As we’re now well into the second half of the year, it’s time for bit of mind maintenance…
You know, just a tinker here and there about your thought processes…
Especially if you find yourself feeling as if you’re headed down a dead end road…
Or the road is a bit rougher than you imagined it would be.
Well, I’m here to tell you to carry on.
That doesn’t mean to just keep your head down and your shoulder to the wheel…
It means controlling your emotions, assessing your progress, and both expanding your vision as well as focusing it.
That may sound contradictory…
But it’s not.
Learning never ends
On the one hand you expand your vision by continuing to learn new things about property investing…
On the other, that learning helps you to understand what you need to do…
It helps you to focus your attention on achieving your goals but taking one step at a time.
It’s all about crafting that lifelong project called “you.”
Now many of you know that the learning at iLoveRealEstate never really ends…
Because there’s always more to know…
More laws changing, more changes in the market for all kinds of reasons…
And more about yourself to learn.
So even if you’re just beginning to learn about properties and how real estate investing works…
Or if you’re unlearning some of the backward lessons of negative gearing that you were taught by a CPA somewhere…
The evolution of your awareness never really ends.
Now, let’s keep this discussion down to earth, where it belongs…
It’s not that successful real estate investing is all that difficult or complicated…
Nor is that the rules of the market or understanding basic economic principals is somehow mysterious…
But it is a matter DOING rather than just thinking about it.
Your feelings can betray you
And that is actually one of the hardest lessons for many to take on board.
Many of you are finding it tougher to get started than you imagined it would be…
Fair enough.
But how tough is it to remain where you are?
How tough is it on your spouse?
On your family?
Here’s a little secret about difficult circumstances…
They don’t last.
Or at least, they don’t have to.
But you have to decide that they’re not going to last…
And for most of us, keeping that focus takes a fair bit of reminding, doesn’t it?
Because being in tough places isn’t comfortable…
But you can’t let that simple fact become your entire reality.
On the contrary, you must learn to look beyond the immediate situation…
Go the extra mile in meeting new people, finding new properties and new opportunities…
And you can’t give in to how you feel from one day to the next.
That’s because feelings, like moods, come and go…
One day you feel as if you can do anything…
The next it feels as if the whole world is conspiring against you…
As if there’s some horrible PLAN to keep you saddled to a job you don’t like…
Or saddled to not having enough income…
Or, in some cases not getting a job at all.
But the truth is much different…
Yes, how you feel day to day can and will change…
But there are at least two kinds of “happiness” and probably more…
One kind is the fleeting feeling of joy that comes from our senses…
Tucking into a good meal, for instance, brings us an immediate emotional lift…
As does eating chocolate cake, or whatever else.
That’s a fleeting feeling of joy based on an act or a sensation in that particular moment.
Then there’s the deeper, longer feeling of happiness…
This kind comes from knowing that you’re doing what you need to be doing.
It’s a deeper satisfaction that gives you the strength and optimism to keep going…
Even when you “feel” like you’re not making much progress…
But trust me on this next point…
Feelings, though we sincerely have them and feel them…
Can lead you away from your dreams…
Your own feelings can betray you.
You’ve really got to take that one bit of wisdom to heart.
Your wants and your needs
It’s the classic conflict between our wants and our needs.
We all want to be successful…
We all want to control our finances and our futures…
But too often, we don’t “feel” like doing what we need to in order to achieve our “wants”.
It can be something as simple as watching TV every evening rather than getting on the computer and seeking properties or JV investors…
Or it can be spending your money on clothes that you want but don’t need…
A new car that you want but don’t need…
Or not working an extra job to raise the money you need for a down payment, but don’t want to put in the extra effort…
Your feelings, like your wants and needs, must be under your control…
And NOT the other way around.
You see, of all the concepts I teach my students…
Of all the strategies you will learn…
From asset protection to options…
The most important lesson you will learn is how to be master of yourself…
Of what you think, how you think, what you do and don’t do.
Because ultimately, everything starts, and ends, with you and your decisions.
Choose your thought, and actions, wisely.