The Little Red Squiggly Lines of Imperfection

So many people want to keep a perfect track record. As though THAT was more important than actually doing the job itself. I have stated several times to friends and family; "perfection is a myth". This concept of never being willing to make a mistake is sadly permeating our society. It's not just with the young people, either. Those changing career fields, also seem to have a certain aversion to failure. Granted, there's nothing wrong with wanting to do a job well. That's admirable, though it shouldn't stifle our ability to perform at all.

Those who wish to over analyze a situation will always be surpassed by those willing to "stumble forward". I recall something a friend of mine told me he heard from a former Chief Justice in one of his law classes; "The 'A' students will go on to teach, the 'C' students will do well for themselves, but the 'B' students will make all the money". That just always stuck with me. But isn't it contrary to conventional wisdom? Shouldn't it be the heads of the class who make the money?  After all, they had the best notes! Of course, you know the answer, life doesn't hand you notes. What life does hand us, is a series of lessons if we are willing to learn them.

We can think of countless success stories of famous people who were preceded by a long string of failures. Many times, these people overcame rough upbringings, family members who refuse to encourage their vision, lack of education, or economic hardships only to go on and invent the spinning spaghetti fork, or latest nose hair trimmer. When these people experienced setbacks, did they ask their college for a reimbursement on their tuition or simply try another way based on what didn't work previously?  As Alvin Toffler stated; “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” That in mind, why do we seem so averse to learning what life has to teach us?

Many in business have drawn the erroneous conclusion that making mistakes is somehow bad. Is it? Most days, people make mistakes and never even know it. If ignorance is truly bliss, then perfection equals... well, ignorance. To a greater point, we are perhaps most afraid of looking bad to our peers or feeling as though we fell short of the skills of our competitors. But are the abilities of our colleagues and competition that much superior to ours? Or, did they come into their own by just not caring as much about OUR opinions of them? In other words, are they free from the additional stress of what others think, so they just go ahead and "mess up"? It was Thomas Edison who said; "I haven't failed, I just found 10,000 ways that won't work". We all know what kind of a loser he was!

Still, the sense of everything in our lives being flawless, is to what many in America aspire. At what point in our lives do we come to learn that everything must be an elusive 100%? Was it our family, grade school, college or career that led us to form such a judgement?  That's right, I just spelt "judgment" with two "E"s. Though the little, red, squiggly line tells me I 'goofed', I'm just fine with it. After all, it doesn't change what you perceived me to write, nor the point. My advice; don't be afraid to live your life with little, red, squiggly lines!

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BlaineSpeak@gmail.com

Analysis Paralysis!

I have taught Realtors and sales forces for almost a decade now. From brand-new rookies to career agents, I know one thing that will never change... change itself! Change will constantly come at us, and no matter how much we think we know, we don't. There is always the need for additional knowledge and training. Information and experience are vital to the decisions we make on a daily basis. With the knowledge we have, and the benefit of past lessons learned, we can better assess the risk involved with any endeavor that may require an investment of our time, money, or emotions. That being said, we will seldom have an unqualified answer to the question: "Should I stay, or should I go"?

Several years ago, I was training a new twenty-something agent on my sales force when I was with a local RE/Max franchise. One of the first skills I taught this group of "newbies" was how to find prospective clients. This particular agent was attentive, thoughtful, and took copious notes in my Tuesday morning sales meetings. Jeff was what most sales trainers dream of; a clean slate devoid of bad sales habits, someone who was "coachable". Indeed, he asked a lot of questions every Tuesday morning, and most every other day as well. He asked a lot of good questions, but mostly just A LOT of questions. Initially I didn't mind. After all, that was part of my job. Although, after a month or more of this, and no clients to show for it, it finally dawned on me where his head was. His lack of confidence in being able to overcome every possible objection, stopped him in his tracks.

One Tuesday morning, after the rest of the team of new agents cleared out of the training room, I said to him; "Jeff, you do realize you will never have all the answers to every challenge that may arise beforehand, don't you? In other words, you cannot possibly absorb everything from a textbook, or class in an attempt to eliminate a problem before it reveals itself to you". Jeff looked to the side, back at me, then widened his eyes. This was his moment of Zen. Though I do not consider myself his "guru", a light had clicked on for him. A switch that for many of us never gets flipped. It's the realization that in order to pursue success, we must first be willing to fail.

So many people want to keep a perfect track record. As though THAT was more important than actually doing the job itself. I have stated several times; "perfection is overrated". More on that in a later post. But, this concept of never being willing to make a mistake is sadly permeating our society. It's not just with the young people, either. Those changing career fields, also seem to have a certain aversion to failure. Granted, there's nothing wrong with wanting to do a job well. That's admirable, though it shouldn't stifle our ability to perform at all. In the words of Marcus Lemonis, "Have no fear and be willing to fail." Most challenges have more than one solution, but none of them will be completely perfect anyway.

Fortunately, it is NOT the job of a Realtor to know everything. It is the job of the Realtor, or sales professional to understand our client's goals, then find the information that will be pertinent to our clients making an informed decision. Yes, we are compensated for helping others to avoid (or at least properly assess) the risks involved. That's why we exist! We are the professionals. But, we didn't become that by never making mistakes or by just asking a bunch of questions. So stop worrying about not knowing everything, and get to work. Your clients need you!


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The End is Near!

What does the end of 2016 mean? It’s time to start thinking about our ambitions for 2017. (Pssst, it's just a number). According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, only 8% of Americans actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions each year. Yikes! Statistically speaking (92% to be exact) I will NOT achieve my 2017 goals. Now what? Well what is a "goal" any way? It's a dream we write down on a piece of paper to make us feel like we have accomplished something, or that we're at least on our way. In short, we get a certain short-term satisfaction for having done something positive that day. We believe we are beginning to take charge of our lives! Sadly, reviewing our little wish lists, is not taking action. And what were we doing the REST of the year, anyway?

Of course, you could scrap those goals all together, and simply BECOME the person you want to be, irrespective of the number on the calendar. That's right, simply take on the disciplines and behaviors of the top sales rep in your company, act as if you were already regional manager, or earned that coveted industry designation.  We can incorporate the aspects of a positive personality TODAY, and that will get us to where we want to be a whole lot faster than a "wish list" on a slip of paper. In order for us to redesign our lives, it's going to take... wait for it... CHANGE. Perhaps we avoid change not only out of complacency, but more the fact that to change today is to admit we were wrong yesterday. It’s a vicious cycle, but we can break it by becoming, rather than planning. That’s something we can do that any time of the year!  

http://SpeakingForEffect.com/