Real Estate Information Archive

SOUND FAMILIAR?

How many times have you told a friend or associate about a bold new idea for succeeding, only to have them shoot down the idea? How often do you hear a parent tell their child, "You can't do that!" or, "You're too little (or too short or too ugly)." With just a word, a child's future can be stunted. The alternative is to believe in yourself. Take a look at a few of those "You'll never amount to anything" comments made to the wrong people:

"You have a perfect voice for broadcasting, but you should get a job as a secretary. We're not using women." - What announcers for NBC told Sally Jesse Raphael when she applied for a job after graduation from Columbia University.

"It's a cutthroat business and you've got no chance of success." - So said an accountant for Estee Lauder, founder of a multibillion-dollar cosmetics empire.

"You have a nice voice, but it's nothing special." - That's what a teacher told Diana Ross after she auditioned for a part in a high school musical.

"It's too hard to crack into the late-night ratings. Television isn't ready for a black talk show host. This is America and you can forget it." - That's some conventional wisdom offered to Arsenio Hall prior to his acceptance of Paramount's offer to host a late-night talk show.

A dream, an idea, a vision of greatness - all can be shattered by a word or two from a total stranger. If you are the one with a dream, keep it to yourself as you methodically achieve all that you desire. If it's another who tells you theirs - encourage them to nurture it to fruition. Remember Thoreau's thoughts on this: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

August 11, 2008

FILL IN THE BLANK!

From "Wellsprings of Wisdom" by Ralph Woods comes this story:

A successful businessman was invited to address a group of young executives on the subject of opportunities. He began his talk by tacking to the wall a big sheet of white paper and placing a black dot in the middle of the sheet. "What do you see?" he asked, pointing to the paper on the wall. "A black spot," called out everyone in the audience. "Yes, I see a black dot too," replied the speaker, "but none of you saw the much greater expanse of white. This is the point of my talk on opportunities."

While it is so easy to focus on the "black dots" - the immediate tasks that face us each day - how often do you grasp the opportunities that no one else notices in the white space? Don't answer that you do not have the time to notice the white space. Do you ever find yourself daydreaming? When you do, you are visiting that white space. The question is: Do you recognize your ability to bring those daydreams to fruition?

Look around you. Do you find yourself envying what others accomplish? Perhaps you can learn from their example. All they have done is to act on their dreams - to recognize the value of their white space and put it into motion.

So - what is missing in your life? Why not try filling in the blanks - the white spaces - with the achievement of your dreams? Maybe a legal pad and pencil can help. Try making a list of every dream you have ever had. Write them all down, all of them. When you finish, place an asterisk next to the five you would most like to accomplish or experience.

Finally, make those five items the "black dots" upon which you will focus until completed. Once identified, it becomes much easier to concentrate your attention on them. Opportunity knocks!

July 7, 2008

SOW GOOD SEEDS!

James Bender, in his book "How to Talk Well," tells of a farmer who grew prize-winning corn. Each year he won the blue ribbon at the state fair. When asked how he did it, the farmer explained that he shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

Pollen from ripening corn is carried by the wind from field to field. If the farmer's neighbors grew inferior corn, he felt that cross-pollination would steadily degrade his own prize-winning variety. If he was to grow good corn, the farmer felt he first had to help his neighbors grow good corn.

Having a good attitude and achieving your goals works the same way. How you view the world is affected by the attitudes of others, and vice-versa. Surely you can think of a time that someone else's dark outlook on life caused you to have a bad day. Your positive, can-do attitude can be easily cross-pollinated by the negative thoughts of others.

So . . . why not share your award-winning, success-oriented approach to life with your neighbors? By simply sharing a smile and a kind word with those around you, you can improve everyone's outlook. That thought can be carried a step further, too.

Can you imagine a farmer purposely planting corn in a field adjoined by a field full of briars, thorns and thistles, owned by a farmer with no intention of improving it? While it is a noble cause to improve the lives of others by sowing good seeds all around, it is sometimes necessary to do your farming elsewhere. By spending your time with others who share your aptitude for excellence, your own personal value will increase.

When picking a field in which to grow your dreams, choose your neighbors wisely - then sow only seeds that improves everyone involved. It's your choice.

June 30, 2008

BE ALL THAT THEY CAN BE?

On a recent A&E Biography segment, Oprah Winfrey was asked whether she considered all the competing talk shows to be a threat to her own daytime show. She answered with a personal story about running in a marathon.

It seems Oprah had always had a dream of running in a marathon. She trained for two years to get ready, and she ran her marathon. Oprah explained that, to her, competition was like that marathon. As long as she was hitting her stride with her goal of winning in clear focus, there was no time to consider the competition. She added that just turning her head backward to see how close competing runners were to her position was enough to rob her of energy needed to win the race.

Oprah's view of the competition brought to mind the U.S. Army recruiting slogan: "Be all that you can be!" Note that it does not say, "Be all that THEY can be!" Even when your competition has a recognizable face, why would you want to be them? If you want to improve yourself, speed up your achievements, or earn more money, why not just better your own time? Comparing yourself to others is a waste of precious time and energy.

Realizing your dreams requires a roadmap. First, you must decide on a destination - your dream. Next, you must choose a route. For Oprah, that involved hiring a personal trainer, improving her aerobic capacity, and adding strength training to her daily regimen. You must also identify some stops or landmarks along the way to help you measure your progress. Finally, you must apply all your energy to running the race - and achieving your dream.

Oprah's dream was to run a marathon. What's yours?

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"People with goals succeed because they know where they are going."
~ Earl Nightingale

 WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

It's been suggested here that you need to regularly analyze your goals and your dreams, so that you can stay on course or make needed adjustments to succeed and achieve your idea of happiness. Whether your work makes you happy or simply helps you to achieve happiness, it's the feeling that you are making progress that keeps you going. Staying focused on becoming successful helps you to achieve that success.

Unfortunately, there can be an awful lot of distractions along the way. Unforeseen circumstances can often delay us on our life's journey. Family responsibilities end up demanding more time than we had planned, financial bumps can use more resources than we had hoped, or perhaps our changing health redirects our energies in ways we could not have foreseen. While these circumstances are beyond our control, the manner in which we react to them is not.

James Allen plainly tells us that "having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right or to the left, but straight." Maybe "forward" is a better word, since driving "straight" on a curved path will bring obvious negative consequences! But we can't just put on blinders - maybe we can't help but take a quick glance around us when the unexpected lurks just off the path. But it's important not to linger too long and stray from the mapped plan. It's too easy to get distracted on the way to our dreams, to take a "detour" when we see a bump in the road.

If you've taken a side-road on the way to your Nirvana, refill your tank, take another look at the map, and begin navigating your way back towards your goals. Try to use whatever you've picked up during your detour and incorporate that into your dream. Leave everything else behind. Constantly remind yourself of Charles Swindoll's advice: "The past is over...forget it. The future holds hope...reach for it."

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence."
~ Aristotle

 WHY ARE YOU WORKING?

When is the last time you sat down and analyzed your goals and dreams? At least once a year, you should review your financial situation to try to determine how much closer you are to achieving your goals from the same time last year. Every step you take should bring you nearer to your goals.

Of course, you need to evaluate your dreams every year as well. Sometimes you imagine something that you want when it is simply in the "heat of the moment," before you have thought it through to its logical conclusion. When you look back a few months later, you might say to yourself, "What was I thinking?" Sometimes it is only someone else's ideas that affect or determine our own desires.

Your dreams do not have to be of "castles in the clouds," but you should also avoid setting your goals too low! While respectable, if all you are working for is to make sure you do not miss a mortgage payment and you can cover your credit card bill, you definitely need to take the time to determine what would make you happy beyond just making sure the bills are paid.

You should not have to feel that you are working simply because you have to. If your work itself doesn't make you happy, at least try to see that your work can help you to achieve those goals that you dream of. When you feel you are wholeheartedly pursuing your happiness, then you can put yourself wholeheartedly into your work.

When you make your happiness and the happiness of others your purpose, you will find the journey to that destination all the more enjoyable. Seeking joy and peace is not selfish - it is as Aristotle said, "the whole aim and end of human existence." Take a good look at where you are now and where you want to be one year from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now. Apply your heart, body and mind to shaping your future - take whatever you have today and run with it!