You want to get from point A to point B. Pretty much sums up life, business, and your personal journey, right? Where to start?
A question I ponder when I consult with real estate agents, mortgage professionals, or anyone trying to grow their business, career, personal life, etc.
Because that’s the proverbial million-dollar question.
Where should I start?
It’s a difficult question whose correct answer is nuanced by the situation at hand, which is often why people choose to “not start” in the first place.
So, in my book, the first thing you must decide if you want to get from point A to point B is to start!
Now comes the hard part – what should I do first?
Well, the good news, is that there is a basket of “right things” that will get you on the road to progress, but the sequence matters too.
From my experience, (including my very own!), people often start with the wrong thing(s), get frustrated, stressed, and then give up too soon.
And while persistence is a noble virtue, it’s only effective when you’re doing the right things, otherwise, you’re stuck in the dreaded doom loop.
That’s why I’m a huge proponent of…
…THINK…
…then DO.
As in Napoleon Hill’s seminal classic “Think and Grow Rich.”
Too many of us are impatient and want to get moving fast on whatever journey we’re on in life – but it pays (money, time, energy, effort, and eventual yield) to spend the appropriate time to first understand the “rules of the game” and the fundamentals so you can travel in a straight line and reach your destination quicker.
Peter Drucker sums it perfectly:
“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.”
You could unpack a master’s degree in business Strategy with that one quote.
And it’s getting harder every day out there to do anything because our world has too many choices, too many shiny objects, too much noise, and too much truth distortion.
So, we grasp at straws and hope for the best.
We start doing what should not be done in the first place.
We waste precious time, energy, focus, effort, and resources.
And worst of all, we seldom get to where we want to go…
…because you can’t get there from here.
Know what I’m saying?
“Okay,” you say, so where should I start?
Start with a clear understanding of your “point B,” your desired destination or outcome and reverse engineer from there.
Sure, there are plenty of ways to get there, but why take the long and windy road when you can shorten the distance and eliminate unnecessary obstacles, constraints, and stress along the way.
Focus on activity versus outcome.
Activity creates forward movement.
Forward movement creates momentum.
But wait, ‘you still haven’t answered the question of where to start, Warren!’ – you ask.
Why?
Because it’s different for everyone depending on the situation.
Idiots and sales buzzards prescribe the same antidote for everything, trusted advisors do the opposite.
They seek to understand the problem you’re trying to solve first and foremost, and then architect the path forward from there.
But, to give you a simple example, let’s say you’re a real estate agent looking to grow your business.
The first thing I would ask you is to describe the “current state” of your business and then describe the “desired state” – where you want to go.
Because I’d want to know how you define success in the first place.
Is it more time off, more money, less stress, building a big business?
Again, lots of nuances to uncover first so we can reverse engineer from there.
Once we understand “where we’re going” we’ll start to outline the “activity” required to get us moving on a path forward.
The good news, the fundamentals for growth don’t change.
Because, if you’re trying to create “motion” – you’ll need accelerants.
Like activity that is consistent and focused on the specific growth levers that have actual impact.
Then we’ll look to add force multipliers that use the secret power of leverage to maximize our output-to-input ratio, (i.e. get more, for less.)
Finally, we’ll create a simple business plan that you can follow.
Filled with purposeful activities that you can do every day, every week, month after month.
And since you have a plan and navigational map that is leading you to your intended destination, you’ll be less stressed, more excited, and passionate about your journey – because that’s where success happens…
…in the journey.
If you’re a real estate agent who needs help getting to your “desired state” – I would love to be of service.
You can email me at [email protected] to get started.
In the meantime, stay unruly out there.
