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I suck. No, really I do. I am a sad specimen of a human being. I know what I should do every day to live a healthy, productive, and wealthy lifestyle, but I don’t do it. Well, I do it much of the time, but I just am not as consistent as I should be. As a mentor for others, I feel especially aware of my less than stellar actions. Nothing irks me quite like the self-improvement ‘gurus’ who are all talk and little action. I refuse to talk about, write about, or teach something that I have not done myself. That is why I thought it important to write this article. You should know that I am far from perfect, but that does not change the truth of the principles I teach. What you should understand is that none of us are perfect in implementation.
When I was ten years-old, my parents bought me a Duncan,® butterfly yo-yo. After much practice, I got to where I could work that thing like it was part of me. Not only did I get good at the ups and downs, but I also was able to do ‘walk-the-dog,’ ‘around-the-world,’ ‘baby-in-the-cradle’ and more. I loved that toy. Obviously, to make a yo-yo work, it must go up and down. Two directions. That is kind of the point. If you put a good enough spin on it, you can keep it in the down position for quite a while before you must jerk it slightly to bring it back to your hand. However, leaving it there too long will cause it to lose its spin and ‘die’ on the string. At that point, you must either roll it across the floor or wind the string by hand to get it going again.
I used to get really down on myself when I got out of habits that I knew were good for me and was sporadic with activities which I knew would bless my life. Lately however, I have come to see life through a different lens. I have come to realize that life is not a “box of chocolates,” but a ‘yo-yo.’
Though this analogy could be applied to any activity, let’s use the example of eating healthy and exercising. I know that doing these things makes me look good, feel good, and increases my confidence. Yet today I had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Reese’s® shake for lunch. Sure, it tasted great, but I am going to pay for it later. With every bite, I knew I shouldn’t be eating it, but I chose to ignore my inner ‘Jiminy Cricket’ and indulged anyway. My yo-yo was definitely down today. Two things can happen at this point; either I give the string a little jerk by exercising those extra calories off or eating a salad tomorrow or I don’t. Right now, the yo-yo is still spinning and I could easily get it moving again. If I have a Gordita from Taco Bell® tomorrow and a Beef and Cheddar from Arby’s® the next day, I will have a much harder time getting my yo-yo on track again. There may even come a time when I have to do a serious reboot and rewind the string completely to get going again. The longer I wait, the less the toy keeps spinning and the harder it is to restart. The problem with most of us is the fact that we sometimes allow one bad decision to lead to another. Once we hit the snooze and sleep past our running time, it is so much easier to do the same thing tomorrow morning as well. “I will repent later, but I might as well live it up now before I make the big change.”
The key, I have found, to living a successful life is not to be perfect. If you try to do that, you will fail. The key is to get back up when you come down. To keep going, a yo-yo must go down. As a human being, you will slip. You will justify. You will slack. The hope is that you do not let it get you down long-term. The faster you jerk that line, the easier it will be to get the momentum going again. If it has been a few months, you might have to stop and rewind a bit (reorganize your life to fit that important activity in again), but do not give up. You are a yo-yo. You may not be at the top all of the time, but you sure know how to bounce back.
Now, go create some value!
Dustin Harris is a multi-business owner and residential real estate appraiser. He has been appraising for nearly two decades. He is the owner and President of Appraisal Precision and Consulting Group, Inc. He owns and operates The Appraiser Coach where he personally advises and mentors other appraisers. His principles and methodologies are also taught in an online, Mastermind group. He and his wife reside in Idaho with their four children.
The post Life is a Yo-Yo first appeared on The Appraiser Coach.
What did you do this morning when you first opened your eyes? Hopefully, your answer is not, “Hit the snooze, closed my eyes again, rolled over, and fell back to sleep.” What did you do the morning before and the one before that? If you are like most people, the answer is pretty much the same every day. With few exceptions, we humans are creatures of habit, and we do things pretty much the same every day, from week to week, from month to month, from year to year, and… well, you get the point.
If I told you that the first 20 minutes of every day will determine what kind of relationships you have, your health—to a large part—and even how much money you make, would you pay attention? The fact is, I am in good company when I make such a strong statement. Success giants from pioneer Napoleon Hill to contemporary Chris Brogan have also taught this principle. And, I do not use the word ‘principle’ lightly.
Your first 20 minutes of the day sets the tone and direction for the entire day. Let me say that again; what you do in the first few minutes after waking will determine the rest of your day! Most business owners (i.e. appraisers) check their email, voicemails, Twitter and Facebook accounts within the first few moments of waking up. Therefore, they are allowing someone(s) else to determine the course of their day. Too radical a statement? Think about it. When you check an email that requires your response, you will likely… well, respond. Then, it is on to the next email. When your inbox is clean, you are on to Twitter or Facebook. Messages which come to you via those platforms have power to affect you emotionally. It is emotion—most importantly—which will determine man’s destiny. That emotion can either come from you and your own goals, or it can come from others. Since most people have no real goals, they allow others to determine a fate for them. Thus, 97-98% of humanity is unsuccessful. What do the 2-3% do differently? In a word, everything! But, one thing they do is determine their own destiny each morning by focusing—if only for a few minutes—on their own ambitions and desires for the day.
I call this sacred time my “Prime Time.” While the world often refers to the evening watching sitcoms in front of the television as Primetime, my “Prime Time” has a much different connotation. My Prime Time is much more than being a ‘prime’ part of the day, it is also the time to ‘prime’ my pump for the day. In the old days, wells could not pump water unless they were first primed. We too must prime our pumps each day if we expect to be able to allow fresh water to flow throughout the day.
So what happens during this ‘Prime Time’? Well, that is up to you, but a few things to consider might include:
- · Prayer or meditation upon things higher than yourself
- · Scripture study or readings from thought leaders
- · Review of goals and determination of which ones will be worked on that day
- · Affirmation statements to help set the tone for the day
- · Finally, write down important thoughts that come to you during this time
What not to include:
- · Worries about relationships, heath, money problems, etc.
- · News, social media updates, email, etc.
- · Recreational readings (i.e. novels)
- · Sleep
- · Food or drink
- · Interaction with family or others
- · Music or noise of any kind
- · Movement and exercise (that comes later)
- · Anything else that may distract you from creating your vision for the day
I know these things sound a bit “Law of Attraction-ish,” but I am unabashed about my thoughts revolving such principles (again, used purposefully). I used to be a skeptic, and now I am a believer that your thought patterns (and more importantly, your emotions) will absolutely define your success. Since most of your thought patterns are determined by what you do the first 20 minutes you are awake, I suggest you purposefully determine what it is you think about during that critical time.
Now, go create some value!
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Dustin Harris is a multi-business owner, but he has found most of his success as a self-employed, residential real estate appraiser. He has been appraising for nearly two decades. He is the owner and President of Appraisal Precision and Consulting Group, Inc., and is a popular author, speaker and consultant. He owns and operates The Appraiser Coach (www.theappraisercoach.com) where he personally advises and mentors other appraisers helping them to also run successful appraisal companies and increase their net worth. He is also the Founder and President of Your Appraisal Office (www.yourappraisaloffice.com) which implements some of the systems he has developed to help lower costs and free up time for real estate business owners. He and his wife reside in Idaho with their four children.
The post Your First 20 Minutes of the Day first appeared on The Appraiser Coach.
How did you become an appraiser? Maybe you just stumbled upon it. Maybe it was your dream career ever since you knew what appraising was. No matter how you got there, at some point you said, yes this is for me. You decided, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. What was your why behind that moment? Many people who decide to run their own small business do it in large part because of the flexibility that comes from creating their own schedule and running on their own time. You didn’t want to show up at the same place and clock in and out at the same time every day just to do it again the next day. Punching in and out of a job is not a bad way, it’s just not the way you’ve chosen. And because of that first choice you made, there are other things you can decide as a business owner, like the way you control your time and make your own schedule. If that’s a big reason why you do what you do, are you taking advantage of that why?
If you know what you need to get done and you know the times you’re slow and the times you are busier, you can consider that in planning your day to day. What are some things you need to do but the world gets in the way? Look at the patterns in your life. When are you the most productive? When do you know you will have focused, unbothered time? Is it late nights, early mornings, weekends, holidays? Can you plan around that? In considering this, these new productive hours should not be in addition to a 40-hour work week. It’s not work full time and then come in two hours early every morning to get 10 more hours in. It’s a trade. Maybe you try working every Saturday and taking Tuesdays off. The principle is this: if you know when things are slow, when you can be more effective and more concentrated, take advantage of that and take off when things are busier.
You might be surprised with the results that come from refocusing your time productively. Not only do you have the potential to have better control of your life and get more done, you may never have to face a busy Saturday crowd again. You can go skiing on a Tuesday afternoon when the ski hill is empty instead of waiting until the weekend when everybody else is there. You can give time to your family when they need you most. When you started this, you decided, I want to be my own boss. You wanted to make your own schedule and enjoy flexibility and freedom with your time. Well then the question is, are you?
For more information on this subject, please download and listen to The Appraiser Coach Podcast Episode:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/theappraisercoach/702_Get_More_Done_On_a_Holiday.mp3The post NOW YOU KNOW: WORK WHEN IT’S SLOW first appeared on The Appraiser Coach.
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