It’s the Simple Things in Life

Many new real estate investors are setting goals that are very attainable, but for some reason just can’t seem to reach them.   The main underlying reason for this failure is yourself.  Plain and simple, you are the one holding yourself back.  You are the one who decides that sitting in front of the TV on Sunday to watch football is a better way to spend your time then looking at open houses.  It’s a choice YOU make!

I’ve thought about this a lot over the past year and have come up with the reason why most of us always chose the football game over the open houses.  Have you ever heard of the phrase, Don’t take the small things in life for granted?

Well it is true and is the reason we fail to make the right choices.   Everyday there are hundreds of small decisions we have to make, like should I pick up that sock or go get that drink?  Should I wash my face with the soap or just use the shampoo (yes I actually answer this question every morning, haha)? Should I email my friend back or watch TV?

We all know we should pick that sock up, wash your face with soap and email your friend back.  Then how come we always choose not to do those things?  We are lazy, but the good news is we can train ourselves to do the right thing.

The way to train our minds is to do those little things everyday.  Wash your face with the soap, don’t think about doing it…just do it!  When you see the dishwasher full and clean, take the 2 minutes and clean it out.  It’ll make you feel good, make you feel a sense of accomplishment.  Right there is the key to it all!!  We all love the feeling of accomplishment, we take pride in it and brag to our wife, our friends and our parents.

Have you ever noticed that there are days when you get a lot done?  That is because you are focused, and you are focused because when you completed that first task (goal) you felt so good from getting it done you wanted to feel the sense of accomplishment again and again and again.  Because of that you get something else done, and so on down the line.

Here is how you train yourself, you have to start off small and then get more ambitious.  For this week, do what I like to call the “10 Second tasks”.  Those are things like picking up that sock, putting that dish in the dishwasher instead of placing it in the sink, folding that shirt and putting it in the drawer instead of tossing it on the bed.  Practice doing those things first and you’ll be on your way.

Next do the “10 Minute tasks”.  These don’t take anytime at all, but you’ve probably been putting off way to long.  Like calling your credit card company to lower your rate, or buying that absentee owner mailing list or even sending your wife an ecard (the time vs value is huge on this one!).

Next is the “1 Hour Tasks”.  These are a bit harder and will require you to budget some time, but you’ll want to do them now because you remember the Great Feeling you got from doing the 10 minute tasks.  Go make a rough design for a squeeze page or do some research into how to find REO properties.

Now that you know how to get your mind ready for achieving your goals, start now!  You have to be consistent because it’s very easy to fall back into the Lazy Rut!

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