So here we are 4 weeks into 2021 already! By now everyone has likely set their annual property goals, are working on their weekly implementation plans and have possibly introduced some new habits too.
All too often, human behaviour around this time of year follows a typical pattern -the intended good practices with exercise and business goals can slip away by February. As property entrepreneurs working towards lofty goals this year, we definitely don’t want to succumb to that. So, if you’re interested in making sure your good intentions for your property business don’t dissipate, here are 12 questions to check in on yourself. I learned these from Darren Hardy a couple of years ago and after having noted them in my journal I check in on them periodically. I hope you can benefit from asking these of yourself also.
HERE ARE THE 12 QUESTIONS TO CHECK IF YOU ARE DOING WHAT YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD TO GROW YOUR PROPERTY BUSINESS
[the short sentences in the parentheses highlight the harsh truths that may be going on inside your head, hopefully not however ]
#1: Do I have a weekly calendar with slots booked for my most valuable property business priorities, before each new day starts? [so I can create rather than react]
#2: Do I allow too many interruptions during the day from friends, family, customers, prospects, team members to interrupt my flow and deep concentration work? [because it’s a welcome relief from the hard work of creating and finishing something]
#3: Do I talk a lot, extending conversations into longer chit chats when unnecessary? [because it’s seemingly justifiable to delay the hard work of creating]
#4: Do I multi-task? [even though I know it reduces my intellectual ability and causes me stress and anxiety]
#5: Do I love the adrenalin buzz of being overly busy? [in order to feel a sense of importance and self esteem even though it’s at the demise of my actual productivity]
#6: Is living in chaos and constant motion more comfortable to me than stilling my mind and single tasking? [because I might fear to be alone with my own thoughts]
#7: Do I find it really difficult to say no? [because I am too needy for approval and lack the self confidence to stick to my own priorities]
#8: Do I often find myself in a crunch to finish projects because I’m in over my head? [because I allow myself to be everyone else’s whipping boy/girl and don’t protect my own priorities]
#9: Do I spend hours needlessly on social media? [to escape and distract me from what’s most important]
#10: Do I waste time doing repetitious, non-vital and inessential tasks? [because I haven’t put systems in place to automate or eliminate]
#11: Do I maintain control of nearly everything because I believe no one else can do it as well? [which makes me an egotistical and delusional narcissist]
#12: Do I believe I can’t afford to hire someone to help me? [because I don’t actually value my time, my family and my health appropriately]
You might be thinking woah- those questions can be quite harsh and cutting (that’s what I thought the first time I saw them). They are, but answering them for ourselves will only serve to help by shining a light on what we need to keep us progressing in an optimal way. For me personally, I’ve noted some refinement actions needed under questions under 10 and 11 (this time last year I worked on and improved areas 4, 7 and 10).
Which question(s) have prompted some proactive refining work on your part?
The topic of decision making is a crucial one, and a process none of us can avoid. Whether it be deciding what to cook or what property strategy to commit to, it’s something we all face, everyday. And in many cases, arriving at a decision can be a painful process.
Winston Churchill referred to decision making as ‘the long road of agony’- that agony being the period before deciding should I or shouldn’t I, this path or that path.
This post is completely inspired by a recent Darren Daily message, and it really resonated this week as I was deciding on and mapping my quarterly project plans. It made me think about the many property entrepreneurs out there making decisions about their year ahead, which is why I thought sharing this message would be a helpful guide. I do hope it proves to be.
I’m a firm believer in investing significant time over December and January (or whenever you choose to punctuate a year end) to do the heavy mental work of decision making about what you want for your year ahead, and to create the implementation plan behind it. Doing this in advance prevents you from beginning a week mid quarter wondering what to focus on.
Darren Hardy said ‘more failure has been caused by indecision than by poor decision’, and his mentor before him, Jim Rohn, is quoted as referring to indecision as ‘the great thief of opportunity’.
So, whether it be nailing down your annual planning or addressing more in the moment questions, here are FOUR powerful filters to help you make great decisions quickly and easily (I’m going to paraphrase my notes I took from Darren’s video, so all credit to him for this).
FILTER #1: MINOR OR MAJOR
We need to quickly discern whether a decision is a minor one or major one because way too much time is taken up with minor decisions. For example, what food to eat or what family movie to watch from the thousands on Netflix (or is that just with my kids in our house?). So to cut through the minor stuff quickly, ask yourself this:
-5 years from now, will this decision have significantly altered my life?
If it’s a no then its a minor, so decide and move quickly on as wasting any more time deliberating WILL alter your life 🙂
FILTER #2: COST OR WORTH
I love this one, and it’s particularly relevant for what might be investments in yourself. Darren reminds us that we need to be asking ourselves – ‘How much does this decision cost, not in money today, but in subtraction from your overall wealth?’ To put that into context he gives the example using compound interest that £1 today will be roughly worth £5 to me 20 years from now. If an item costs me £50 it really costs me £250 in future wealth. So that’s the actual cost side.
But we also need to evaluate what something is WORTH ie not what does this book cost, but what could it be worth to me through applying it? Not, what does this course cost, but what could it be worth to my future, my wealth, my health, my ability to positively impact and be of value to others? Getting clear on that completely changes the equation.
So to help with your cost v worth purchase decisions:
-first recalculate the maths of the cost by increasing it by 5 times, then recalibrate the worth because sometimes the worth skyrockets beyond the cost and sometimes not. That’s what you’ll need to figure out.
So for example the cost of renewing an older but functional consumer item is something where the cost will likely outweigh the worth. However with something like a specific course or mentorship, where the cost today feels high, with commitment to implementing said course/mentorship actions, the worth will far exceed the cost. I’ve actively invested in personal development, courses and mentorship for years and the real terms worth (ie equity, income streams, value I can add to others) from having implemented what I’ve learned far far surpasses the cost.
FILTER #3: WISH OR GLAD
I learned this one a few years ago and it’s been incredibly powerful in helping our family make decisions. Ask yourself,
“Years from now, am I more likely to say, I wish I hadn’t or I’m glad I did?”
The answer will hit you clearly and quickly. Jeff Bezos referred to this as regret minimisation- during an interview with Business Insider he said,
“When you think about the things that you will regret when you’re 80, they’re almost always the things that you did not do. They’re acts of omission. Very rarely are you going to regret something that you did that failed and didn’t work or whatever,”
So ask yourself, when I’m 80 years old will I regret not trying to start or scale a property investing business?
This question takes your mind away from the bits of short term daily confusion and turns a seemingly difficult question into a very easy one, because your 80 year self clearly tells you what you wouldn’t want to have regrets about having tried.
FILTER #4: GOOD WOLF OR BAD WOLF
This final filter relates to the Cherokee folklore tale that Darren has shared many times before- we each have 2 wolves living inside of us; one is the best of who we are ie our core values, our best selves when it comes to character, love, kindness etc; the other is the worst of who we are ie our fears, doubts and needy ego desperate for acceptance.
So the question to ask ourselves is this:
-”What choice would my good wolf make?”
Essentially that’s evaluating the decision through the filter of your best self, both now and in terms of who you want to become.
CONCLUSION
Either one of those filters on their own, or maybe even a combination of them will help you make decisions quickly, easily and without guilt or anxiety.
Circling back to that opening quote from Winston Churchill about agony, he concluded by saying,
“Once the decision is made all the agony goes away”.
It’s the indecision that causes the agony, not the decision itself.
So, which of those filters can help you with a decision you’re facing?
I want to share something that will be instrumental in how much progress toward your ambitious property goals you make this year. And to do it, I thought why not mix things up a little for this week’s blog post. I often challenge myself to share a message in under 500 words but typically end up well over 1000 each week.
I’ve been reading The Compound Effect, one of my favourite books, together with my 12 year old son to create that special memory and share with him these powerful lessons early on. The other night I was reading a passage that is so powerful yet so simple that I felt compelled to share it….and right now is the perfect time of year to share it since everyone is consciously thinking about their 2021 goals. Activating what I’m about to share could literally mean the difference between finishing the year with pride and accomplishment instead of frustration.
Since Darren Hardy’s words are more eloquent than mine I’ll borrow his, but rather than copy and paste the passage from the book, I thought I’d read it out to you in a short video. Listen to the words carefully so that either you learn something new, or you are reminded of something so important that you’ll want it front of mind as you kick off your year. [And have a giggle at the camera falling not once, but twice, sorry about that :)]
What will be YOUR ‘Why Power”that will be your fuel this year and beyond?
And we’re off…1 week into the new year already. Whilst I know there have been many jokes sent around about feeling like we’re in a continuation of 2020, the fact is we are where we are, and we need to take 100% responsibility for things we can control. Meaning, the things we choose to do, choose to not do and how we choose to respond to things.
So with that that said, where do you stand with your goal planning for 2021?
If you’re looking for a framework to help with the process then over the last two weeks I’ve shared posts on the annual process that Chris and I do each year to reflect on the past 12 months, and then plan out the 12 months ahead. This isn’t a quick process, but rather it’s an investment in time that pays us back with clarity, focus and saving time further down the line, because we know what we’re working towards and have outline implementation plans to get there. [If you missed those posts I’ll add links at the bottom of this].
So what about setting your own annual goals? I’ll take a safe bet that most people in the property community will punctuate this time of year with making resolutions and/or setting goals. Often, these will be ambitious financial based targets which may include numbers of properties, monthly cash flow increase from their BTL’s/SA’s/HMO’s, number of new developments/conversions and so on. In themselves, nothing wrong with goals like those, so long as planned out in the right context and with the appropriate alignment at a deeper level. However, without the right psychological alignment, goals like these can fall flat and fail to get off the ground year after year. Therein lies the problem that can catch many out in the goal setting process.
Below I am sharing one of the biggest insights I’ve ever learned on goal setting, here it is –
Don’t chase after goals that your subconscious mind doesn’t really want.
Now, you may be thinking, What on earth are you on about? But if you’re interested to understand this concept and transform your goal setting and achievement, bear with me and read on as it’s a pretty deep concept. If not, totally fine to jump out now.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the last few years from a specialist business coach and psychologist for entrepreneurs. Our unconscious mind has one sole job – to push us away from pain and towards pleasure. And because of this primitive fact, the subconscious controls our mental valve for motivation.
In other words, one seriously needs to consider the secondary and tertiary consequences of pursuing a goal because the subconscious will slam on the brakes if it thinks PAIN lies ahead.
As a simple example, if we start the year saying I want to double my income from property, the numbers sound attractive but we typically don’t take the time to consider the real consequences of pursuing that. In this example what that might look like is this- as time and activity goes by the brain realises that in order to actually double the income it would mean significantly more time sourcing/viewing/travelling…(you fill in the blanks of the secondary consequence) and therefore less sleep/more stress/less time with family (tertiary consequence). In other words those consequences are the potential ‘pains’ that the unconscious mind would see and cause it to procrastinate doing the required work. Does that make sense?
What I’ve just highlighted can’t be underestimated, it is a major cause of feeling ‘stuck’ during the year, chasing after what you THINK are the right goals for you. However, self sabotage can arise from pursuing certain goals when the unconscious mind doesn’t get the same excitement as the conscious mind, because it’s worried about the associated PAIN. But with alignment, motivation happens intrinsically, it isn’t something you need to will into existence.
So what’s the answer?
ECOLOGICAL GOAL SETTING
This is the real gold dust. This is the stuff that’s been taking me a while to embed but I’m really starting to see the power in it year on year. You may wonder what is meant by ‘ecological’ in relation to goal setting.
Meaning of ecology from the online dictionary
‘the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.’
In the context of goal setting, the purpose of ecology is all about alignment between the conscious and unconscious mind. Having also learned about highest values from Dr John Demartini, I liken this alignment concept to his work on values ie we have to balance our financial goals with our other highest values. We will thrive more in business when other parts of our life thrive too.
So to optimise chances of goal achievement we must run the goal setting through a filter of well formed conditions.
These conditions include the following:
#1) The goal must be stated in positive terms (ie write it out as if already achieved and in present tense as if you are describing who you are, what you have, how you are living a year from now)
#2) The goal must be initiated and maintained by you (this is crucial, no point setting goals that require majority inputs from others as that will be out of your control)
#3) The goal must use sensory based descriptions of outcomes and steps
#4) The goal is ecological in every sense ie think through how it will affect other areas of your life (ie the secondary and tertiary consequences/positive ripple effects)
Some starters to get you thinking for ecology:
-what will you hear/see/feel when you attain the goal?
-What will the outcome get for you/allow you to do? (you want to uncover now if there is a part of you that doesn’t want this outcome as that will undermine your success)
-What will happen if you don’t get it?
#5) There is more than one way to achieve the goal (ie giving yourself flexibility)
You can see this is a completely different process compared to just writing out a list of exciting things you would like to have or happen. Thoroughly thinking through goals like this is designed to set your unconscious mind building a map, a reference place and foundation for what’s involved in achieving these goals.
I appreciate this is a lot to digest so if you got this far, well done. Even better, if you choose to act on this and implement it with your own goal setting you will be doing the work to set yourself up for a great year ahead.
Let me know if this stuff strikes a chord with you. And if you’re genuinely keen to work on more of these questions for alignment and ecology then reply and I can post a few more on this thread.
To your goal attainment and enjoying the journey this year.
If you followed my post last week on ‘Intelligent Reflection’ then you will have put a psychological bow on 2020. In other words, the point of last week’s post was to highlight the fact that there is so much value in what you have done, experienced and accomplished in the last 12 months that you need to go harvest that gold through intelligent reflection.
If you missed that post and want to go back you can find it here:
WARNING: This post requires some heavy mental lifting but if you’re serious about your growth this year then read it to the end, and more importantly, take action on it.
So, with the reflection bit done, the natural next step is to follow up with some deep thinking around setting the right kind of goals for YOU, and creating an implementation plan for them. That’s what I’m going to outline here.
So, what do I mean by the ‘right kind of goals for YOU?” Well, before jumping in to write out your goals, please be clear in your mind that they are psychologically optimised goals that are congruent ie your conscious and unconscious mind are aligned in relation to the goals you set. Getting this right at the beginning is essential!
By way of quick explanation if you were to set the goal of doubling the revenue of your business, on the face of it that sounds great but what would the reality of that mean, and what would be the secondary and tertiary consequences of pursuing it? Eg. would it mean working twice as many hours, sacrificing weekends with your family? Or can you genuinely see how to accomplish the outcome on your terms.
All I’m saying is just be careful to choose goals that are aligned with what you really want. This quote from Stephen Covey captures my point perfectly:
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step gets us to the wrong place faster.”
In the goal setting process it’s easy to get excited in the now by writing down a big goal but the science of achievement requires us to connect the dots between a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and what exactly we need to be working on quarter to quarter, month on month and how we’re using our time each day.
The big rationale behind artful implementation is to take the time to do strategic planning now so that at no time during the quarter are you at the desk on a Monday morning wondering what to do to get started (or at least it will be significantly minimised).
An implementation plan prevents that brain fog, but sadly investing the time to create such a plan is the most common part of goal setting that people skip. But not YOU, and not this year! It’s often looked at as too much like hard work- and you know what, it is hard mental work! Most good things do require some uphill struggle, but it’s also where we can get most clarity. I heard a brilliant quote a while back from one of the greats that ties into this point, it goes;
“People have uphill hopes, but downhill habits”
– John C Maxwell
In other words, we all want the things that require ‘uphill’ efforts, but are we willing to put in the work that builds the ‘uphill habits’ that will get us there?
You need to take your big 2021 goals and translate them into a project plan. This part of the process is uncomfortable, which is why people skip it but having a well thought through plan will keep you aligned, in the zone and knowing what you have to do next. BHAGs don’t manifest on their own, it takes real intentional work to dream them up, plan the road map, and then of course execute on that plan.
Here’s a quick summary of the process for artful goal implementation that I’ve been taught and continue to use each year. (Chris and I do invest multiple hours in goal planning in the opening weeks of Jan)
IT’S TIME TO BUILD THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR YEAR!
STEP #1: List your key projects
Taking everything into account, list 5-20 projects that would have an immediate impact on your property business. With this list you are thinking up all the growth driving activities that move you closer to achieving the BHAG (ie various strategies and tactics you want to try that would/could result in a net positive to the business).
STEP #2: Now eliminate all but 3, and ask yourself:
– are you able to complete each of those shortlisted 3 in a 12 week period if you focused on one at a time (ie allocate each project a full 12 week sprint)?
– can you complete these with your current resources ie time, people, money?
– prioritise those projects that can feasibly meet the above
STEP #3: BUILD THE OUTLINE PLAN
Now for each project, build the outline for your implementation plan by completing a handful of answers to these 4 foundational productivity questions:
For project 1
#1 What specifically needs to happen…to get started? To continue? To finish? Can you specify now what your completion point will look like (really push yourself to do that)?
#2 How can you measure progress along the way? (ie no. of viewings/offers per week. Booking revenue, occupancy by month..) When answering these questions think about what can be ritualised/repeated by you and/or your team. Think about the input activity required to achieve the desired property outcome.
#3 What deadlines need to happen within 12 weeks? Think it through and allocate deadlines you can put into your diary (and physically PUT those deadlines into your diary). These will serve as milestones and checkpoints towards your completion point and get your mind clear on hitting them by certain dates.
#4 How can you stack multiple layers of accountability onto this project. In other words, who all can you inform, involve, make a pledge to etc that will help you follow through on your promise. Think mentors, family, advisors, peers). It’s a fact that getting things done is a social phenomenon so enlist the power of public declaration.
Do the same for Projects 2 and 3. It’s a good idea to have no more than 3 projects in a quarter, and if one is particularly all consuming then stick with just that one project for the entire 90 days.
STEP #4: 12 WEEK PROJECT PLAN
The final stage to this is creating your 12 week project plan where you literally create a grid with 84 days and then populate it with dates, specifics and deadlines (as per your answers to the Q’s above) to work to each day and week. Schedule this stuff in using the mechanisms that work for you, phone, outlook calendar, a wall chart or whatever. Allocate sufficient time and protect it in your diary.
And there you have it. With clarity on what your goals are and your planning complete, now its all about taking action consistently each week, measuring the progress and feeling good about showing up to put the effort in. [HINT – one of the keys to sustained productivity is feeling good about what you do. So please don’t look at what didn’t get done or how far your dream lies in the distance, instead show up, put the effort in each week and celebrate that step of effort input and the progress it creates].
I’d love to know if you complete this exercise, let me know if you do and you will massively increase the likelihood of following through.
