Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

I came across this video from a colleague of mine  (Real Estate & Lending, Steep & Brew) when I was sifting through my Google Reader at the end of the day and thought I would take a minute to share it with you.  Let’s face it; right now times are tough with the state of the economy, increased jobless rate across the country, and more and more confusing headline news on a daily basis.  I hope you take a few minutes to watch this video and if you like what you see, please share it with someone who might need this message right now.

If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do whatever you are going to plan today?

This is the  inspirational speech given by Steve Jobs to graduates at Stanford.  Take a few  inutes to watch the video, keep your week going with a fresh perspective! 

I think the most important part of the speech is the message at the end, stay hungry and stay foolish!

Stay hungry; right now we are dealing with a tough real estate market in an even tougher economy.  What are you doing to increase your business and make the necessary changes to not only survive, but thrive at this point in time?  What changes have you made to your marketing strategy?  More importantly, are they working?  Maybe a jolt in your marketing ideas would do you a world of good!

Stay foolish; I am 29 years old and in couple of months am going to be 30.  For the last eight years I have been working in the financial industry and am proud to say I have failed many more times than I have succeeded.  At this point I have even coined the term, “success is a collection of mistakes”.  I say this because the success I have achieved was only driven by the mistakes in my failures.  Without these failures I would never have learned the important lessons needed in order to not repeat the same mistakes.  I think we all share a “stay foolish” mindset in this industry as it is imperative to try new things and come up with new ideas in the attempt to stay one step ahead of our competition.  If you are not willing to be foolish and creative with your ideas and take risks in your business this could place you in a very repetitive pattern.

The Little Boy & The Zen Master

There once was a boy who received a horse for his 14th Birthday. Everyone in the town was so happy for him as the boy had been asking for a horse since he was a young child. The township turned to the Zen Master for his opinion and he said… “we shall see”. A few years later the boy was riding the horse when he fell off and severely broke his leg. Everyone in town felt awful and said, “if only the boy had never received that horse!” Again, they turned to the Zen Master and again he replied… “we shall see”. Soon after the boy broke his leg his town went to war and the boy had to stay behind as he could not fight effectively with a broken leg. Again, the Zen Master looked upon the people of the town and said… “we shall see”.

I find it interesting how this simple story relates to the behavior of our society as well as the past decisions made in the housing market. We are living in a society where instant gratification trumps all when it comes to making important decisions. What can I have right now? How much can I make right now? We live in a society where everything happens instantaneously. I believe some of the bad habits we have acquired can be attributed to the speed and accessibilty of how we acquire the information to make these decisions. Try and think back to what life was like before the influence of the Internet. Can you imagine hearing today’s news tomorrow and not having the ability to access endless information at your finger tips?

The moral of the story of the boy & the Zen Master is we need to look at all of life’s decisions on multiple levels. All of our decisions have positive and negative consequences; however some of these consequences take a little more time to reveal themselves than others.

I always think of this story when I sit down with a client who is thinking of purchasing a home. It is my job as a Mortgage Banker to help this client look at how this decision is going to affect their family now, in a couple of years, and further down the road. As we have seen over the past few years, making decisions based on instant gratification has put our economy in a position we have never seen before. Unfortunately these negative consequences continue to reveal themselves on a daily basis. It is my job to provide education about common mistakes made in the past so future homeowners know how to handle these situations once they present themselves.

The only way we are going to pull ourselves out of this financial mess is to take accountability for our own decisions as well as the professional advice we share with all our clients. The professionals who can help their clients look into the future and guide them through possible scenarios will be the only ones to succeed in this volatile market. The information is out there, we need to take the nervousness out of these critical decisions by making them as transparent as possible!

SLOW DOWN!!!

Why is everyone in such a hurry all the time? Is it there is too much to get done and the day is not long enough? Or is it more a reflection of how we prioritize our daily activities with poor organization? Or possibly, we are unrealistic when evaluating our individual limits and how far we can push ourselves? I have a suggestion; SLOW DOWN!!!

I remember a piece of advice my college baseball coach would consistently repeat on a daily basis, “slow down”. You see, by slowing down you are actually making yourself increasingly quicker and more efficient. Instead of trying to complete a set of actions as quickly as possible and rushing through them, his advice was to simply control the process by slowing the action down and focusing on each part until its completion. Think about that… by breaking down the action you can focus on each individual part instead of trying to complete the entire process all at once. By slowing down the action you are actually focusing on each part in order to complete the routine as efficiently as possible.

Take this simple advice and transfer it to our own individual daily activities. If we can slow down and place a great deal of focus and intensity to each aspect of our lives while we are completing them, how much more efficient will you be? If you are reading and responding to E-mails, only read and respond to E-mails and only do it one at a time! Don’t get distracted by different links embedded in an E-mail and end up surfing the web for the next twenty minutes. You can’t get those twenty minutes of lost productivity back! If you are giving a presentation or attending a meeting, only focus on the task at hand and what contributions you can give in order to make the meeting/presentation as effective as possible. There is a reason you are in the meeting or giving the presentation so make this time work for you. Don’t use this time to concentrate on what is going on the rest of the day or what the evening’s dinner plans will be!

Break down each task you need to complete on a daily basis and figure out how you can complete it more efficiently and with discipline. Try creating an outline of your next day’s responsibilities the night before, by having a plan set in your mind you should wake up with goals and objectives clearly outlined and ready for 100% of your participation. While attacking these responsibilities keep your discipline and do not move on until you have completed the task and are satisfied with the result. When you move on to the next task you will have a clear mind ready to focus on the next challenge.

Of course there will always be days where everything goes haywire and your planned schedule doesn’t mean a whole lot after 9 am. When you feel as though you are juggling your schedule and rushing through your day… slow down! Take a deep breath and analyze what responsibilities have top priority and which ones can be passed off to the following day. Take five minutes to breathe and collect your thoughts. These five minutes could be the most valuable five minutes of your day if they afford you time to get back on track with a clear mindset!

We can only complete one task at a time, however the level of efficiency we have completing each task will allow us to do much more, or much less throughout the day. By slowing down you might actually create more time!

Eat That Frog!

Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.

This is a terrific metaphor for business professionals to get out of their own way and stop procrastinating. Your “frog” is often the biggest or most important task that you are most likely to procrastinate on throughout the day. Most often this task can have the greatest positive impact on your success or obtaining the current results/information you desire. By “eating your frog” you will complete your most important daily action first thing in the morning and have a clear mind with a fresh perspective throughout the rest of your day.

This habit requires the discipline necessary to be successful in today’s competitive market. I challenge you to begin making a list of the most important tasks you need to complete on a daily basis and force yourself to finish them before you move on to secondary tasks or projects. Just like any other habit, this will be challenging at first, but as this becomes part of a daily routine you will become a much more efficient professional.

So… make that list and “eat that frog”! Try this for one month and discover for yourself how much your productivity increases. If you would like further tips regarding implementing this habit, please review the free online book written by Brian Tracy; Eat That Frog!

Step Away from the Fire

With all the uncertainty in the economy, rising interest rates and what feels like a constant barrage on the dollar it is easy to continuously feel anxious and overwhelmed. With all of this on my mind, it was essential for me to head to the mountains for a much needed camping trip. Isn’t it funny how you can stare into a camp fire surrounded by silence and let your mind relax?

After a few days in the woods without any cell phones or electricity, I was able to step away from the onslaught of negativity throughout the media. I took some time to truly reflect on what is happening in our housing market in comparison to what we see and hear while glued to the tube. It is no secret we are in the middle of the worst housing market in U.S. history; to try and imply anything different would be irresponsible. It is also not a secret that the media will continuously hype negative information, knowing that installing fear into its audience will keep them motivated to tune in and see what happens next. Funny that we never see stories about FHA stepping in to help a family who’s going through a crisis purchase a home, or the unbelievable opportunities currently available for first-time home buyers.

Step away from the fire the media is constantly burning and turn off the television. Reflect on your current situation and ask yourself if you are in a place where this economic cycle can afford you opportunities; or do you fear your past decisions may have put you in a place where you need some help? Our culture is one that is constantly solving problems and creating ways to help people both in prosperity and despair. Regardless of how you answered my previous question, it is imperative you educate yourself about your financial decisions. Don’t let the negative media attention distract you from chasing your dreams. Take time to find out about the loan programs and financial tools that are available for your benefit. I promise a plan or a solution is out there — all you need to do is take the time to find it.