Hey there.
Welcome to another episode of the top listing agent show, this week, I am going to be sharing with you another book review.
This one I am super pumped about sharing with you.
It is a very small book that I bought about a year ago and it is one of the very few books that I buy that I do not read right away.
I think the reason I did not read into it is because of its size, you see sometimes in life we judge things and this is what I did, I thought to myself its is a small book therefore it might now have the Big ideas or strategies I need right now so I will get to it later.
Boy, that was a mistake cause this small book spoke to me big time, yes a lot of what is shared in it is not new to me, but it had all these little reminders that I needed for me and some that I want to pass on to you as your Mentor.
The book is How Successful People Grow by John Maxwell, the famous author on everything Leadership.
I think it would be safe for me to say this, any book you read by John Maxwell is going to be a great book, whether it is a small book or a big book.
Let me remind you again, that each book review has 3 objectives.
1- For me to share with you whether you should invest your time and money on the book.
2. To extract some inspiration from the book to share with you.
3. To extract one exercise to share with you.
Ok, Lets begin.
The book has 139 small pages and 15 Chapters in all.
The only thing that I did not like about the book was that the letters are a bit small, made it a bit hard for me to make out what I was reading, but I got through it.
The author hooks from the get go as he titled the introduction of the book
“Growth is the pathway to your potential.”
He goes on to say and I am quoting him word for word here.
That potential is one of the most wonderful words in any language.
Think about it, how many times has someone used that word on you, someone telling you that they see the potential in you and or you see the potential in them or within yourself you recognize the potential in you.
He goes on to say, that potential looks forward with optimism. It is filled with hope. It promises success. It implies fulfillment. It hints at greatness. Potential is a word based on possibilities. Think about you potential as a human being and you get excited, right? Do you have personal potential? Absolutely. Your personal potential is what you could be - the person you become.
And since you are listening to this podcast, I believe you also have the desire to reach your potential. SO now the question becomes, how do you do it?
John says, the answer is Growth.
And I know you have heard me say the following a few times, if you want to go for it, you have to grow it.
As a matter of fact, I am going to keep on bouncing what he is referencing in this book to what I have shared with you on this podcast show to illustrate a big point at the end of this episode.
In Chapter one the author shares the following statement that I wanted to relay to you and that is … If you focus on goals, you may hit goals - but that doesn’t guarantee growth. If you on growth, you will grow and always hit goals.
Get it, do you understand what I just said, becareful what you focus on, he says that it is more important to focus on growth then it is to focus on a goal.
I know what you maybe thinking well isn’t growth itself a goal, My Answer is NO.
It is a Duty to oneself.
Anyone who is committed to grow is going to encounter some growth traps and John shares 8 of them with us and there are three that stuck out for me in reference to my conversation with real estate agents when I first meet them and they are.
- The timing gap - its not the right to begin, come on now, you know what I am talking about, you have said this a ton of times, and better yet, how many times a buyer or a seller says that to you. You got to give that up, anytime you see something that you can do or buy or experience that you know is going to cause you to grow, you got to go for it right away. Kill this excuse of time, and if you recall a few episodes ago I said to you, become like the kind of client you want to attract. AHA. Got It?
2. The Mistake Gap - Im afraid of making a mistake, in the words of a real estate agent, it sounds like, what if they ask me a question that I do not know the answer to? Or what if they give me an objection that I don’t know how to handle, ok, enough I think you get my point. And
3. The perfection Gap - I have to find the best way before I start. In the words or a real estate agent, it sounds like, I have to find the bets script, the best objection handler, the bets business card, the best open house sign, the best dialer, the best listing presentation, the best coach, etc.
I get it, I have been there, here is my advice to you, these 3 gaps are killing your business and your potential. Again I remind you, we live in a very magnetic world of like attracts like. Become the Kind Of Person You Want TO work with.
I also believe that most people have these gaps because they have secret fears.
But here is the good news, we also have Faith. So the question you have to ask yourself when you are faced with fear is … Which emotion I am going to allow to be stronger, Fear or Faith? And the answer to this question is very important because the stronger emotion is going to be the one that wins.
This means that it is time to begin to feed your faith and starve your fears.
This also means that you must know yourself to grow -
Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this a lot, he calls it self awareness and there is an entire chapter just on this topic in this book.
John says that there are three kinds of people when it comes to having direction in life.
- People who don’t know what they would like to do
- People who know what they would like to do but don’t do it
- People who know what they would like to do and do it.
Aha, which of these 3 are you?
I say it don’t matter which one you have been, what matters is which one you are going to decide to be right now.
I want you to be one of the very few who know what they would like to and do it.
Easier said than done, right?
Yes, I know that and most people do not follow through on anything not only because they have a fear but because they don’t have belief.
They don’t believe in themselves.
John says, you must see value in yourself to add value to yourself.
Let me repeat that one, one more time for it to sink in.
You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself.
You get it now.
He is talking about self confidence and self esteem of which most people do not have it.
If you do not realize that you have genuine value and that you are worth investing in, then you will never put in the time and effort needed to grow to your potential.
A great example would be an agent who knows that they need to learn how to prospect for new seller leads, they identify a mentor LIKE ME who can help them kill in on the phones and take a new listing at least once a week every week and they see that I have helped others do that, BUT, they don’t have belief in themselves therefore they talk themselves out of making the investment in the program, when in essence, they are not really investing in the program, they are investing in themselves, investing in their self growth, investing in their dreams and their vision.
You Must Level Up Your Beliefs to Level Up Your Life.
Self esteem is the single most significant key to a person behavior.
Low self esteem puts a ceiling on your potential.
The value we place on ourselves is usually the value others place on us.
Think about that one, one more time.
The value we place on ourselves is usually the value others place on us, and you wonder why so many people do not want to work with you.
I get this point so much because a very long time I go, I saw no value in me and of course people can pick up on that energy and once I committed To my personal growth and I started to grow and I started to see me as the most valuable asset to anyone, everyone else saw it and just like that, just like magic, a new better, more powerful version of me was born and here I am hosting a podcast verses listening to one, although I do listen to a lot of podcasts by the way and I am so happy you are listening to mine right now when you can be listening to someone else, I so appreciate you.
So now to meet objective 3 of the book review.
I will share with you an exercise to build your self image,
- Guard your self talk. Yup, I know, you heard me tell you this before and the author says that whether you know it or not, there is a conversation going on in your head all the time, this conversation is either an encouraging, inspiring one or one that beats the crap out of you all the time. So watch your self talk.
2. Stop comparing yourself to others.
3. Move beyond your limiting beliefs.
4. Add value to others.
5. Do the right thing, even if its the hard thing.
6. Practice a small discipline daily in a specific area of your life.
7. Celebrate small victories.
8. Embrace a positive vision for your life based on what you value.
9. Practice one word strategy. If you pick just word to describe yourself, what would it be?
10. Take responsibility for your life.
Once you do what I have shared with you thus far, seek out a positive environment., on page 53 of the book John shares with you a specific Easy to follow step by step process to do this.
I have also told you a million times that you are a product of your environment.
Some more inspiring thoughts from this book are as follows.
- Designing your life is more important that designing your career.
- You have to give up in order to grow up - letting go of what you love for what you value. Example, giving up financial security today for potential tomorrow. Immediate gratification for personal growth. Giving up addition for multiplication.
- Learn to ask more questions.
- Find a Mentor. READ FROM PAGE 115.
- Help others reach their potential.
My friends, there you have it.
Not to brag or anything like that, in the past episodes I have shared with you a lot of what is shared with you in this book. However, I am so happy that this is happening as it serves that you are in the right place and you have selected a podcast to listen to that is revealing to you not only how to grow your business but to also keep on growing as a human being.
That is my commitment to you, to do whatever it takes to help you become the best version of yourself.
And as I shared with you earlier that the author has learned most of what he has learned form people he never met in person, these are the people he met in a book.
With that said, Have you read my little mini book The Top Listing Agent Black Book?
If yes, thank you and if not, go get it now at TLAblackbook.com, its free and it comes with bonus training videos on how to create a mindset of champion, master lead generation and lead conversion.
The entire books is all about how you can become a top listing agent, so go get your copy now at www.TLAblackbook.com
Talk to you soon.
