4 Steps To Control Your Lack of Self-Discipline In Today’s Real Estate Market
“If you’re honest with yourself and truly looking for answers, dig in and enjoy. If you’re looking for excuses don’t waste your time — it won’t help.”
– Patrick Precourt
This article was written for and published on www.ShortSaleMedia.com and on www.RealEstateBusinessMentors.com.
Why doesn’t everyone have everything they want out of life? Why don’t they have everything they deserve out of life?
You’re probably thinking, “If I knew the answer to those questions, idiot, I would have everything!”
OK, fair enough.
Let me ask you this, do you believe that you deserve the best out of life…..like it’s a birthright? You should because you absolutely do!
So again, why don’t you have it?
3% of the world’s population gets this.
What I’m going to talk about is a piece of the puzzle….it’s certainly not the whole puzzle but truth is, you only need to link together a few key pieces to create expediential growth and quantum gains throughout both your personal and business lives.
So far we agree that it is a God-given birthright that you deserve the best out of life…all that life has to offer…….what’s the catch? Just because you deserve it, doesn’t mean anybody is going to give it to you….as a matter of fact, if you really and truly want to possess what you rightly have coming to you, you have to go out and TAKE IT.
That’s right, take it. It’s not going to get handed to you on a silver platter……and to be totally truthful, it gets worse than that. Many of those you associate with (including friends and family) will go out of their way to make sure you don’t get it … doesn’t that suck?
So let’s summarize; it’s your birthright, as much as anybody else in this world, to have all the goodness life has to offer; so why do the masses that are surrounding you, intentionally and unintentionally do what they can to sabotage your success……Isn’t that a bit of a paradox?
Now most of you reading this would certainly describe yourself as an entrepreneur ……or at least an entrepreneur in spirit…..great…AND you’re kind of screwed.
What do I mean?
Tell me if this is your typical day, week, or month.
You work hard, real hard…you have more tasks to complete than you know what to do with…running…no, sprinting, from point A to point B…never slowing down….sometimes you don’t even know if you’re coming or going…for every item you cross off your list, you add three more.
You may even get so overwhelmed that you stay up at night, dare I say, worrying about everything….always in motion, lots of energy getting burned up….day after day, week after week, month after month…and at the end of it all, when you look back on all that you have done.
BAM!
No matter how hard you work — NO FORWARD PROGRESS!
You just worked your butt off and for all intents and purposes and you have nothing to show for it and you have no movement forward.
The greatest analogy I have heard for this disease is this; you’re like an eight legged Octopus on roller-skates; lots of action, tons of movement but you’re not MOVING anywhere. Eight tentacles working against each other….no direction and no control…..no LEADERSHIP and therefore no DISIPLINE!
That’s right, WE ALL LACK DISIPLINE!
Discipline is one quality of a leader (albeit, a very significant one).
When you master leadership- discipline, communication, charisma, character, focus, generosity, competence, courage, passion, responsibility, commitment……and a number of other qualities that make up a true leader, all that you want and deserve will flow freely.
Remember what I said earlier, link a few of these together and phenomenal quantum gains will begin immediately.
Discipline is a challenge for the Entrepreneur. Appreciate, embrace it as a weakness, and fix it! Acknowledging, embracing and taking ownership of your weaknesses can be unbelievably liberating.
Here are the Top 4 Steps to control your lack of self-discipline:
1. Create a plan- Yea, I know, you’ve heard this before…but did you do it? And if you did, did you stick to it? A key part to creating a plan is to clearly identify priorities. When you determine what truly is a priority, this will release you from everything else, allowing you to follow through on what’s important and that is the real foundation to self-discipline.
2. Make no excuses, take no excuses- It is human nature to come up with reasons why we can’t do things we don’t want to do and why we can’t be self-disciplined. Challenge your excuses and do not except them. Recognize they are nothing but excuses and squash them. Even if the excuses seem legitimate, fight to dismiss them and overcome them and find a solution. You cannot rise as a leader making or accepting excuses.
3. Reward yourself after the task has been successfully completed, NOT BEFORE- Don’t reward yourself, your employees, your kids or anyone for that matter for anything shy of a job well done. Accepting rewards before completing your job teaches you not to complete your job. Kind of like paying a contractor in full to paint your house before he starts! The job will take much longer to complete and will not be done with the same passion, commitment and discipline. Quality will suffer. See yourself as the contractor. No exceptions.
4. Stop focusing on the work it takes to plow, plant, and harvest the fields, focus on the bountiful goods the fields produce. As an entrepreneur, our workload at times can seem very daunting. Don’t focus on the hard work; focus on the results of WHY we work: complete financial freedom, time to travel the world, endless quality time with the ones we love. Next time you look down at your to-do list and you’re thinking about doing what is convenient instead of doing what’s most important change your focus. Look at the benefits of paying the price and hit it hard!
Look for much more to come on your development as a leader and to for more real estate industry articles visit www.ShortSaleMedia.com and www.RealEstateBusinessMentors.com.
To your absolute rock’n success,
Patrick H. Precourt
Thank You Again Your teaching is always right on an once again you have hit on what holds back the majority of people, and especially beginners or newbies. Prioritize your goals and take action. What an incredible statement. So simple yet so antagonizing. Thank you for tying to keep us all focused. Keep up the good work and thank you and Bob for everything. Phrase for the week: T A K E A C T I O N
Great info!!! So true Pat. We all need to take responsibility and I look forward to it here in 2010. Thanks Again!
Pat,
You did it again. You hit the nail right on the head. It was a pleasure getting to know you this week-end. I will apply what you have taught.
Thanks.
Gloria