job and maxing out your 401k you will have a comfortable life.

But that won't create wealth.

In order to create wealth, you need to take a shot.

Well... here I am, taking my shot.

Several years ago I read a book called, "The Goal".

The main premise was to increase business by eliminating bottlenecks.

Not letting items that shouldn't pass through... pass through.

If they don't pass inspection, they do not move on.

I think this is a great outlook.

How many times in your real estate business have you generated a lead that you've nurtured for months, only to find out they cannot purchase.

Why wouldn't we lead with getting them financed, maybe with the help of a lender or loan officer and start from there.

In our industry we do a lot of backtracking and dealing with bottlenecks.

What bottlenecks are you currently facing?

Bank Of Prior Knowledge

Have you ever heard of free soloing?

If not, this is what Wikipedia defines it as,  

"Free solo climbing or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or free soloists) climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual strength and skill."

Otherwise known as... crazy!

I recently watched a documentary called Free Solo, which follows free soloist Alex Honnold on his quest to climb El Capitan in Yosemite, over 3,000 feet of granite without safety ropes or harnesses.

Although the idea is insane to people like me, I couldn't stop watching.

His preparation was just as insane, planning and practicing every move down to the last one.

It's the short game vs. the long game.

Many of us real estate agents are constantly playing the short game of, getting leads, showing homes, selling homes, and getting paid.

We don't have any plans to get off of this treadmill because we are focusing on URGENT tasks, not IMPORTANT ones.

Think of it this way, we are focused on what we can do today that gets us paid once tomorrow, rather than what can we do today that pays us multiple times in several years.

We are just trying to make money, not build a business.

This is in turn killing our business.