DO YOU HAVE THE #1 PERSONALITY TRAIT THAT GUARANTEES SUCCESS?

I had one of those “Ah-Ha” moments when I first learned about the personality model known as the Big Five (or OCEAN) and the #1 personality trait that inevitably guarantees success above all else. I’ll elaborate shortly.

 

Most property investors realise at some point that being in property is really a people business, especially when it comes to networking, deal making and finding JV partners. As such we can come to have a strong awareness and appreciation for personality traits. It is a complex and varied subject area and I am by no means an expert. However, I am genuinely intrigued by the subject matter and wanted to share some of my learnings from exploring the topic.

Rather than go into too much detail I’m challenging myself to keep this as a brief introduction and look at how understanding this stuff translates to your property journey.

What Is The Big Five Personality Model?

In Psychology, there are five broad dimensions of personality traits, commonly referred to as the “Big Five” personality traits. These can be easily remembered with the acronym OCEAN, as follows:

O – Openness: Curious, open to new ideas, creative, original, intellectual

C – Conscientiousness: Organised, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, dependable

E – Extraversion: Outgoing, talkative, enjoys social situations

A – Agreeableness: Tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, warm

N – Neuroticism: Anxious, irritable, temperamental, moody

 

The Big Five model is able to account for different traits in personality without overlapping. In other words, while identity (our beliefs, values and individual psychological “make up”) might be infinitely varied, there are just five key dimensions of personality that can be tested and measured without overlap.

What I find fascinating is that research has shown the Big Five personality model to show consistency across a wide range of ages and cultures.

The #1 success trait

Research also indicates that one well documented personality type consistently produces more and better success than all the others – Conscientiousness. (Did you guess it was that one?)

Eric Barker (a writer for Wired magazine) uses the latest findings in the science of human behaviour to write about ideas that improve our performance at work and at home. I’ll paraphrase one such article here:

“Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success…..

Conscientiousness is the fundamental personality trait most closely tied to self control (willpower) and it tracks with nearly every type of success across your lifespan.”

Whilst conscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success, University of Illinois psychologist Brent Roberts points out this trait predicts so many outcomes that go far beyond the workplace. For example people high in conscientiousness get better grades in school and university; they commit fewer crimes; and they stay married longer and live longer.

Why is this important for property investors to understand?

“Highly conscientious people do a series of things better than the rest of us,” says Brent Roberts.

“To start with, they’re better at goals: setting them, working toward them, and persisting amid setbacks. If a super ambitious goal can’t be realized, they’ll switch to a more attainable one rather than getting discouraged and giving up. As a result, they tend to achieve goals that are consistent with what employers want.”

Hopefully you can see now how a greater appreciation for this trait, and an ability to identify it, plays into the business of being a property investor. Some obvious examples are:

  • Assessing and selecting people to employ in your own property business
  • Identifying suitable partners for your power team and as JV partners
  • Training and coaching your team
  • Your own self-development

 

Chris and I have had the pleasure of working with multiple mentees over the last year and we can see that for mentees achieving great things, a lot of their success can linked to this conscientious trait.  For example the ability to prioritise effectively and optimise their return on time invested.

Conscientious people have a tendency to organise their work and their lives well, which may appear superhuman to some observers. On the other hand a less conscientious person might lose 1-2 hours a day transitioning poorly between tasks or not choosing the right tasks that will move their project or business forwards the most. By being conscientious, people sidestep stress they’d otherwise create for themselves.

Being conscientious “is like brushing your teeth,” Roberts says. “It prevents problems from arising.”

So is your Conscientiousness score set in stone for life?

My first reaction to all these learnings was what is my conscientiousness score and how can I improve it? Can I help others improve it?

In short, it is true that some individuals naturally have higher conscientiousness scores however it is something that can be nurtured from childhood and it is certainly something that adults can work on to improve.

Look out for Part 2 of this post where we will look at specific tactics and strategies to improve conscientiousness.

If you are interested in taking an online test to find out your own scores here are a couple of links:

http://personality-testing.info/tests/BIG5.php

http://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

 

References:
Professor Brent Roberts
Doctor Rajesh Kamath
Eric Barker
Goldberg, McRae and Costa

LIVE FOR NEW ENTRIES IN THE PASSBOOK OF LIFE

A recent post I shared on igniting the compound Effect in your life was pretty well received so I thought this post would be a fitting follow up. (I’ll add a link to that post at the bottom in case you missed it and want to read it).

 

Once again it was inspired by the person who wrote The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy, because one of his recent video messages I watched really struck a chord with me. Can you tell I like the content he creates? 🙂

 

In the short video clip Darren recounted the story of his grandmother helping him to set up his very first bank account- he emptied his pockets and handed all the cash he had over the bank counter (thinking the bank cashier was going to take it away from him). In return he was given a passbook with the entry of that first deposit written in at the top of the page. Seeing that figure of $23.12 the young Darren thought to himself, “I’m sure I can get that number higher”. And so began his life long obsession for making entries into his ‘passbook’ as evidence of growth. What started with a simple mechanism for tracking his banking deposits spread over into all areas of life – the continuous desire to take action towards something then measure and track the progress. So simple yet so powerful.  

 

The story resonated with me so much because I can still remember my version of this – it must have been from about aged 8 or so when I had my first account with Clydesdale Bank. I can vividly remember the feeling of visiting the rural Aberdeenshire branch to deposit my hard earned money and savings. You would typically have to queue behind various chatter boxes, it was a high ceiling building that had a musty smell and when the cashier stamped the cheques and payslips the sound echoed heavily around the room. And just like Darren, the young me got immense satisfaction from depositing money and seeing the number get higher. I’m sure you it’s the same for many of you.

 

Whilst passbooks seem very much a thing of the past, funnily enough I managed to find one my own original passbooks from a Kent Reliance Building Society account that I had. This is where I saved up earnings from summer work that ultimately went towards buying my very first Buy-To-Let in 2007. You see, these passbook thingys do work 🙂

As with Darren, my own desire for tracking and measuring progress has spread over into many other important areas of life from business activity to health and family. And whilst the bank balance hasn’t grown to anywhere near that of Darren Hardy’s, the habits I’ve created of tracking and measuring have been instrumental in helping me achieve some satisfying milestones within my property businesses so far. These days the progress is mostly tracked and measured inside a small A5 journal called the Self Journal (you’ll see two of my journals in the cover image). What’s even more meaningful about these little blue journals is that they are designed and created by two amazing people I met when they were at the beginning of their journeys – Kathryn Lavery and Allen Brouwer. You guys are awesome and I’ll take this opportunity to let you know how much I and others appreciate your work.

 

If you’ve heard the Young Entrepreneur Peter Voogd speak, he regularly says, ‘The best way to predict someone’s next 6 months is to look at their last 6 months…because HABITS trump inspiration, talent and ambition.”  This is exactly what we’re talking about with Darren’s banking passbook – that passbook is a metaphor for tracking the important the important habits in our lives that make big things happen. I know many of you reading this will have heard a similar kind of message before, but are you actioning it?

 

I hope that sharing this story and the passbook metaphor will kick start the beginning of a renewed obsession for you. Even if for just one person. You see, it’s not so much about growing money (that will come as a bi-product), rather it’s about growing progress in any area of life that you want to improve in. How about you challenge yourself to also become obsessed with growth, and get yourself a ‘passbook’ of sorts to track your progress. If you’re up for it, share here what is the first thing you’re going to track, monitor or measure in your passbook.

CLICK HERE to read the post on Igniting the Compound Effect

Too Much To Do? Try This Simple Strategy

Running a property business can often feel overwhelming, trying to juggle all the variables of different deals, the associated admin, inbound and outbound calls, business development…and don’t even mention the accounting and tax stuff.

It has been said that 80% of business people run their work day in a reactive fashion. 

In other words reacting to all of the day’s demands as they arise, such as incoming email, incoming calls from SA guests, interruptions, operational demands like cleaning and maintenance etc.

This modus operandi of little planning, stop/start execution and lots of reaction typically leads to that common feeling of stress and overwhelm. We can all relate to finishing a day’s work with a long list of outstanding to-do’s and a feeling of anxiety- “I’ve got too much to do!”

Everyone has 176 hours in their week, the major difference is how we choose to spend them. Choose being the operative word. Yes, you have a choice to re-frame your day and the way you operate.

So what are the other 20% of business people doing? 

This 20% choose to work their day in a proactive fashion. What this really boils down to is a subtle but powerful difference in focus, and it takes a concerted effort to plan and then remain mindful of your plan as you execute.

The Eisenhower Box

I’ll use the Eisenhower Box to demonstrate this subtle difference and how it applies to the reactive vs proactive person.

As the name implies, this concept was originally credited to US President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In deciding how to prioritise his time across tasks, it is said he would ask himself two questions. First, is the task important? Second, is it urgent? Of course you will have to define your own meaning of important.

eisenhower-box

Using this framework we can categorise each of our tasks and projects into one of these four quadrants within a few minutes. Taking a proactive approach means we focus on the tasks that sit in the Important but Not Urgent quadrant.

Every time I find myself slipping into reactive modus operandi the feelings of stress and overwhelm start to creep in and it feels horrible. That’s when I have found this matrix to be so powerful in re-framing the day or week with priority and focus.

There will always be those fires to put out and certain time sensitive tasks but you’ll be surprised at how these reduce when you work in a proactive manner.

Here’s a simplified explanation of the four quadrants:

1. Important and Urgent – for example a last minute booking request  from a direct contractor guest, a request for information from your accountant to get accounts/VAT filed in time, submitting an offer for a property before the closing date

2. Important but Not Urgent  – doing exercise, business development, long term planning, working on a project that will make your business scalable

3. Not Important but Urgent – various interruptions that break concentration, breaking your focus to check every email and text the second you hear a “ping”, dealing with the person shouting the loudest

4. Not Important and Not Urgent – activities that just waste time, procrastination, going off on a web surfing tangent when researching property deals, excess time checking the latest news, facebook updates

 

Needless to say, the first priority goes to the tasks that are both Important and Urgent. However as much as possible, the proactive person aims to spend most of their time in the Important but Not Urgent quadrant. These are the activities that generate production and lead to results.

As the famous Eisenhower quote goes:

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”

Without being mindful to prioritise effectively, a property investor can very quickly fall into the trap of rushing to deal with all the Urgent tasks (including the Urgent and Not Important) while the Important but Not Urgent tasks get pushed down the queue.

After dealing with your Urgent and Important tasks, your second priority should always be to invest time on the Important tasks that are Not Urgent. Only after some time in quadrant 2 should you move onto the urgent but not important tasks.

As for things in the 4th quadrant, well you really want to start dropping these. This is an opportunity to create more time for the important things in your day

Building this into your life

Like all good habits, this takes a period of intentionally phasing it in. However with a little effort, the practice of consciously filtering your tasks and incoming distractions based on their importance, will result in you becoming more productive as you do less of the ‘Not Important’ things.

Once again, the proactive property professional wants to spend most of their time in the Important and Not Urgent quadrant. Plan ahead and start with the tasks that are important. Mastering this practice will give you a powerful advantage and a feeling of control in all areas you choose to apply it.

Now, because I know that life and business can throw all sorts at us, here’s an extra little hint that I learned a few months ago – schedule in a daily “chaos hour”. Use this time to finish off loose ends that originated from the Urgent and Important things cropping up earlier in the day. If you’ve had a good day with no major interruptions then use this time for more Important but not Urgent activities.  

What tools or techniques do you use to manage your priorities? Share them in the comments below.

Have you ignited the Compound Effect in your property business?

The 8th wonder of the world

 
Did you know that the great Albert Einstein said that,
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”
Whether you are familiar with this concept or not, you may well be wondering what the connection is to your property business. It will all become crystal clear soon.
For ease of setting the context, the diagram attached below illustrates the powerful effect that compound interest can have on a relatively small amount of seed money over time.
Einstein was referring to this mathematical phenomenon, widely known in the financial world, where money with compound interest experiences exponential growth.
 
If you have ever read Darren Hardy’s book ‘The Compound Effect’ then you will know that this same maths phenomenon works in your life choices too.
 
I can’t think of many books that really can transcend every area of life when you apply the principles but this is one of them. And I want to specifically focus on how it can help in your property investing.

What is the Compound Effect?

 
Hardy describes this as,
“The principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What’s most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don’t feel significant.”
This is the magic formula for success:
Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE
Early on in the book Hardy talks about choices, and he captures the message neatly with this,
“The life we end up with can simply be an accumulation of all the choices we make…they can deliver us to our goals or send us orbiting to a galaxy far, far away.”
Can you see the obvious parallels to what you are (or aren’t) doing in property? Think of all the choices, and subsequent results, that you make each day. Are they compounding over time to result in successful deals and growing income streams, or are they working against you making it difficult to grow or even get the first deal done?
Is the Compound Effect working for or against your business?
For the property investor, daily decisions no matter how slight, alter the trajectory of their current projects, their deal pipeline, their month, year and so on. Whether or not to stick to the daily ritual of proactively connecting with potential investors, to spend time or not understanding letting demand before viewing a property, whether to follow up with a direct SA guest lead you’d previously given up on reaching, whether to make one more call or finish up for the day…. Every choice has an impact on the ‘Compound Effect’ of your property business success.
Author Hardy emphasises the point with this simple question, “Have you ever been bitten by an elephant? How about a mosquito? It’s the little things that will bite you.”
 
My guess is you know exactly what those ‘mosquitos’ are in your property business; perhaps questions you failed to ask when speaking to a vendor, the builder getting to work on a refurb before a fully agreed spec is in place, the rent to rent you took on before really understanding the local SA market, the questions you didn’t ask the potential JV investor. The list of seemingly small things that bite in the property world goes on, and we’ve all had our fair share.
Lets go back to that definition of the Compound Effect – “…even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don’t feel significant.”
Many people miss out on the Compound Effect because of it’s simplicity, and therefore haven’t experienced the payoff yet. For example, they quit the New Year gym routine on the 6th visit because they can’t see any new muscle definition yet. Or the investor who starts to cut out a best practice because missing it hasn’t caught them out before. What they don’t realise is that these seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.
This is crucial for the ambitious property entrepreneur to remember – that in amongst the busyness of each day, those little best practices are required with consistency in order to get that big payoff.

Conclusion

So here we are in May, and racing into Q2. How are you doing so far? Are you consistently making the small, smart choices that will help reap radical rewards in this year? The choice is yours: you can overlook it for it’s perceived insignificance; or you can ignite the compound effect and put steps in place for yourself (and the team if you have one) to embrace and sustain it.
Here are some example action steps inspired by the Compound Effect that you can take today, if you’re interested:
#1 Write down one of your property goals.
#2 Now write out the handful of small, seemingly inconsequential actions you can take every day or week that will lead you to that goal. [Think actions relating to Money flow, Education, Network and Deal flow]
#3 Additionally write down the small, seemingly inconsequential actions that can lead you away from that goal. [Think spending unlimited time surfing social media, busying yourself with admin tasks that could be outsourced, trying to do absolutely everything yourself…]
#4 Double down on the small positive steps. Eliminate the small negative steps.
#5 Repeat and review
What are some of the smart daily choices and actions that are consistently being made on your property journey?