When you are focused you are productive. When you are productive you tend to get things done. That may sound kind of trite, but I mean it seriously. For what seemed like an eternity I struggled with a lack of specific focus other than the idea that I wanted to be successful. I knew that in one way I was already successful–namely that I wanted something better for my life and was working towards it–but in reality I needed to make some serious changes to my life in order to position myself for real lasting success.The change happened when I started making myself accountable. Not just joking with it either, but each day I get up and I go to my computer, go to an editable wiki page like pbwiki and create a new day. On that page I put my rocks for the day, the stuff that I need to get done to do two things:
- Stay focused
- Stay moving forward
So, I have some things on the list that stay the same, like going to the gym, staying on a good decent diet and keeping my mind free of negavity. However, and very importantly, I have other things that are extremely specific to my goals and allow me to regularly and steadily move towards completion of the goals. These are things like:
- Get title ordered
- Make x number of bids
- Follow up on bids
- Call buyer
…So on and so forth.
This may seem to be elementary, and if it does that’s a good thing because it is. Its fundamental. Success is a result of one thing, and that’s mastery of the fundamentals. Relentless execution of fundamentals leads you, inevitably to success. And success is a planned event.
Its a fact that I did not like doing this, and until I really started to get a grasp on what kinds of fundamental actions I needed to take on a regular, daily basis I floundered. I was always lacking a real sense of purpose and grounded balance. Always shuffling to the next fad, or the next idea. Ironically i was creating most of the frustration I was feeling, because I never allowed myself to stick with it long enough to experience success and tweak the approach for greater success.
I think its important to talk about these things because without really addressing this kind of stuff you rarely ever get moving in the right direction. I know from my own experience how painful it was. If I was to tell anyone that was looking for success and found it elusive I would tell them to look at their discipline. How disciplined are you?
Can you–to use a metaphor–stand in one place for 1 year or more? Can you stay focused when it looks like there is no activity, and can you be honest enough with yourself to say when you really are blowing smoke and not working as hard as you should be? Take responsibility for the level of activity you produce, and you will get results that speak for themselves.
I was always moving around and thought that I could just try a bunch of stuff and get something right. What I was missing was that in order to get something right you have to do what others won’t do, and believe in yourself. Be like a stamp and stick with it until it gets there regardless of how long it takes. Just commit to it.
Really its simple. Commit to yourself. Commit to your own vision of success. Don’t commit to others’ vision of you or their version of the life you live. In order to be with the people you love you must commit to yourself first and build on a solid foundation, then include them in your quest. But don’t rely on them for validation.
For me the saying “the only easy day was yesterday” sums up a lot of the necessary traits associated with really grinding through the garbage that I had to deal with while building it.
Scott I know I have been procrastinating getting this to you, but I needed to think about what I would have wanted someone to say to me if I had asked them what you asked me. Also based off of what I see in your approach.
I have to commend you for taking action and getting things done. I do realize that you may feel frustrated at times, but recognize that those feelings are normal. This is not an easy thing to build. And Rome wasn’t built in a day. You just have to be sure that you are stringing days together with relentless precision instead of piecewise.
Keep in mind the one thing that I see whenever I see your blog, and that’s that you are struggling to get started. You must tell yourself things that may not be “true” yet in order to break the cycles you may have built to protect yourself.
Example: Telling yourself that you are a money magnet if you aren’t one may seem strange. But the fact is that the subconscious has a mechanism of action and it relies heavily on your self talk. If you tell yourself what you see yourself doing you will continue to create what you are trying to change.
Conversely if you tell yourself the vision of what you want to become as though it already exists, and do it with so much conviction you start to believe it….you will create better things than you have at the moment.
This is all I can really think of to tell you and I do hope it is what you are looking for.
Best,
Jerry
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Awesome article, Jerry.
Thanks for writing it, and thanks to Scott for publishing it.
.-= Steph´s last blog ..Happy Monday =-.
Awesome article, Jerry.
Thanks for writing it, and thanks to Scott for publishing it.
.-= Steph´s last blog ..Happy Monday =-.
Jerry is the F'ing MAN. In terms of RE focus, he just keeps plugging along. In terms of Physical and Mental focus, the guy is a BEAST.
I owe my current health to Jerry. For the last 8 months I have been a slave to the gym and I owe much of that to Jerry for getting me and keeping me on track. Thank you BIG J!
CGF
I couldn't agree more about Jerry. It amazes me how focused and tough he is with his positive attitude and work ethic. Great guy!
Jerry is the F'ing MAN. In terms of RE focus, he just keeps plugging along. In terms of Physical and Mental focus, the guy is a BEAST.
I owe my current health to Jerry. For the last 8 months I have been a slave to the gym and I owe much of that to Jerry for getting me and keeping me on track. Thank you BIG J!
CGF
I couldn't agree more about Jerry. It amazes me how focused and tough he is with his positive attitude and work ethic. Great guy!
I guess you could say Jerry and I have been “accountability” partners for the last few months…and I can tell you, it's made an incredible difference in my life and business having him in my corner….Awesome article Jerry….
People don't get much better then Jerry.
Thanks so much for writing this article Jerry. Much needed.
Hi Jerry,
Thank you for so much valuable information. I really enjoy reading your blog….