In my past, I was one of those people who watched things happen. But I had always thought of myself as a doer, active, at the front of the pack, a man who made things happen, and then a “light bulb” moment hit.
Yes, sometimes our lessons come from the most unexpected sources and smack us pretty hard to get our attention, and that’s what happened to me.
I had been in the real estate business for many years when my wife decided to quit her job and come into the real estate business with me. She hadn’t been there too long before she spoke up in a company meeting and said, “We need to change the way we do things. We need to position ourselves better in the real estate market .”
I said, “No, we’re fine as we are.”
And wouldn’t you know it, our business began to slip. Over the next 24 months, we lost over $50,000 in revenue
Why?
Because we were doing the exact same thing over and over expecting different results. That was the definition of insanity!
We were doing the same thing then that we were doing the year before and the year before that. The market had changed, buyers and sellers had changed, but, I, the man in charge, the leader, the man who was supposed to be out in front of the troops, had not changed the way we were going about our business.
I wasn’t open to change. I was stubborn. I thought that I knew all about the business and how to make a real estate deal work. I was untouchable, unchangeable, and correct.
Today, I am now open to embracing change.
However, I had to learn my lesson the hard way, with a direct hit on my income. But you can learn your lesson the easy way just by watching what I and others have done to keep going upward, increasing our job satisfaction and our incomes at the same time.
Change can be hard, especially for some people who have achieved some degree of success. Sometimes they can’t see that they can do even better!
Why settle for an increase of only a few percent over last year? Why not challenge yourself and your employees, if you have any, to beat last year by a bigger margin and by a larger dollar amount instead of settling for a small increase?
Why settle at all? Why not make incremental goals on your way to your ultimate goals?
To change your output, you have to change your input!
My mentor Les Brown often says, “Shoot for the moon and even if you miss you will land among the stars.” There is so much truth to that! The harder you strive to achieve, the greater your rewards will be whether you reach your exact goal or come very close.
Coming close to a bigger number is better than achieving a little goal. It will be more satisfying to reach and will make a much bigger impact on your checking account; I can guarantee you!
Now I look at all the things I can do which create more options. And the more flexible, versatile, and adaptable I become, the more I can change my situation and pull myself out of anything, and achieve anything.
It just takes a simple change of heart and a simple change of mind!
Questions:
- What aspects of your life need to change?
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- Are you having a difficult time embracing change?
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- What would happen if you took a chance, and tried something different? Why?
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