Mindset
08/03/2011
07/15/2011
4 Ways To Keep Yourself Focused
Here is an occurence you see too many times before – you start off your day by telling yourself that you will get (insert amount) of task done today. As determined as you are, you might end up having blunt conversation with your friends, replying and sending out e-mails and of course, get really busy on social outlets.
So how do we avoid all these evil attention seeking, unnecessary task and make sure we accomplish what we should be accomplishing on the day itself? Our minds are easily wavered and affected and it becomes extremely hard to realign your focus with items that you need to get accomplished. Today I want to share with you 5 ways to improve your focus in Real Estate and how you can possibly discard activity that can divert your attention. Now these tips can be subjective but it may be effective for you!
1. Work In Chunks
It’s a scientific fact that our brains can only be attentive on a limited amount of information for a limited amount of time. Making sure the appropriate information in mind is the one that lines up with our activities in Real Estate is where the difficulty is. To lighten the load on your brain, it is better to segment your work into small manageable pieces. The idea is you do not want to spend an entire day working on one task non-stop. Breaking it up allows your brain to ‘breathe’ and it will reward you later with effective work. So work in small portions then leave your desk and if your lucky go outside breathe in mother nature.
2. Reward Yourself For Your Determination
It’s not really a bad thing to visit sites like Facebook, Meebo, or Twitter to get your social updates, but it’s important to not spend huge amounts of time on them, especially when your activities for the day are not complete. What I tend to do is create a set of tasks that I need to complete before I can visit any of those sites or leave my desk. I will work awhile, complete a task, then reward myself with some time catching up with a friend. This strategy relies on sheer perseverance and strong will. If you cant stick to goals that you set try another one of these methods.
3. Go Incognito
If all else fails and you just cant seem to get away from the Facebook and pesky co-worker emails, you have to hide yourself. Go invisible on the instant message clients, set the away message to “BUSY, DON’T BOTHER ME”. And for those people who love to stop by your desk, throw on those head phones so they dont feel inclined to spark up a conversation. I often have to close my door and put up a Prospecting Sign so that I can get my work completed. It seems the moment one person starts talking to me that the floods of people come. I’ve learned to never put myself in conversational positions while trying to be focused or make sure that i’m in control if I am in those situations.
4. Be Interested/Passionate About Your Work.
Finally the best way to be productive is to truly enjoy and be passionate about what your working on. We go to great lengths and hours of work for things that interest us. Yet we lose focus instantaneously if what we are doing is not important. It might take sometime finding interest in the work you do, you might have to just think about the big picture.
07/12/2011
"Increased Profits at Keller Williams Greater Omaha Market Center"
Gang, this is a great blog post by "The KCM Blog"! As the CEO of Keller Williams Greater Omaha, I agree with most of what they are predicting. Each month I compare our company's numbers to the local board's and for the past 3 months we have experienced an awesome trend in contracts written. April +56.7%, May +133.3%, June +141.3% and we are up +52.9% for the year thus far. I am very optimistic that this trend will continue even going into the slower selling months! While other markets are not experiencing these types of increases, our agents are enjoying the increased business. Since we cap our agents on how much they have to pay into the company, they are also enjoying increased PROFITS!
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Making predictions can be the ‘kiss-of-death’ for a blog. Even if we get four out of five correct (80%), there are those in the industry who will kill us on the one we got wrong. We believe strongly that when making a real estate decision for you and your family you must look forward and take into consideration how the housing market may change.
For this reason, we are willing to take on the possible wrath of our counterparts by sticking out our necks and predicting these will be the major real estate news stories from now until the end of the year.
Interest Rates Rise
Many, including us, have been surprised that rates have not risen already. However, the next several months are going to see three distinct changes that will propel rates upward.
- As the government starts to leave the mortgage market, private industry will step in. Private industry demands a higher rate of return on their investments. Mortgages will be no different. Studies have shown that 30 year mortgage rates could increase by 1 to 3% over the current rate.
- In many higher priced markets, rolling back Conforming Loan Limits means that rates for the mortgages on these properties will resort back to the rates on private jumbo loans. The FHFA informed us that last year, the difference between mortgage rates for jumbo loans and jumbo-conforming mortgages has varied between about ½ and ¾ of a percentage point.
- As the economy gets better (and we believe it will), the pressure to keep rates low to stimulate growth will abate.
Some Loan Requirements Tighten but More Can Now Get a Loan
Lending institutions have already started to introduce stricter mortgage guidelines. Whether the Quality Residential Mortgage (QRM) requirements are instituted as originally proposed or eased somewhat, there is no doubt that guidelines will continue to tighten as we work through the year. However, we believe the private sector will again start introducing alternative mortgage financing but at a greater expense to the consumer. You WILL be able to get a mortgage. It will just cost you more.
Housing Sales Increase
Contracted sales have shown consistent improvement over the last six months and we feel this will continue and actually begin gaining even greater momentum. We believe there is a ‘pent-up’ buying demand caused by the volatility of the market over the last several years. When interest rates start to move upward and alternative financing becomes more available, these buyers will start to jump off the fence. We believe there will be a major upswing in sales over the next six months.
Distressed Properties Increase Markedly
More people are paying their mortgage on time and that is great news for housing in the long term. However, the numbers of distressed properties currently in the foreclosure process is still very swollen. These properties will begin coming to the market in the second half of the year as short sales and foreclosures. The numbers will be staggering in some areas.
Prices Continue to Soften in Most Markets
The current housing inventory for sale and the distressed properties about to come on the market will vastly outnumber the increased supply of purchasers we will see over the next six months. There will be more houses for sale then there will be buyers purchasing them. That oversupply will continue to put downward pressure on prices through the rest of this year and into 2012.
You now know what we believe will take place in real estate between now and the end of the year.
11/23/2010
"It's Never Too Late"
It is November 20th and I am working on setting my 2011 Goals and as usual one of my greatest mentors of all time is reinventing himself! Floyd has been a friend, father, mentor, advisor, and inspiration to me for most of my adult life! Knowing that at the age of 69 he still setting BIG GOALS inspires me to do the same! I am currently the CEO/TL of Keller Williams Realty in Omaha NE and my BIG GOAL for 2011 is to help change the lives of 100 real estate agents the same way that Floyd has changed mine! Enjoy this inspiring blog post from Floyd Wickman below!
I just set a new 5 year goal for myself. Some may think it silly to be setting a 5 year goal at age 69. What might be even sillier is that I have no doubt but that I will achieve it.
On one hand I am humbled and blessed to think of all that I have achieved, and overcome, throughout my life. On the other hand, I believe there are some very specific ingredients that worked for me and will continue to work as I strive to achieve my next goal. I share them with the hope that someone reading this can use these ingredients to achieve his or her goal, regardless of age.
1. WORK HARD. Nothing will ever replace hard work as a major force in taking one toward the goal. Asking ones self "what can I accomplish during my workday?" rather than "what can I get out of doing during my workday?" is one noticeable difference between an achiever and a wanna-be. Remember, if you wish to leave your footprints on the sands of time...wear work-shoes!
2. STRONG CORE VALUES. Those traits that best describe a person and his or her ethics, guidelines or promises can often predict the outcome of ones efforts toward achieving the goal can be reduced to concise and clear core values. A person needs only to look back upon a successful period of his life to discover his core values. What traits obviously contributed to the successful outcome? How would others describe the 'work ethics' or conspicuous characteristics he demonstrated.
To help the reader understand what I mean by Core Values, I give you mine. To Always...
...Live by the Get-by-Giving Philosophy.
...Make my clients number one goal, my number one goal.
...Live up to my standards despite temptations to lower them.
...Be willing to work toward a common good.
...Do what I say I will do. Sometimes more, just never less.
Each person should ask themselves this question. "Are my core values such that, if I adhere to them, I have the best chance to achieve my goal?
3. HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE. This is a term my 'big brother' Zig has reminded me often of throughout the years. Simply put, he says we cannot succeed to our full potential without the people in our life rooting for us. Encouraging us to be our best. Whether its our spouses, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers or just our closest friends, our odds of success soar when they are cheering us on and giving us our space to grow. How do you get this? You get by giving. By encouraging the people closest to us; giving to our families the love and attention they want and need; and, putting their needs high on our 'to do' lists, we dramatically increase our odds of having that 'home court advantage".
Linda and I have been married for 46 years and I can tell you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, without her encouragement, belief and support, I could never have achieved the success I have. No one does it alone. In my book "letters to Linda" www.floydwickman.com we share the 15 principles that has given each of us the 'Home Court Advantage'.
4. TRUST GOD. Believe that God wants the best for you. Believe that He has a purpose for you to fulfill. Believe that He is there in the toughest of times. Believe that He wouldn't have given you the dreams you have if you weren't able to accomplish them.
Hope this helps. Oh, by the way, my 5 year goal is to Speak to 100 separate 'general' audiences (other than real estate groups) on or before October 20th 2015. Wish me success.
Love,
Floyd
11/18/2010
Transparency By Zig Ziglar
Zig has been a Mentor of mine for 15 years and this artical is yet another inspiration that keeps me going in the right direction! Thank you Zig for all that you have done for me and my family!
On March 7, 2007, my life changed completely with one, simple, misplaced step and a fall down the stairs resulting in vertigo and brain injury induced short-term memory loss. Some would say it changed for the worse, and by human standards they would be entirely right. Fortunately, and I can assure you this is not by chance the one verse that I've written in the majority of books I've been asked to autograph, the verse that I believe encourages people most in the midst of their troubles, Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (KJV), is the verse that allows me to know that God will use this season of my life, difficult though it may be, for His glory and my ultimate benefit.
One day my daughter Julie asked me if it was upsetting to me to have short-term memory loss. I told her that I honestly did not ever feel upset because I could not remember what I had forgotten. My life today is entirely in the present. That kind of focus has its benefits, but I have to say that without my wife to tell me where we're supposed to be and when, well, I'd miss out on just about everything.
Some might call what I just told you "being candid." I call it "being transparent." There is no sense in trying to act or pretend like nothing unusual is going on with me. Just a few minutes of conversation on some days is enough to reveal my memory problem. Other days I have considerably more clarity, and if we met and visited for even up to thirty minutes, I might seem like my old, pre-fall self. At least that is what my family tells me. I can't remember all that happened yesterday or this morning, but I can tell you almost anything you want to know about stuff that happened before the fall, and that is why I'm still able to be on stage with the interview format.
But I have to be transparent with my audience. Julie tells me there are times I "get stuck in a loop" and keep going back to the same topic. She interrupts me, and I usually have a one-liner on hand to put the audience at ease…when you laugh at yourself the world laughs with you. If we hadn't told the audience in advance about my fall and about my memory loss, it could get very uncomfortable for them while they try to figure out what is going on. That's one reason I'm talking about transparency here. The other reason makes the bigger point.
The first person you have to be transparent with at all times is yourself. If you can't see what's going on with you, you can't see what needs to happen next. The alcoholic who doesn't think she has drinking problem won't seek help. The workaholic who denies that twelve-hour workdays are too long won't take time off to see his child's soccer game. The perfectionist can't and won't relax, the morbidly obese won't get healthy, and the people who think they present a perfect picture to the world take themselves way too seriously. The list is endless…add a few of your own…maybe you'll discover something that applies to you.
I've known many people who have been told by more than just a few friends that they had problems, but until they're willing to admit their problems, there was no convincing them they needed help. Reality can be pretty hard to take, especially when dealing with it might require gut-wrenching hard work. I come from a generation that didn't talk about personal problems. You sucked it up and went on with your life. If things weren't going well, it was your duty to hide it from anyone and everyone. Appearances were more important than getting help.
When I first started doing a lot of public speaking, I knew that what I said had to make a difference in people's lives or there was no sense in saying it. I instinctively knew that people needed to relate to what I had to say on an emotional and applicable level and that I had to be real myself if I wanted my material to make a "real" difference to the individuals who heard it.
Nothing, in my experience, has a stronger impact on individuals than hearing stories of how it was then, how it is now, and what happened in between. Those stories give hope to the hopeless. They say, "See, life can be hard but it will get better – if you do!" If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel you can't see where to go. Stories of hope inspire people to find their way out of bad situations. Like the parables in the Bible – they give direction.
I'm sure I could have gone my entire speaking career without telling anyone that I don't gamble or drink and why. I could have left out the truth about how many different jobs I've had in the course of my sales career; how many times I relocated my family in search of the pot-of-gold sales job. I could have skipped telling how my wife has cried with relief when I came with cash and we could pay bills and buy groceries. But I could never have convinced you that you can improve your attitude and your circumstances if I couldn't show you how I'd done it myself.
I was young, vigorous and healthy when all of the circumstances mentioned above happened. Now I have challenges that I may never entirely overcome, and I want you to know that having the right outlook, realistic expectations, and constant hope for something better will serve you and the people you love so much better than resigned acceptance of the status quo. Life is to be lived transparently, excitedly, with eager anticipation of the good things that still lie ahead, in spite of our circumstances.
Adapted from Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms by Zig Ziglar and Julie Ziglar Norman - © 2009, Zig Ziglar. Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
09/27/2010
Pastor’s Advice for Better Marriage: More Sex
I would Love to get your comments on the 7 days of Sex Challenge. Is it a Good idea or not?
GRAPEVINE, Tex. — And on the seventh day, there was no rest for married couples. A week after the Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives among his flock of 20,000 to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex, his advice was — keep it going.
Mr. Young, an author, a television host and the pastor of the evangelical Fellowship Church, issued his call for a week of “congregational copulation” among married couples on Nov. 16, while pacing in front of a large bed. Sometimes he reclined on the paisley coverlet while flipping through a Bible, emphasizing his point that it is time for the church to put God back in the bed.
“Today we’re beginning this sexperiment, seven days of sex,” he said, with his characteristic mix of humor, showmanship and Scripture. “How to move from whining about the economy to whoopee!”
On Sunday parishioners at the Grapevine branch watched a prerecorded sermon from Mr. Young and his wife, Lisa, on jumbo screens over a candlelit stage. “I know there’s been a lot of love going around this week, among the married couples,” one of the church musicians said, strumming on a guitar before a crowd of about 3,000.
Mrs. Young, dressed in knee-high black boots and jeans, said that after a week of having sex every day, or close to it, “some of us are smiling.” For others grappling with infidelities, addictions to pornography or other bitter hurts, “there’s been some pain; hopefully there’s been some forgiveness, too.”
Mr. Young advised the couples to “keep on doing what you’ve been doing this week. We should try to double up the amount of intimacy we have in marriage. And when I say intimacy, I don’t mean holding hands in the park or a back rub.”
Mr. Young, known simply as Ed to his parishioners, and his wife, both 47, have been married for 26 years and have four children, including twins. They have firsthand experience with some of the barriers to an intimate sex life in marriage, including careers, exhaustion, outside commitments, and “kids,” a word that Mr. Young told church members stands for “keeping intimacy at a distance successfully.”But if you make the time to have sex, it will bring you closer to your spouse and to God, he has said. You will perform better at work, leave a loving legacy for your children to follow and may even prevent an extramarital affair.
“If you’ve said, ‘I do,’ do it,” he said. As for single people, “I don’t know, try eating chocolate cake,” he said.
The sex-starved marriage has been the topic of at least two recent books, “365 Nights” and “Just Do It.” But Mr. Young’s call from the pulpit gave the discussion an added charge.
It should not, in his view. This is not a gimmick or a publicity stunt, Mr. Young says. Just look at the sensuousness of the Song of Solomon, or Genesis: “two shall become one flesh,” or Corinthians: “do not deprive each other of sexual relations.”
“For some reason the church has not talked about it, but we need to,” he said, speaking by telephone Friday night on his way to South Africa for a mission trip. There is no shame in marital sex, he added, “God thought it up, it was his idea.”
Those who attend Fellowship’s location here or one of several satellite churches in the Dallas area and one in Miami are used to Mr. Young’s provocative style. (The real “f word” in the marital boudoir, he says, is “forgiveness.”) But the sex challenge was a bit much for some of his church members, who sat with arms crossed in uncomfortable silence, he recalls, while many in the audience gave him an enthusiastic applause.
One parishioner, Rob Hulsey, 25, said his Baptist relatives raised their eyebrows about it, but he summed up the reaction of many husbands at Fellowship Church when he first heard about the sex challenge — “Yay!”
A week later, he and his wife, who are expecting a baby and have two older children, could not stop holding hands during the sermon. His wife, Madeline Hulsey, 32, said she was just as thrilled to spend a week focusing on her husband. Usually, “we start to kiss, and it’s knock knock knock, Mom!” she said.
Others found that, like smiling when you are not particularly happy, having sex when they did not feel like it improved their mood. Just eight months into their marriage, Amy and Cody Waddell had not been very amorous since Cody admitted he had had an affair.
“Intimacy has been a struggle for us, working through all that,” Ms. Waddell said. “This week really brought us back together, physically and emotionally.”
It is not always easy to devote time for your spouse, Pastor Young admitted. Just three days into the sex challenge he said he was so tired after getting up before dawn to talk about the importance of having more sex in marriage that he crashed on the bed around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.Mrs. Young tried to shake him awake, telling her husband, “Come on, it’s the sex challenge.” But Mr. Young murmured, “Let’s just double up tomorrow,” and went back to sleep.
09/15/2010
09/01/2010
08/04/2010
"How to set a Goal by my Mentor Floyd Wickman"
Hey gang! This is a great blog post by real estate icon Floyd Wickman. We are over 1/2 way through the year and I constantly hear people say "Wow, this month went by fast", or "Man, where did the summer go?", and "Christmas will be here before we know it". As a constant optimist, I am always asking my agents what is your "Big Why"? Why are you doing what you are doing? My agents that follow the steps pointed out by Floyd in his latest blog post never wonder where the time has gone but rather where the time will take them. Each day brings them closer to their "Big Why", their goal. I would love to hear your comments about what you do to hit your short and long term goals.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATEI
just set a new 5 year goal for myself. Some may think it silly to be
setting a 5 year goal at age 69. What
might be even sillier is that I
have no doubt but that I will achieve it.
On one hand I am humbled and blessed to think of all that I have achieved, and overcome, throughout my life. On the other hand, I believe there are some very specific ingredients that worked for me and will continue to work as I strive to achieve my next goal. I share them with the hope that someone reading this can use these ingredients to achieve his or her goal, regardless of age.
1. WORK HARD. Nothing will ever replace hard work as a major force in taking one toward the goal. Asking ones self "what can I accomplish during my workday?" rather than "what can I get out of doing during my workday?" is one noticeable difference between an achiever and a wanna-be. Remember, if you wish to leave your footprints on the sands of time...wear work-shoes!
2. STRONG CORE VALUES. Those traits that best describe a person and his or her ethics, guidelines or promises can often predict the outcome of ones efforts toward achieving the goal can be reduced to concise and clear core values. A person needs only to look back upon a successful period of his life to discover his core values. What traits obviously contributed to the successful outcome? How would others describe the 'work ethics' or conspicuous characteristics he demonstrated.
To help the reader understand what I mean by Core Values, I give you mine. To Always...
...Live by the Get-by-Giving Philosophy.
...Make my clients number one goal, my number one goal.
...Live up to my standards despite temptations to lower them.
...Be willing to work toward a common good.
...Do what I say I will do. Sometimes more, just never less.
Each person should ask themselves this question. "Are my core values such that, if I adhere to them, I have the best chance to achieve my goal?
3. HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE. This is a term my 'big brother' Zig has reminded me often of throughout the years. Simply put, he says we cannot succeed to our full potential without the people in our life rooting for us. Encouraging us to be our best. Whether its our spouses, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers or just our closest friends, our odds of success soar when they are cheering us on and giving us our space to grow. How do you get this? You get by giving. By encouraging the people closest to us; giving to our families the love and attention they want and need; and, putting their needs high on our 'to do' lists, we dramatically increase our odds of having that 'home court advantage".
Linda and I have been married for 46 years and I can tell you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, without her encouragement, belief and support, I could never have achieved the success I have. No one does it alone. In my book "letters to Linda" www.floydwickman.com we share the 15 principles that has given each of us the 'Home Court Advantage'.
4. TRUST GOD. Believe that God wants the best for you. Believe that He has a purpose for you to fulfill. Believe that He is there in the toughest of times. Believe that He wouldn't have given you the dreams you have if you weren't able to accomplish them.
Hope this helps. Oh, by the way, my 5 year goal is to Speak to 100 separate 'general' audiences (other than real estate groups) on or before October 20th 2015. Wish me success.
Love,
Floyd
