After a recent game of golf, I was hanging out in the clubhouse with the other golfers and the Olympics were on a couple of the televisions. You probably already know that I don't watch television and I don't follow a lot of sports (I'm too busy doing deals! :) ) but all of us seated at the table were drawn to the coverage of the rowing race shown on the screen. While watching those rowers, I was reminded of a truth about real estate investing that most struggling real estate investors forget...
... and being AWARE of what I'm about to reveal will truly make the difference between whether you struggle as a real estate investor or achieve your goals.
Do you have this Olympic trait?
There is one common trait shared by all Olympic athletes. And, it is shared between Olympic athletes and any successful real estate investor.
Do you have the Olympic trait I'm about to reveal? If you do have it, that's great. Now it's time to put it into practice. If not, the good news is that it's very easy to get.
I'm not going to tell you what the trait is just yet. Instead, I want to inspire you by thinking about those Olympic athletes.
Consider how those athletes got to the Olympics: Was it luck? Did they wake up one morning and discover that they were really good rowers or cyclists or volleyball players? Did someone just give them tickets to compete and expected them to quickly become proficient?
Of course not! Those athletes slowly worked their way up from nothing. Maybe they showed some aptitude in high school. Very likely they were interested in the sport too (since our aptitudes and interests are often related). They probably received some encouragement along the way. They were coached by experts.
But that's not all. Because if I just stopped right there, I'd be describing a lot of people. But those who go on to the Olympics go further than what I've described. At some point they become serious about their sport. Very serious. They bring in better and better coaches. (And rather than just one general coach, they might bring in specialists). They focus on nutrition. They practice. They study their sport. They study their potential competitors. They watch hours of footage of their own practices to examine how they can do better. They are on the track (or wherever they practice) before anyone else gets there and they are still there when everyone else leaves. They are there in the rain and the snow. While their friends are at the club, they are practicing. While their friends are spending money at the mall, they investing in themselves. While their friends are having fun, they are sweating as they practice one more time.
A focused athlete is still running around the track long after everyone else has gone home for the night
Only people who push themselves that far will ever have a chance of competing at an Olympic level.
Call it focus. Call it determination. Call it dedication. Call it a singlemindness toward a specific goal.
Whatever you call it, all athletes have it. It's having your brain glued to one ultimate goal and being willing to give up other things in life temporarily until you achieve that goal.
Reality check for aspiring real estate investors
I meet many people who are successful real estate investors and I meet many, MANY more people who aspire to be real estate investors but who struggle.
And although there are a few differences between them, one of the key differences is focus. Someone who is focused and desires to be a real estate investor WILL become one. Someone who wants to be a real estate investor but lacks the focus very likely won't become one.
It's harsh but true.
The reason that focus separates the "wannabe real estate investors" from the ones who will become truly successful is the same reason that focus separates the amateurs from those who actually get to compete in the Olympics: People who are focused keep their main goal front and center in their minds and are willing to temporarily sacrifice other things in order to achieve their goal.
I've already described what an Olympic athlete is willing to sacrifice to get to the Olympics. But what about an aspiring real estate investor? What does their focus need to overcome? Here are a few of the main things:
- A focused real estate investor won't let problems stand in their way. I think my experience as a real estate investor proves that. I was never very good at school and I barely graduated from high school. I never went to college. But I am focused. I knew what I was good at (Deal Making) and I just kept my focus on my goal. Today, I’m a 6 times best-selling author, world-traveling real estate investor and deal maker. Not bad for a guy who never went to college and barely graduated high school.
- Instead of letting a lack of money stop them, a focused real estate investor will identify what the problem is and research how to work around it. They'll talk to their mentors and find a way. That's exactly what one of my students did recently when she thought she needed $60,000 to do a deal. But I showed her how she only needed a buck. Our conversation helped to her go back and look at the deal again. Other investors, though, would have given up and wondered why they couldn't ever do a deal. (This mistake has cost investors millions of dollars in lost deals each day)
- Aspiring real estate investors who lack focus will keep putting off what they need to do. They know they need to take massive action but they schedule it for another day, and other seemingly "more important" things keep pushing that massive action farther into the future. But focused real estate investors will look at what needs to be done and they'll do it now – even if it's imperfect – because they know that even slightly imperfect action will move them toward their goal.
- Aspiring real estate investors who lack focus will struggle with making sacrifices or taking risks necessary to become a real estate investor. There aren't a lot of sacrifices or risks in real estate investing but it can take you out of your comfort zone by forcing you to do things you might not normally do – like managing a team or not having a steady paycheck from a job to "fall back on". But focused real estate investors will look at these sacrifices and risks as a necessary part of their journey toward success.
It takes a lot of work to get to the Olympics. It doesn’t happen overnight! It requires dedication, determination, and single-minded focus.
And the same is true for real estate investing. You don't just wake up as a real estate investor. It takes focus to work toward your goal. And once you have focus, you'll be motivated to take the massive action necessary to do the work of real estate investing.
If you have been thinking about becoming a real estate investor, or if you are a real estate investor and you want to take your business to the next level, then the first thing you'll want to do is learn to focus. Decide if real estate investing is what you want to do and, if it is, decide how badly you want it. If you want it badly enough, you'll focus on achieving it.
Do you have the focus that will turn you into an Olympic-level real estate investor? If you do, then take massive action right now!
Your focused friend and mentor,
Mark Evans DM,DN
PS, One way that you can become more focused is through accountability. In the comment section below, tell us what one of your real estate investing goals are and how you plan to achieve it. By posting it here, you're making a statement to the world that this is what you intend, and you're more likely to work toward your goal!
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