Last time I talked about using peak performance tools to get where you want to go; to reach the goals that you are striving for, and how to go about doing that. I left off with the need and power of organization.
Organization involves structure in your day and in your mind. It is also necessary as well in keeping track of your progress. To do that, you need to put into place a monitoring system that not only keeps you on track with your goals, which is a very important factor, but also that is a call to action.
A call to action tells you what your next step needs to be in order to move forward in achieving your goal. This is especially crucial when you’re faced with a task that you either don’t want to do or don’t like to do, but you know that you have to do. We all know what that’s like—it may be a task you’re not very skilled in, or otherwise don’t like very much or makes you uncomfortable. This is where it helps to put some things to help you through that process, into place.
I use the exercise example because we all relate to it. If you have a partner that you meet at the gym, then you go to the gym, don’t you? Otherwise you’re not just letting yourself down; you’re letting your partner down as well.
This concept really applies to real estate, too. It helps to work with a friend or partner who will not only hold you accountable and with whom you can discuss your progress, but who is also someone that you do not want to disappoint.
Your partner or friend is the person who will ask you, “Did you succeed in getting the job done? Did you take the steps that you needed to take to move the process forward?” This is an emotional performance meter because it’s not just you who is affected by your actions; it’s your real estate partner as well.
Do you see how this makes you do what you may not want to do what’s on your “must do” list? Now, you don’t have to have a partner; it can be your spouse, or whomever. It can even be your purpose behind the goals that motivates you to do the necessary steps to move forward.
Either way, making the success parameter with a call to action that you must follow through on is a key point. But any way you look at it, when it comes to achieving your goals in real estate, it still comes down to you and your actions, doesn’t it? After all, it’s still you that sets parameters, you that sets the goals, you that sets the key performance indicators. You make it happen; nobody else does. It’s all you.
That’s why having a strict framework to work around is so important when you’re working in the real estate business. They keep those disciplines and habits in place. In making this business work, in achieving your passive income goals, you need to have the discipline and structure in your daily life to follow through on the steps that lead to a successful end.
But that’s part of the package, isn’t it? When you work for a boss, for instance, your performance is structured for you in a lot of ways. You’re expected to work from specific hours each day, do these tasks by this time, and be at such and such a place on schedule. Your boss provides your performance meters and action steps for you.
We both know that when you’re doing this work for yourself, no one is going to put those disciplines and habits in place but you. There’s no one to set that bar up but yourself. And ultimately, no one one is going to hold you accountable for meeting your performance goals but you. As your own boss, set your performance goals reasonably; but effectively, too.
Now, don’t make the mistake of setting the bar too high. Don’t make your habits and disciplines too strict and too hard so that they’re not achievable. It’s like going on a diet; don’t make it so hard on yourself that find it impossible to stay on it. Don’t do that to yourself; but at the same time put a framework around yourself so that you give yourself the opportunity to actually succeed!
Of course, we know that things don’t always go how we plan. That’s why you need to establish safety valves for variations in the plan. For example, what happens if you don’t perform? What happens if you don’t get to the gym? What happens if you didn’t do the feasibility study, for instance, and you lost the deal, and it cost you three hundred grand?
What do you do? What should you do?
I suggest that you create your own, self-imposed naughty corner. We’ve all heard of them for children, but for you? Why would I recommend a naughty corner?
Because you’ve got to have a safety mechanism to make sure that you get done what you told yourself you would, on schedule as much as possible. Give yourself a way around an unforeseen delay or obstacle so that you can still meet the deadline and goals that you need to meet. Find a way to get the task done on time.
I realize that sometimes it’s easier said than done. You may have to skip something else in your schedule to complete the certain task, or you may have to miss watching your favorite football team. Just ask yourself, which is more important? Is your success more important than your time at the pub or in front of the televison or going out with the girls, which ever the case may be?
You need to set up for yourself a disciplined habit within you where you tell yourself, “If I don’t get this done by this time, then I will not be able to do such and such.” Or, “If I miss a task in my schedule, I will get up earlier the next day to complete that task to get myself back on schedule.” Nobody can enforce it but you. It’s your own self-imposed naughty corner. This is something that I have had to do over the years in order to discipline myself to move forward, ever since I was a single mum with two children. It worked for me then and it works for me today.
It will work for you, too.