As I look back on the past 10 years since starting Agents Boost, it’s clear that our journey with this incredible community of agents has been nothing short of remarkable.
We’ve learned together, grown together, and challenged each other to reach new heights in the ever-evolving world of real estate. We’re profoundly grateful for the unwavering support, valuable feedback, and insightful questions that you, our dedicated agents have shared with us throughout this incredible journey.
It’s your passion, dedication, and curiosity that have fueled our commitment to providing you with the best insights, tips, and resources. As we celebrate this significant milestone, we want to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to each and every one of you.
Here’s to another decade of learning, growing, and conquering new horizons together. Let’s continue to hang out together for many more years to come, as we navigate the exciting challenges and opportunities that the real estate world has in store for us.
We are approaching the single most important time of year as it has been for each of my 30 years in the real estate business.
As the listings and sales season start to temper, we have the tendency to want to take it easy and relax but I am here to say… NOT JUST YET!!!
This was the time of year where I took full advantage of my time and made the most of the market season. This time of year can be for some a difficult time in real estate or a time where the market gives you the greatest gift which is TIME.
The time for you to do the things you know are important, but the year has just been too busy to do those important activities. One of my most impactful and meaningful activities for my business is what I called my “Holiday 100”
My holiday hundred is my goal to personally visit 100 of my best clients and see them during the holiday season. 3 clients a day for 33 days.
Christmas Holiday Visit Plan Checklist – Nov 23 – Dec 23, 2023
Create the client visit list (anyone who bought, sold, asked for help in 2023, service providers, A clients )
Gift – baking, wine, coffee mug, turkey, gift wrap, chocolate, etc. $15 budget
Calendar or Day Planner or Christmas Card
Year in review letter on holiday letterhead ( photo of the year on letter )
Call in advance and book 45-minute visits. ( Max 4 visits a day )
Rest of database just gets letter and Christmas card in mail.
So, in November, I would sit down and write out my year in review letter. I made a list of all the events and activities personally and professionally that happened to me and my family. I would write about my hobbies, my travels, my children and their activities, my wife and her year and all our successes and challenges in the past year.
Find a favorite photo and place the photo and letter on holiday letterhead for my upcoming visits.
Think about it, we are in the relationship business and this letter invited my clients in to my personal and professional life. This helped deepen our relationship and find more items we have in common.
They loved to read the letter every year. The next item was to have all my calendars delivered into the office by the middle of November to put my holiday letter and a calendar into large white envelopes.
Then I would take my database and make a list of names and phone numbers of all my A and B clients. These are the people I would want to personally see from Mid-November until Mid-December… this was usually about 100 clients. Print their address labels out and place them on the envelopes with the holiday letter and their calendar.
If you prefer it also works well to write a Christmas Card or order a Day timer instead of a calendar with your year in review letter. Keep in mind the calendar is not the secret weapon to my success.
Feel free to be creative too… it’s all about the relational contact and something to put in their hands to be Top of Mind. The final item was to find and purchase a hundred small holiday gifts. I chose Poinsettia flowers or homemade spiced apple cider mix, scented candle, bottle of mini bailey’s, holiday scratch and win ticket, homemade peanut brittle or Purdy’s chocolates… I tried to maintain about a $15 item budget.
Now I have my Santa client pack ready and then came the most important part of all…
…Booking the appointments.
I would then take the time to personally call and set up a “pop by” holiday visit to their home in hour segments and I would stay for 45 minutes per client. I would let them know when I arrived that I had another visit within an hour so couldn’t stay too long. TIP – when booking appointments let them know why you are coming.
If I called and left a message they wouldn’t call back?! When I called again, I said I had a little something for them for the holiday season and they would say “oh, we thought you wanted to sell our house and were not interested so didn’t call you back.”
The 33-day festive client visits were amazing. Clients were so surprised and would tell me they never thought they would see me again after our last real estate transaction. They were so pleased with the letter, calendar and small gift but most important was the gift of my time!!
Ken Blanchard wrote in the book “The Generosity Factor” that we all have gifts to give. Our Time, Touch, Talents and Treasures. Never underestimate your greatest gift of “TIME”… your most precious commodity. Don’t just swing by and drop the items off.
Stop and give the client your gift of time. This activity alone would set me up for a good month.
If you don’t think it’s worth the bother, consider my February with 27 deals in 28 days and all of it from these appointments, leads and referrals for real estate from taking the time to share with my clients prior to the holiday season.
I can’t tell you enough what this will do for your waistline, all those treats …..I mean you and your business but most important your relationship with your clients.
The landscape of real estate looks a lot different now for a lot of us and I am sure we are all asking the question to ourselves, NOW WHAT?
We are beginning the last quarter of the year and for real estate sales professionals there are only two outcomes for us all. Will you finish in the red, or finish in the black?
Will you finish strong, or will you miss your targets and goals? Winning near the end of a game, final quarter or the year is a trait of all the best salespeople I’ve ever met. Closing out strong is primarily the effect of a consistent quarter, there are still a handful of things you can do to strike off checkboxes in the win column to finish your 2023 strong.
Be Active – There’s no substitute for being pleasantly persistent and respectfully blunt. Get out there and be straightforward. Acting and getting after it is a choice and work on the high-quality leads and not the low-quality leads. Ask yourself “If you were me, would you forecast this listing or buyer prospect to buy or sell this month or in the next 90 days?” Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Being direct will help you get real with your buying and selling customers and align yourself with the true sales cycle. It might also enable you to pull out a quick win.
Be Relational – For more than two decades now I have heard from thousands of top producing agents and almost 60% of their business comes from repeat and referral business. Focusing first on the people we already know, like and trust is working effectively and efficiently in this business. If you don’t have enough people that know, like and trust you then get out there and “S.T.P. – See the People” If you have a list of relationships in place that have not “felt the love” then get out there and see them and find ways to add value to them. Give them a call, email, text, handwritten note, small gift or even a coffee and just watch and see what happens with your last quarter.
Be Face to Face – Sales is a contact sport, and we need to be belly to belly. Anyone of us making a large buying decision needs to know the person we deal with is someone we like and can trust. The only way we can sense if we like or trust someone is meeting them in person. Commit to the final quarter on sales activities that are primarily face to face and belly to belly activities like Open house, door to door, kiosk, networking, office duty, coffee, lunch, pop by, volunteer, client appreciation event or convention. This is a relationships business so get out there to create and deepen those relationships.
Stack-Rank Your Leads – We will never be able to manufacture more time, but we can manufacture more focus. I recommend looking at your pipeline and grading each opportunity on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being “highly closeable by the end of the quarter.” Then, focus your closing efforts on the 3’s and 4’s ONLY. You don’t have time to waste. If you don’t have enough 3 and 4 prospects in the funnel then act and increase your marketing plan and daily prospecting, lead generation with planned marketing, activities that bring the level 3 and 4 prospects into your pipeline to finish Q3 strong.
Purge Your People – Almost every sales pro has them. They’re those big opportunities in the pipeline you’ve been working for months. The one deal that constantly disrupts your focus or the need to act. The buyer or seller who is the time and energy vampire, but you let them suck the life out of you because you don’t have anyone else to work with. Every time you think about punting them, you get a glimmer of hope from them. It’s time……Remove them!! They don’t deserve to be on your radar right now. Coming clean with yourself will open new vistas and invigorate you to add more productive opportunities to your pipeline.
Start Planning for 2024 – How much revenue do you plan to book in Q1 2024? Exactly how many new deals do you need to earn that amount? Knowing exactly what you plan to earn acts like a magnet to attract business your way. Having this exact number also allows you to project your required activities into month one of the new quarters. If you’re accurately measuring your deal metrics, you’ll be able to predict with some certainty how many calls, emails, appointments, presentations, or opportunities you’ll need to make it rain. Ask for a review by management. Knowing your numbers is one thing, but to positively affect the business, it’s equally vital to understand your “why”, purpose and goals and have someone hold you accountable to them.
Bonus Tips: What NOT to Do in the last Quarter Of 2023
Don’t Work with Any Clients Just to Make your Numbers – Any client outside of your ideal customer profile will complicate servicing, produce a higher likelihood of churn or failure, and ultimately cost you more time and resources than it will be worth. Instead, focus on filling the pipeline with high quality leads for next quarter. It’s never too early to start filling the funnel.
Never Give Away More Than You Should – It’s just not worth it. You only have one reputation for your brand and offering, treat it respectfully. Concessions can quickly become a crutch that hides other issues. Sell on value, not on price. Don’t cut your commissions, offer cash backs or any other silly incentives just to get something before the year is done.
The key to closing out your quarter strong is to keep up the momentum that got you to where you are now. If you’re struggling to meet your numbers, it’s a time to embrace new sales insights and start building effective rhythm. Take the last-minute shots on goal listed above but remember to always be thinking about the bigger picture: Your reputation is the product of your past actions. Sales that allow you to produce predictable revenue are the future. Finish the last quarter and your year strong. I dare you!!
A mentor of mine said to me “agents aim for nothing and hit it with amazing success!”
2023 is wrapping up and what did you aim for? What did you hit?
It is the perfect time of year to aim for something in 2023 and hit it with amazing success!
So, when 2023 begins to wind down you should not wait until the very end to start planning for 2024 in your real estate business. This means having a crystal-clear understanding of the successes and challenges of your current year, how it impacts your upcoming year, and developing a vision of what you want to accomplish, and how.
Many agents aim for nothing every year and most hit it with amazing accuracy!! I believe you should always start working on your next year strategy months in advance of the new year. This awards you enough time to make an impact on your final quarter and lay the groundwork for making sure your next fiscal year starts off on a solid footing.
For agents who want to achieve greatness, push the envelope, and grow their business through market share, market penetration, paying down debt, increasing sales, profits, and cash flow, I urge you to get going now!
The way I see things is, if your business isn’t growing, pushing the envelope, thriving, and maximizing profit, then all you’re really doing is suffering a slow death.
Believe me, your competition is fighting the fight every day, and they didn’t wake up in the morning and say “Gosh, golly, I hope I stay even in 2024.” They want to eat your lunch, take your business, absorb your market share, and steal your customers away. Some people might ask me if they should start planning by looking at their competition, and I say NO.
Why focus on the competition, instead of focusing on yourself? When it comes to my business, I don’t care what others do. I care about what I do.
Recognize your competition for what and who they are, and then put your best foot forward by pushing the envelope in your business.
You should approach the new year as if you are going to battle, and for that you should develop a strategic plan. Business Plan – a written document that describes in detail how a business, usually a new one, is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint.
FACT: LESS THAN 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN.
FACT: ESTIMATED 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN NORTH AMERICA DO 97% OF THE BUSINESS
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you are on track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2020 so let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.
Step 1) “Success and history always leaves us clues.” I began by looking back to identify the clues that have been left for us and the business. I would look at the real estate market first and search for the following clues.
What have the number of sales been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the number of listings been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the average and median prices been doing?
What price ranges are experiencing more activity? Less activity?
What neighborhoods or areas are experiencing more activity? Less Activity?
What property types are selling more? Less?
What buyer types are buying more?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Next state or province? Over Seas?
Imagine the targeted and strategic plan you would be able to build for you and your real estate business with this kind of information? Now you are not just winging it. You really know where and what to focus on.
Step 2) Looking At The Present State of Your Own Real Estate Business
What have my sales been doing? Up? Down?
What have my listings been doing? Up? Down?
What is my average price? Can I raise my average selling price?
What is my Gross Commission Income doing?
What is my average deal worth?
Where are my listings and sales coming from? Sources of business?
What types of buyers do I represent?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Out of area?
What are my pending sales?
What do I have for potential buyers and sellers?
What is working? What is not working?
What do I need to start doing again? Stop doing?
What if you took the time to really track and measure and reflect on your business at a deeper level and see your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of yourself and your own business?
Step 3) Activity Plans – Take the time to lay out your activity plan calendar a year in advance.
Focus on the activities you know you are good at, and you see a return on your invested time and money. I am guessing for most agents it would be your sphere of influence, referrals and face to face or voice to voice activities. Set up a schedule for a month or two in advance of your activities for generating business. What is the activity? When? How? To Whom? Track and measure each of these scheduled activities to help identify the best of the best.
Step 4) Budgeting – Profit is the goal in business.
Knowing what your personal life and your business world cost you monthly is so important. Expense management is just as important as your income and earnings. Have a clear picture of your expenses and measure all of them for their return on investment or if they can be reduced in any way. I understand this may be terrifying for most of us to see what we are spending personally and professionally but it is the foundation of your business plan to know what your personal and professional lives cost and then be able to set a financial target that is enough to cover them both and leave you some profit! So many of us stay away from this and run in a deficit and that is not good practice for any of us.
Step 5) Goals – If your “Why” is big enough the “how” will take care of itself.
What is your purpose? Vision? Values? Mission Statement? Taking the time to know what it is you want and why you want it is a game changer for us all. Nothing gives me more joy than impacting and improving people’s lives personally and professionally every day. I have realized that the driving compelling force in my life is serving others and having the means to create memorable experiences with the people I care about most and nothing else has given me more joy than these amazing WHY’s in my own life.
In my own real estate business, taking the time over the last 30 years to create a business plan has been so incredibly beneficial for me and I know it will for you as well. In today’s post I have given you a brief business plan overview. To help you get going with your own plan I put together a Step-by-Step Real Estate Business Plan Workbook you can download for free.
My mentor and friend Tom Ferry has a real estate training program, “Breakthrough By Design”, and his one session about the importance of the skill as a real estate agent to close appointments really resonates with me.
So many times we are hit over the head with the message of client prospecting, lead generation and lead conversion and don’t get me wrong I agree these are vital parts of a real estate agents success, but the true success in sales and in real estate (I believe) is in the agents ability to close for the appointment when given the chance.
The purpose of marketing is to create the leads and give the agent opportunities to work with but lead follow-up and conversion create appointments!
That my friend is where the real money is in real estate!!
No appointments… No Signatures…
No Signatures… No Money in real estate.
Love Tom’s idea that real estate agents every day have the choice activate their “Faith”or their “Fear” belief. We can either believe we will help and serve others, and someone will list or sell today (they just don’t know it yet), or we believe nobody is buying or selling, the market is not really that good and I am afraid that this business is not for me. As a Realtor Daily Ask Yourself These 3 Questions…
1.) What takes up my mind space? (The Big 7 – Personal Life, Collapsed deals, Bad clients, Errands, Getting organized, Close Deals, Debt, Making calls)
2.) What dominates my thoughts I am having during the day?
3.) What am I saying to myself? Looking at? The noise in my head?
The human mind can only have one dominant thought. That thought must be “I am a lean, mean real estate appointment setting machine!”
Real Estate Agents Sample Daily Plan for Setting and Making Appointments
1.) How many appointments am I committed to scheduling right now?
2.) Ask yourself the above question. Answer it, Write it down. Do it.
3.) Track the daily appointments you set.
4.) Display the appointments you set visually to reinforce your success.
5.) Use the affirmation “I am a lean, mean appointment setting machine.”
Now that we understand the importance of the appointment and how we can control our beliefs, fears and mindset and you have a simple but powerful appointment setting plan, you now need to identify the types of appointments that matter the most to you and your real estate business.
Buyer Appointments
Listing Appointments
Showing Appointments
Price Reduction Appointments
All these appointments lead to signatures and commitments to Exclusive Buyer Contracts, Home Listing Contracts, Purchase Contracts and Price Reduction Forms. Which will all lead to the real money in real estate.
Questions:
1.) What are the most listing appointments you scheduled in a month?
2.) What are the most buyer appointments you scheduled in a month?
3.) What are the most price reduction appointments you scheduled in a month?
I trust that this post will really drive home the importance of focused daily appointment setting activities for you and your real estate business. I trust that your beliefs and mindset will change and that you all will become “Lean Mean Appointment Setting Machines” in 2023. Track, measure and really take your appointments in your real estate business to a completely new level this year!
What about people who never seem to be afraid? Or the small percentage of the population that literally cannot feel fear? Why are there kids completely unafraid of taking risks and then others who seem afraid of everything? Fear’s purpose is to keep us from harm, but what if it holds us back from what we really want?
THE BIOLOGY OF FEAR
First, some facts: There is no single fear switch for humans; responding to threats involves multiple areas of the brain. We’re not 100% how, but scientists have found the amygdala—almond-shaped bundles of neurons buried deep in the brain, just above the brain stem—central to the process.
“When you sense something potentially dangerous, the amygdala sends excitatory signals to other parts of the brain, effectively saying, ‘Hey everyone, pay attention!” says Bambi DeLaRosa, a researcher on threat processing.
The areas of the brain associated with language and memory also become active in the face of fear. If the amygdala sounds the alarm, the other areas help evaluate the threat level and how you respond. But people with the extremely rare Urbach-Wiethe disease have calcium deposits in their brains, making it impossible for them to process fear.
Studies have found their amygdala completely calcified, so there’s nothing to signal for fear signs like sweating palms or a racing heart to begin. Researchers have identified only 400 people in the world with this condition. What’s particularly striking about Urbach-Wiethe is that fear has long been critical for human survival, so living without fear can be quite dangerous.
Studying subjects with this condition has also given us insights to how we deal with emotions and drives. Since people can survive without fear, perhaps it isn’t as necessary as we’ve assumed. Other paths, like logic, can take us to the correct behaviors that help us survive.
So, what triggers fear in the first place? One possibility is simply not understanding how something works. But we can’t stop fear just through knowledge alone. A 2009 study compared human reaction to sweat taken from people when they were terrified to sweat from regular exercise. Just smelling the fear sweat caused the fear centers of the brain to kick in.
Other animals also share fear reactions via alarm pheromones, but this work is the first to show a similar reaction in humans. These findings suggest that just being around people who are afraid can make you fearful. And while that might not be a big deal when you’re visiting a haunted house or watching a scary movie, it can have huge impacts on your daily life or real estate business.
Our reactions to others’ fear might be part of what holds particularly adults back from taking risks or trying new things, whether skydiving or applying for a new job.
CULTURAL FEARS AND MODERN LIFE
Psychological studies also bear out this idea of collective fear having a wider cultural impact. In the 1970s Roger Hart studied the children in a small Vermont town to see what they did when they weren’t under direct adult supervision, learning about their secret places for play and favorite spots where they roamed.
He returned in 2004 and found a completely different set of norms. These parents, some of whom were subjects in the 1970s research, are much more concerned with the minute-by-minute facts of their children’s lives. Unsupervised play is almost unheard of, and children stay much closer to home.
Yet crime rates are the same as they were 40 years ago. “There’s a fear” among the parents, Hart told The Atlantic, “an exaggeration of the dangers, a loss of trust that isn’t totally clearly explainable.”
But if you’re surrounded by others who aren’t afraid to let their kids roam around, chances are you won’t be either. There is power in who we surround ourselves with as well as how our culture shifts its norms.
As Tony Robbins says, “Who you spend time with is who you become.” This is just one example of how fear often comes from the stories we tell ourselves; we bet you can think of more.
Frequently parents project their own fears onto children or get them to repeat their own fear-driven patterns. Other stories we tell ourselves can lead us to fear everything from rejection to success. What then can we do to prevent fear from holding us or our children back?
WAYS TO LEVERAGE FEAR
You need to use fear, otherwise it uses you.
Remember, bravery isn’t being fearless and unafraid; it’s being fearful and doing something anyway. Ways to use fear include figuring out what your fear tells you about your current situation and what it can teach you.
One way people handle their fear is to push themselves to face extremes, whether climbing mountains or walking over coals. Just take the fire walk at Tony Robbins UPW event I attended a few years ago.
Instead of letting fear win, people lean into their fear and find they can achieve anything they put their minds to.
As a 52-year-old firewalker, you have to mentally prepare for the experience, “otherwise you surrender to the fear and that will conquer other parts of your life.” Fire walking made him feel like “Superman”; “It had nothing to do with my feet but was about following through on a promise.”
No matter your age, you’ll never overcome a fear holding you back by walking away from it. Take courage and focus on what the fear will bring your way and you’ll be truly unstoppable.
A gratitude list probably feels like the last thing you want to do in 2023. While the feeling is understandable, even with the current challenges in the world, there are still things to be thankful for during this time. I know all of these things may not apply to you. Still, I hope this list will inspire you to remember the things to be thankful for in 2023. Here are 101 things to be grateful for in 2023!!
1. Sight. I know there are a lot of people in this world who are blind. Even if you are, there are still other things to be grateful for. Those of you who aren’t blind, even if you have to wear glasses or contacts, you can be grateful that you can see. Even if everything you see in the world isn’t as pleasant sometimes, still be grateful for the pleasant things you can see, like the nice green colors of nature outside.
2. Hearing. Similarly, to sight, many people in this world are deaf. They’ll never be able to enjoy the sounds of music or hear the voice of someone they care about. Be grateful that you can listen to relaxing music when you feel stressed.
3. Smell. As small as this may seem, I’ve heard of people who’ve lost their sense of smell and it completely changed their life. Have gratitude for still having your sense of smell.
4. Taste. When one loses their sense of taste, they lose their ability to enjoy all the flavors of food. We can be grateful for still being able to enjoy the taste of fruits, vegetables, and all of the foods we enjoy in the world.
5. Walking. Being able to get around is more of a blessing than we realize sometimes. There are people who have to use canes, crutches, and wheelchairs to move around. Be grateful for being able to walk on your own two feet with relatively little pain.
6. Lungs. If we don’t have any lung issues or have to use any machines to breathe in oxygen, that’s something to be grateful for.
7. Hand movement. I have to type a lot to make these articles on here. I’m grateful that I have hand movement that’s free of any arthritis. Whatever you use your hands for, be grateful you can still use them.
8. Teeth. Be grateful if you’ve not lost any of your teeth, and they’re not in any pain.
9. Neck movement. As someone who deals with neck pain from time to time, even I’m grateful that I can still move my neck from one side to the other. If you can as well, you can write that on your list.
10. Memory. As we get older, our memories may not be as good as they are now. Be grateful you can still remember the things that you want in your day.
11. Heart. There are people currently waiting for heart transplants in the hospital right now. We can be grateful that we have a working heart that still beats normally.
12.Bladder. Leaky bladders are an inconvenience that we can be grateful we don’t have to deal with.
13. Stomach. As someone who’s had stomach challenges, it’s something to be grateful for when your stomach isn’t in pain. Burning inside of it is definitely no fun. I’m grateful for when my stomach doesn’t experience that, and that I’ve been able to improve it little by little.
14. Bones. I once saw a commercial with a little kid who was born with brittle bone disease. He’d broken his bones hundreds of times. There was also an inspirational speaker who had this disability but managed to live an extraordinary life. It goes to show that not only we can be grateful for having healthy and strong bones, but we can be inspired to do more with the abilities that we’re lucky to have.
15. Overall health. My health hasn’t been the best in the most recent years of my lie, and maybe yours hasn’t either. Nonetheless, no matter our health challenges, we’re still alive. We can be grateful for our overall health still keeps us here. I’m grateful that my health is good for the most part.
16. Health insurance. I know not everyone reading this has health insurance. Those of you that do, be grateful your insurance helps to reduce your medical bills.
17. Meditation. There are many simple activities in life that can help improve our overall health. I’m grateful for meditation being one of those things that’s easy to do and helps us feel better.
18. Medicine. There have been many advancements in technology that have helped to heal many sicknesses that couldn’t be healed decades ago. Medicine is one of the top health things we can be grateful for in life, especially if you can afford it.
19. Doctors. In these times we’re living in, there are few people more deserving to be on this list than doctors. We can be grateful for all of them that dedicate their lives to making people feel well.
20. Exercise. It may not be the most fun thing to do for some of you, but be grateful if you’re physically able to exercise, and help keep yourself healthy.
21. Therapy. Mental health is just as important as physical health. We can be thankful that there are mental health professionals available to help us cope with the stress of the times.
22. Sickness. Yes, we can even be grateful for sickness. Going through it in a way makes us more appreciative when our health is good.
23. Fruits and vegetables. Some people are not in position to afford fruits, vegetables and other meals that keep us well. Be grateful you can enjoy the proper number of fruits and vegetables you need in your life.
24. Having money. While we may not have much in our wallet or our bank account, we can always be grateful we have some money to buy some things. There are a lot of people that don’t have any at all.
24. Earning money.You’ve probably seen how many people have had their jobs lost recently. If you’re still able to earn money for yourself, that’s a lot to be grateful for.
26. Little (or no) debt. It’d of course be nice not to have debt at all, but some people have 100’s of 1000’s of dollars in debt. If you’re one of the few who has low debt, it’s worth being grateful for.
27. Paid bills. Sometimes people reach a point where they can’t pay their bills for the month and their whole world is about to fall apart. It’s a blessing you can count if you can still pay your bills.
28. Shelter. Homelessness is an unfortunate crisis around the world. Be grateful if you stay in a home protected from the elements and able to live comfortably.
29. Food.I don’t have to tell you about starving people in the world. It’s sad and hopefully we can continue to improve it. Being able to have food on your table everyday can be in the top 10 of your thankful lists.
30. Clothing. It’s not just clothes we can be thankful for but being able to have clean ones through the luxury of our washing machines and dryers.
31. Clean water. Hearing about the water crisis in Flint a few years ago reminded me how lucky we are the water we drink is clean.
32. Clean air. China is one of the most heavily polluted areas in the world, with many people that end up developing respiratory issues. If you live in an area where the air around you are clean, it’s another thing to be grateful for.
33. Trees. Studies have proven being in nature is good for our overall wellbeing. Be grateful if you have lots of trees around where you live.
34. Sunshine. In some places it rains most of the time. Even if you live in a place like that, you can be very grateful the few times the sun actually comes out.
35. Animals. I find the sounds of the birds chirping and the movements of the squirrels to be peaceful. If you have these or other kinds of animals in your area, perhaps you can watch them for a moment. You might be thankful to just be able to see and hear nature in action.
36. Personality. You are who you are. There may be things about yourself you don’t like, but there are also things that you can appreciate. Whether it’s your intelligence or your kindness, find those things about yourself that make you thankful.
37. Childhood. Obviously not all of us had the best childhoods. Myself personally, I’d say mine was pretty decent for the most part. However, your childhood was, find one or two memories in that make you feel nostalgic and grateful.
38. Knowledge. We have more access to knowledge than ever before. We can be thankful to be able to learn things that improve our understanding of the world and make us better people.
39. Family.The people that are there for you and help you out in life, whether they’re related to you or not, that’s the family you can be grateful for.
40. Someone special. When you think about it, it’s an incredibly rare experience to have someone special in your life. If you have that now, that can be near the top of your list.
41. Future. You might be thinking, If the future is looking bleak, why be grateful for it? The reason we can be grateful for it is because there’s always a possibility it can get better. I’ve lived long enough to see it in my own life and other people’s lives.
42. Experiencing romantic love. Unfortunately, there are people who live long lives without having that experience of romantic love. We may not know how we got lucky to enjoy it, but we can be grateful we have.
43. Soft bed.After a long day of making through another day, be glad that you have a nice soft bed to lie in and get some good sleep.
44. Waking up. As we all know, some people don’t wake up to see another day. Be grateful that you did and those that you care about did as well.
45. Making it to the end of the day. One of the things I always reminded myself during difficult days was to just make it to the end of the day. I was and still am grateful whenever I can do that.
46. Productivity. We all can be lazy sometimes. It’s great when we have days where we get most if not all the things we wanted to accomplish done If you accomplished that, you could add it to your thankful list for today.
47. Growth and perspective.I learned a lot in my 40s, and I’m still learning a lot in this next stage of my life. No matter what age, we can be thankful for growth and perspective that helps us to be calmer about the world we live in.
48. Travels.Traveling has many benefits to our health. We can not only be grateful for what it does for us now, but the memories it gives us to enjoy looking back on.
49. Creativity. Whether you can sing, write, draw, or dance, our creative passions give us an escape in life we can be thankful for.
50. Kindness. It may seem like there are meaner people in this world today, but there are still people that are kind. Be grateful for the kindness you receive, and the acts of kindness that still happen every single day.
51. Open-mindedness.It can be a frustrating thing in society when people aren’t more open to different ideas and viewpoints. Be grateful when you come across people who are open-minded and willing to change their mind.
52. Exciting sports game. It can be exciting sports game or some other kind of live event. While there haven’t been many of them lately, we can look back at some of the ones we enjoyed most and be grateful to enjoy them all over again.
53. Inspiring speeches. I sometimes like looking back at old speeches in history. They can be uplifting in times of uncertainty. We can be grateful for all the people who had the courage and confidence to give inspiring speeches.
54. The moment work is finished. It’s always a great feeling when you finish your work for the day. Be grateful when you reach that point in your day.
55. A slice of pizza.Pizza is one of my favorite foods. Whatever yours is, it’s something you can be thankful for when you’re enjoying it.
56. A bowl of ice cream.While I’m more of a cookies and brownies person, I enjoy a bowl of ice cream every now and then. We can appreciate when we get to enjoy our favorite dessert.
57. Making someone laugh. When you make someone laugh, you make them feel good for a moment in their day. When we make people feel good, we make ourselves feel good too. Be glad when you can do that.
58. The quiet of the nighttime. Some neighborhoods aren’t as quiet as others, but when your neighborhood is quiet, stop for a moment and appreciate the peace of the silence.
59. Feeling relaxed.There are many moments in life where we feel stressed or anxious. That moment when you feel relaxed is one you should cherish and have gratitude for.
60. Faith.It’s an inspiring force in our lives, for those of us who are faith minded. If you are, have gratitude for faith’s influence and inspiration in your life.
61. Spiritual community. Connecting with a group of people who believe the same things as you can be comforting and make you happy. Be thankful for when you enjoy these times with your faith group.
62. Spiritual growth.Living a life of faith is a journey. Be glad for how far you’ve grown in your spirituality.
63. Prayer. I personally find prayer to be comforting, even if I’m not always sure it makes a difference in my life. It’s a nice feeling to believe you can ask for good things and good things may eventually happen. You can have gratitude for being able to pray.
64. Religious text.The words of a religious text can also be comforting. We can be thankful whenever we read something that comforts and inspires us in these difficult times.
65. Technology.We’re more able to connect with people and get information than ever before. If you have worked internet and a device that easily accesses it for you, you can be very grateful for these things.
66. Heating and cooling. The weather can be very harsh in some places in the world. Some live without access to heating and cooling to make their home comfortable. If you have that access, add that to your list.
67. Your own room. Lots of people don’t have the luxury of sleeping and being in their own room. Be glad if you have an area where you can be alone and completely yourself.
68. Shower.That moment that warms water hits your skin, have gratitude for the comfort of a working shower.
69. Clean floors.You can clean your floors and be happy to be able to comfortably walk barefoot in your home.
70. Happy moments. Even if the happy moments are few and far between, have thankfulness for when they do come. Cherish the happy moments.
71. Sadness. A study on crying shows that it can make us feel good and reduce the pain we feel. Hopefully you won’t be sad for long, but you can appreciate your tears help improve your well-being.
72. Mistakes. No one wants to make mistakes in life, but they’re one of the few ways we learn lessons in life. Be glad that your mistakes help you to grow into the better person you’re becoming each day.
73. Accomplishments. There are things you’ve done in life that you’re proud of. You can have thankfulness for those moments you achieved something great.
74. Hobbies. Everybody has something in life they enjoy doing. You can do those activities you enjoy and be thankful you get to enjoy them.
75. Favorite movies and TV shows. I like looking back at old TV shows or movies I really liked all the time. I’m grateful for the good feelings they still give me when I watch them again.
76. Thunderstorm at night. Sometimes thunderstorms can help us peacefully fall asleep at night. If it helps you, add this to your list.
77. Peaceful neighborhood.Living in a peaceful neighborhood where you feel safe is definitely a top thing to express gratefulness for.
78. Social media. While social media rightly gets criticized for the harm it can cause to our mental health, we can be appreciative of the good it gives us in staying connected with people that aren’t near us.
79. Car. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to get on the road and go wherever you want. Be glad if you have the luxury of doing that.
80. Instrument. I haven’t played my guitar in a long time, but I’m thankful for still being able to do that. Perhaps you can grab that instrument you haven’t touched in a while and have gratitude for still being able to play it.
81. Books. While I’m not much of a book reader, I know many people are. Be happy for the books that you can enjoy reading right now.
82. Shoes. We can be thankful to have shoes that protect our feet from the dirt, grass, and rocks when we walk outside.
83. Pest-free home. Believe it or not, some people live in apartments with rats, roaches, and large spiders. If you don’t, that can be added to your list.
84. Things that are still the same. We so often get frustrated with everything that goes wrong, we forget how much continues to go right for us every single day. The bus still shows up to take us to work, our phones and computers still work, etc. Think of the good things that keep working the same every day and add them to your daily thankful list.
85. Things that change. Even when things change in life, we can be glad for that too. Changes can bring about new experiences and new opportunities that can potentially make our lives better.
86. Heartbreak.While heartbreak is never pleasant, we can appreciate it’s making us stronger than we were before.
87. Chairs. We really don’t think about how much of an inconvenience it can be to not have chairs in our home. We can be glad that we don’t have to sit on the floors.
88. Tables. Similarly, with chairs, not having tables can be an inconvenience as well. Be thankful you have something to set things on when you need to.
89. Plates. We can be thankful we don’t have to hold all of our food in our hands.
90. Utensils. We can be thankful we don’t have to eat all of our food with our hands.
91. Naps. Appreciate the naps that you get to enjoy in the middle of the day.
92. Sleeping in. There are many people that have to wake up early for their specific jobs. I’m grateful that I don’t for mine, and you can be as well if that’s true for you.
93. Deep conversation. One of the things I enjoy most about talking to someone is having a deep conversation. Those long thought-provoking dialogues are something we can continually be glad for in 2020.
94. You had breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, some people can only have one meal a day. We can all be glad if we’re lucky enough to get to enjoy three or more a day.
95. Making progress. Even if the progress you’re making is small, you can appreciate it getting you closer to where you want to be in life.
96. Indoor plumbing. In some places, people have to go outside to use the bathroom. Being able to use the bathroom in the comfort of our home is another luxury we can be appreciative of.
97. The past.We can be glad for our past helping us to become the best of ourselves that we are today.
98. Weekends. After a long week, if you don’t have to work on the weekends, you can be thankful for the rest you get to have.
99. Mondays.A lot of people tend to not like the start of the work week. Nonetheless, Mondays are something we can be thankful for because it’s another chance to put in work for the future we want someday.
100. Alarms. I used to be able to wake up early easily. I’m grateful that we have alarms that help us wake up at the time we need to.
101.Freedom.Last but not least, we can be glad to have freedom. While some of us might have it more than others, just to be able to make some of your own choices is something that should give us gratitude.
What should I put on my list? You should put whatever makes you feel genuinely thankful. We all have unique things that we can express appreciation for that are specific to our life. Think about what those things are for you and put that on your list.
What are examples of gratitude? Examples of gratitude include being grateful for your family, your friends, your possessions, and the life that you have. You can look around you to point out the people and things you have in your life to be glad for.
What are 3 things you are thankful for? Now that you’ve seen this list of things you can express thankfulness for, think of three things you’re happy to have right now. As I write this, I’m happy to have my bed, my laptop, and being able to write these articles.
How do you express sincere gratitude? If you want to express sincere gratitude to someone, tell them exactly how you feel about what they’ve done for you in life. It’s as simple as that.
Why you should be glad for your life? Gratitude helps to make us feel good. Countless studies have shown that. Being grateful for your life can help keep your mood boosted. You don’t have to be happy about everything in your life, but you can always find one thing to be glad for.
One of the most common challenges for real estate agents I coach is their ability to be consistent. Most are masters of being consistently inconsistent and just desire to find that even flow. Consistency is a great characteristic to build and implement in your life.
The key to consistency is setting and achieving specific goals. Start by determining how you want to be more consistent in your life and aim for these small goals. Over time, as you become more consistent, keep yourself motivated and accountable. This may require some change in thinking so you stay optimistic and productive throughout the process.
Create specific and realistic goals. It’s hard to be consistent if you don’t have a strong idea of what you need to do. When starting your new path, create easy, simple goals with specific, measurable results.
1. Start by defining what consistency means to you. Do you need to be consistent about your exercise habits? Are you aiming for a higher quality of work? Do you want to be more available and reliable in your relationships? Once you’ve identified your end goal, produce smaller steps to reach it.
For example, if you want to become more physically fit, you might set the goal to exercise for 5 days out of the week or to sign up for a class.
Be specific. Instead of saying “I’m going to consistently appreciate my significant other,” you might say “I’m going to thank my significant other when they wash the dishes, make dinner, or help out around the house.”
2. Create a schedule for yourself. It can be easy to pile on tasks and promises, but a calendar, planner, or schedule will keep you on track. A schedule will help you plan your day, so you get everything done on time. It will also help you understand what commitments you do and do not have time for.
Use a paper planner or a desk calendar. Alternatively, download a scheduling app on your phone, like Google Calendar or Outlook. Block off realistic amounts of time for each task. If you’re uncertain how long a task will take, give yourself extra time to complete it.
For larger goals, like writing a book or losing weight, set small, daily tasks you can do to work towards this goal. For example, you might set a daily word count to achieve or plan specific meals to eat each day. Don’t forget to plan in breaks as well! Don’t schedule anything else for that day or time.
3. Place reminders around your home, workspace, and belongings. Sometimes, it is easy to forget our new goals, habits, commitments, or promises, especially when we make them to ourselves. To remind yourself throughout the day, put messages to yourself in visible areas.
Write down your goals on post-it notes and place them on your mirror, computer, refrigerator, car dashboard, and planner. Slip a piece of paper with your goals into your wallet, desk drawer, or purse. If you are trying implement a daily practice, put a reminder on your phone. Set an alarm or use a reminder app to alert you when you need to do it.
4. Make promises only if you can keep them. Consistency often involves making commitments and keeping them. It is easy to get overwhelmed, however, if you make too many promises. If you think a request may be difficult to do, say no.
For example, if you tell your significant other, you’re going to handle half of the chores, make sure you have time after work to actually do them. In some cases, you may be able to negotiate a promise you will be able to keep. For example, if someone asks you to help them move, you can say, “Well, I can’t make it before 3 PM, but I could swing by after. Does that work?”
This includes making promises to yourself. If you know it is unrealistic for you to write 10 pages a day for your new novel, promise yourself you’ll just write at least a little bit each day.
5. Reward yourself when you get something done. If you do complete your goals, give yourself a reward. Even small goals deserve small rewards to help keep you motivated throughout the process. For example, if you’ve managed to complete your work by 5 pm every day for a week, take an evening off.
See a movie or treat yourself to a special dinner. If you’re training for a marathon and you’ve managed to hit your daily exercise goals, sign up for a 5k to give you a sense of your success. If you’ve managed to improve your relationships by being more consistent, your friendships may be the reward. If you’re proud of yourself, take your friends out or host a dinner.
So, there you have it. Some powerful ways to ensure a consistent personal and professional life. I challenge you to take these ideas and implement and execute on them and let me know how your next month or two plays out for you. To your success.
Getting knocked down and discouraged is part of the game. It’s impossible to be perfect 100% of the time. The key is knowing how to pick yourself up and get back on the horse, so you can still achieve your goals. That’s why this blog isn’t just about sticking to your commitments but recommitting to them if you ever fall off track. I always ask myself these 3 important questions. What did I learn? What Do I Do Different? What is Next?
How to Get Back on Track, Step 1: Don’t Be too Hard on Yourself.
It’s what I was just talking about but it’s worth putting it as the most important point. Too many people quit after a setback because they’re too discouraged to try again. Here’s the thing… You can only keep succeeding without a failure for too long, and if you do then you’re probably playing it too safe in what you shoot for. Failure is part of living an ambitious, successful life, and I’ve failed more times than you can imagine. The difference is, I always used those failures as an opportunity to learn. You need to accept the slip without letting it harm your self-esteem (this is important for Step 2)and then it’s time to adjust your plan…
How to Get Back on Track, Step 2: Reassess Your Plan.
Let’s say you committed to doing my 5/5/4 Challenge – or if you’ve attended one of my new Roadmap events, the 10/10/8/4 Challenge – where every day you talk to five people from your database, five new people, and following up with four leads you’ve already spoken to. You’ve made this the center of your prospecting strategy for the year and it was going well for the first few weeks until just a few days ago you dropped down to 5/3/2. Then the next day it was 4/2/1. And it kept on like that until now you only make calls if you’re feeling particularly inspired. You could try to pull up your britches and charge back into it… Or you could take a breath and ask what happened to throw you off course. And once you were thrown off, what kept you from correcting course the next day? Sure, sometimes appointments take up your time and life situations happen, but when getting knocked off track one day turns into a new habit, there’s probably a fault in the foundation of the plan. Now’s the time to diagnose the problem and correct it. Maybe it’s just too much for you to maintain with your current schedule. That’s okay. Try cutting it down to 4/4/3and then move it back up once you gain a little more momentum. But maybe it’s just a motivation and mindset problem… In that case, how’s your diet and exercise schedule? What kind of books are you reading right now? Sometimes fixing one habit comes down to getting another in shape first.
How to Get Back on Track, Step 3: Make a Written Recommitment.
There’s something exceptionally powerful about recommitment, maybe even more powerful than committing for the first time because each time you come back to it, you show just how truly serious you are. This goes for everything that truly matters to you, even if you haven’t slipped up (trust me, I’ve married my wife three times now). Whether you’re coming back to a habit or a goal or you’re just ready to pour extra fire into one you’ve already been working with, you need to get it down on paper. This is a contract from you to yourself, but it’s also more than that. By recommitting on paper, you’re sending a signal to the universe that you really want this. Now, I don’t know where you stand on any of that New Age stuff, but I can tell you that there is an undeniable power in putting your burning desires to paper. It just simply works.
How to Get Back on Track, Step 4: Never Let Yourself Forget Your “Why.”
28,835. Does that look like a big number to you? Depends on what it is, right? What if I told you that the average person lives to be about 79 years old, and that means from birth to death, you only have around 28,835 days to live? Now, is that more or less than you were expecting? If you’re like me, it’s a freakin’ wakeup call every time you hear it. And if you want to get even more intense with this, here’s a link to the Google Death Clock. Go to it, fill out the information, and see how many days you have left, then try to tell me you can wait to get started tomorrow. The point is that there’s no time to waste here. This is your life. And if you’re not doing it for yourself, then who are you doing it for? Do you want to send you kids to college? Which college? How much does it cost? Figure it out and put that number up above your desk. Have a picture of your wife, your kids, your parents next to your phone to remind you why you’re making those calls.
How to Get Back on Track, Step 5: Track and Measure.
“How noble and good everyone could be if at the end of the day they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day, and after a while, would certainly accomplish a great deal.” That’s a quote from The Diary of Anne Frank, which if you haven’t read is full of powerful wisdom. Anne Frank was only 13 when she wrote that, but it’s clear that by keeping a diary, she was able to clarify and refine her thoughts into not just wisdom but also profound discipline. The point is you should be keeping a journal. But beyond that, you should also be treating yourself like your own most important employee. Be sure to track everything in some sort of “up and visual” scoreboard that reminds you what you’re working toward and hammers home the reality of where you stand currently.
How to Get Back on Track, Step 6: Get Some Accountability.
The most proven effective way of getting back and staying on track is to do it together with someone. Can you think of an organization that deals with overcoming powerful negative habits and preaches the message that it’s only possible when done in a group? Get an accountability partner, form a Mastermind group, or, if you’re ready for it, maybe it’s time to sign up for coaching. Our coaching program gives you not only a professional coach to help guide you on the right path but also access to the world’s biggest and most trusted community of top performing real estate agents who are holding each other accountable to their own success every single day. Quitter’s Day can come at any day when life throws you a punch in the face. The real question is, are you just going to take it or are you going to get back up and punch back? If you ever find that you’re falling short of the mark, follow these steps and I believe you’ll find yourself back in a better place than where you started from. Let me know in the comments which step is most useful to keep you on track. Thanks for reading!
Decision fatigue is real. Are too many decisions slowing down your progress? Luckily, there’s a better way to get things done – while still being your own boss.
You might think that as someone running a business and your own life, the more decisions you make, the more successful you stand to be. The problem is, the average person already makes around 35,000 decisions every single day, from what they’ll wear and what they’ll listen to in the car, all the way to what they’ll have for dinner. This is a recipe for decision fatigue.
There’s a reason that Steve Jobs wore the same thing every day and Michael Crichton (the writer of Jurassic Park) ate the same lunch every day until he’d completed a book.
Jeff Bezossays that to do his job successfully, he needs to make only three or four key decisions a day.
For Warren Buffett, it’s only three or four decisions a year. What I’m getting at here is that being your own best boss isn’t about making more decisions – it’s about making fewer but more important ones so that you don’t burn out and can make the highest quality choices possible.
In this blog, I’ll show you a few ways you can eliminate decision fatigue by automating your day. You might be surprised by just how much freer and more energetic you feel when you get some of those choices off your plate.
If something isn’t in your schedule, then it DOES NOT EXIST. Does it seem a bit lazy to you to include the same thing twice in a row? It’s not. It’s very intentional. And I’ll say it over and over repeatedly until every agent I see is living by a tightly designed schedule that maximizes their HABU (highest and best use of time).
Freedom is not deciding what you’re going to do now. Freedom is always knowing what you’re going to do and where it’s going to lead you. That’s power. 3D test everything in my schedule. Do I Do It? Do I Delegate It? Do I Dump It?
Decision Fatigue Destroyer No. 2: Morning & Night Routines.
Another thing you’ll hear me talk about over and over. Your mindset is the most important thing you have going for you. It’s more important than the money in your bank or the people you know, because with the right mindset all the rest will come.
And your mindset begins in the morning. And your morning starts the night before. So, you better have your morning and night routines locked in. Start by going to sleep at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every day.
Lay your clothes out the night before and wake up knowing exactly what you’ll do first. Don’t just say, “I’m going to exercise, meditate, and eat breakfast.”Which one are you going to do first, second, and third? What kind of exercises are you going to do? Where and for how long are you going to meditate? What are you going to eat for breakfast?
Will you have the same thing tomorrow? How about on Sunday? When are you going to shop for it?
It is critical that you take the time to consider these choices now and then turn them into a routine. Otherwise, you’ll have to make these decisions every morning and every night. You’ll wake up indecisive, go to sleep feeling more drained than before, and won’t rest nearly as well. If you don’t have your routines locked down, you’re bleeding unnecessary energy.
Decision Fatigue Destroyer No. 3: SOPs for Everything.
Say it with me… Standard Operating Procedures… Those three words are going to save your sanity and your business as you begin to scale. That’s because they’re all about conquering decision fatigue.
As I’m sure you already know, an SOP is a documented step-by-step breakdown of some task or action in your business – how to do a listing presentation or what and when to give client appreciation gifts, for example. Having ANY SOP is tremendously helpful, but the true power happens when you begin to stack SOPs and create systems to manage your systems.
One of my coaching clients got serious about SOPs when she got serious about hitting 200+ listings taken in a single year. She knew that if she and her team were going to hit a number that ambitious, they couldn’t be juggling different aspects of so many transactions in their minds. Every email had to come from a proven template, every listing presentation had to be uniform and rock solid, and every team member needed to have their exact jobs written out so clearly that anyone could follow them.
She created SOPs for EVERYTHING and even wrote SOPs for how to create new SOPs. Now, the team is so systematized that she could pass you over all the documents and you could run her team for her.
Decision Fatigue Destroyer No. 4: Mastermind Groups & Guidance.
Most of this article is talking about how to make fewer decisions by not making the mundane decisions repeatedly daily – because it’s exhausting and unproductive.
But there’s another type of decision fatigue that comes from simply not knowing what to do. I’m seeing agents out there who wake up every day and decide to run plays that aren’t working just because they can’t decide what else they’re going to do or how to start. They don’t have a plan and they don’t have support.
When you have an important decision to make that’s draining your energy, you shouldn’t make them alone.
Napoleon Hill said that having a mastermind group was the most undervalued and important principle of success because multiple minds working together are infinitely more powerful than one working alone.
So, if you’re not going to hire a coach (which you should), you need to find a community of like-minded, dedicated agents to help you brainstorm your problems and hold you accountable. Can you think of a place to find people like that? I can.
As I look back on the past 10 years since starting Agents Boost, it’s clear that our journey with this incredible community of agents has been nothing short of remarkable.
The landscape of real estate looks a lot different now for a lot of us and I am sure we are all asking the question to ourselves, NOW WHAT?
A mentor of mine said to me “agents aim for nothing and hit it with amazing success!”
