Top Producing Mindset: Part 2 of 5 in a Series
Eliminate Fear
Fear is the #1 killer. Fear is the reason that the 98% choose comfort. Fear is something that most people let stop them; fear is the reason that most people would never go on their own and become self-employed because of the fear of the unknown so they stay captive to their jobs or what they have going on; their school forever because the fear of the change. Let’s embrace this; let’s embrace the fear; we all have fear it’s just that some people manage their fear better than others. At every level, you’re going to have to manage your fear even more. At every level the stakes will be higher; at every single level never choose comfort, never choose to stay the same, never choose to stay and be comfortable where you are. Never give up on that.
All the results happen outside of your comfort zone; that’s where all the magic happens. To grow, you have to be in places you haven’t been; situations you’ve never been in; you’ve got to always be stretching yourself so life and business are best lived when you’re on the edge; always pushing yourself into the unknown. You’re never going to know all the answers nor do you need to know all the answers. As we get into more of this mindset I’m going to show you how to have a vision that will pull you towards it where you just suspend your disbelief and you don’t have to think about anything, just focus on your actions.
Let’s focus on that and realize that anytime you’re choosing comfort it’s always going to move you backwards. If you’re having a tough time for example because you have the fear of picking up a phone and you’re always choosing comfort, it will move you backwards. If you choose to conquer your fear, you choose to advance with it, embrace it, and it will move you forward always. Never choose comfort because comfort will move you backwards. There are a couple of fears that people have, especially in real estate.
In real estate, in working with so many agents, there is a magic number in real estate. The magic number in real estate for you to get, meaning, if you say to yourself, okay, I want to grow my business, I want to get to that next level; the first thing is I want to know where you are. In most cases, we have two different types of agents. We have the agents and teams that are making $10M and under and then we have the agents and teams that are doing more than $10M. Are you doing $10M in volume? If you’re not, I want you to get there; that’s the goal. $10M is the magic number. If you can get to 10 I can get you to the next level. I can get you to 30, 40, 50, you can get to 100. You can get to the next level if you can get to 10 so let’s work on getting to the 10 first.
To get to 10 you have to have the talent, the skills, the ability, the resources, the marketing, the structure, the know-how in your business, and the market to be able to produce results; let’s say it's $10M. Those same resources developed a little bit would be able to get you substantially more growth but there’s a lot of work that goes into the first 10. If I told you right now, to do $10m in the next 12 months, what’ 's the feeling that comes to your mind? What’s the feeling you get when I say “$10 million baby, next year, that’s what you’re going to do.” Some of you would say “done, I’m already doing it,” whereas some of you would be a deer in headlights, I’ve got to go hire people, I’d never see my kids, I’d never see my family, why would I want to do that. You start talking yourself out of it before it even starts.
That’s why a lot of 95%ers stay 95%ers because they convince themselves that’s where they want to be and they build a story of that’s where they want to be. What fear do you have? Fear of success is one of the biggest killers of agent productivity; they get comfortable. You are your own worst enemy. I want you to focus on always getting out of your own way. Owning the fact that you’re the one that’s always in the way and make the commitment to always check yourself, don’t overthink success, always look for models, and always know that there’ 's no telling what level you’re going to get to but you’re always going to press on. Focus on not the fear but focus on taking the action.
Fear of Failure
Another fear is the fear of failure. This is a big one; this is huge. When I was in high school I mowed lawns. In Missouri when you mow lawns it’s like an art form. The grass is the type where you leave lines; it looks like a baseball field; it’s art; when I mowed grass I was always an artist. I could leave lines straighter than everybody; I could put a line miles long that was straight as an arrow on a lawnmower. It was something I loved to do. I built a lawn service from calling the white pages of a phone book. I built my lawn business to mowing 80 lawns my first year which was an incredible list. I went and got a business loan to be able to buy the mowers. I went to the bank, the banker said you’re too young I can’t give you the loan; I said you have to give me the loan I’ve got lawns to mow, I showed him, I told him the story, and I convinced him to give me the loan; I got my first business loan as a teenager. I say that because I learned something: most people do it backwards; they go get the loan first then go get the lawns. I want you to always remember in your business, always take the action first, test the market. Don’t do it the same way everybody else does, because the most important part is lead generation, the most important part is the opportunity that you have; focus on the right thing.
So, I got the loan and I was in business. One day I was filling up my lawnmowers at the gas station, same gas station I filled up at every day, then here comes this truck, parks next to me. Gentleman who lived in my neighborhood, Terry, rolls his window down.
– Hoss!
– Hey, Terry!
– Still mowing, huh?
– Yep.
– Hoss, when are you going to get a real job?…
Right then I made the decision subconsciously, I’ll never get a real job, I’m unemployable, I will never go work for somebody else. If I go work for somebody else it only means I failed, it only means that I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. I am unemployable. Right then that fear of failure was born. To this day, it’s been a huge driver. Years later we’re at a friend’s wedding and I see the same guy there; he was singing a different tune then. He actually asked me for a job, and I thought that was full circle. I tell that story because you need to have an internal enemy that drives you. Something that’s deeper than the service; something that’s at your core. To have the right mindset; nothing would stop me; why, because I’m unemployable. That right there, you can’t fake that and you want to be able to create that if you don’t have it. Who is it that you’re fighting against, that you’re proving wrong, who is it that you’re going to show, what is it that you’re going to do to use that as a strength?
Is it a competitor that said, “You’re never going to be able to break into this market, I own this market.” Maybe, it’s a family member that says you never should have gotten into that real estate thing, “I told you it wouldn’t work.” What were you thinking? Why are you doing that? Go get a real job! Who is it? Is it the status quo? Who is the internal enemy that you have that you’re fighting against; that’s pushing you; that’s driving you? Do you have that? I bet most of you do that’s the reason you’re here. That’s the reason that you chose a better life; you chose to be able to go out there and create your own destiny and be able to take control of your success and live life on your terms, not everyone else’s terms; who is that person in your life. I love this quote by Mr. Frank Sinatra, he says “The best revenge in massive success.”
Here’s some advice on this, stop worrying about what everybody else thinks, says, and does, and only focus on your race. Stay in your lane and always be focusing on growing and cultivating your potential to where it becomes skills and do the things that are necessary in the area of prospecting and lead generation first. If I didn’t make the phone calls in the white pages of the phone book to get the lawns, I wouldn’t have been able to get the loan. If I didn’t make the phone calls to the expired listings, the FSBOs, the farm areas, to the referrals, to the sphere, to the past clients I wouldn’t have been able to get the appointments. You do the right work first; the result then comes second. Most people get it twisted, like the 95%, they don’t do it the right way. They put the cart before the horse, we want to put the horse before the cart. If we can focus on running our race, staying in our lane, not worrying about what anybody else thinks, says, or does, we’re not comparing our insides to somebody else’s outsides, then that’s always victory, that’s always success if you’re always becoming a better version of yourself, that’s success.
Progress Is Success
If you’re better today than you were yesterday, that’s success. Embrace it. Focus on the right things because your mindset is your biggest asset. The way that you think and how you coach yourself are important things. Always know that your fear is always against you and your fear is always getting you to doubt yourself or to not take the action. Fear is the devil, fear is Satan himself saying no, you cannot go out there and develop your potential and become the best you that you can be, you can’t do that, you’re not supposed to do that.
You don’t have the right family or DNA or you don’t live in the right area, you don’t have enough money, you don’t have enough education, you’re not smart enough. I used to think that, you’re not smart enough Hoss you didn’t go to college. I’m saying all this because I went through all this. I’m sharing with you what I’ve experienced. I’ve overcome those things and I learned that it was crap; it was BS. I’ve seen other people more like me that have been extremely successful because there are testimonials and proof that it’s possible to go out there and make big things happen. What is it that most people do? They let the fear stop them and fear is something that most do. I want to coach you on how to eliminate fear and know that your fear is the reason for everything. If we’re not getting the result we want usually it's fear; fear is easily the core of everything. You’ve got to be obsessed with eliminating fear; eliminate all your fears. When you have a growth mindset, there’s nothing to be scared of. It’s so much bigger than that. We can’t let our comfort stop us. Fear a lot of times comes from comfort. Looking for things or situations or other people to reinforce where we want to be comfortable. It’s born from the uncertainty of the future.
Fear is a future event appearing real. The choice you make in the now will either fuel your fear of the future or extinguish it. Here’s what I mean by that; If you’re not prospecting today and you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off, not focused on the right activities, and you’re not doing the things today that will give you appointments tomorrow, you probably have some anxiety and anxiousness about where your next closing is going to come from. It’s a fear. Why? You know you’re not doing what it takes. If you’re eating or drinking the wrong things in the now, it will create anxiety and uncertainty of the future vs. if you’re working out, exercising, and eating the right things, then there’s nothing to be afraid of. The same thing with your prospecting, your lead generating, you’re making the contacts, you’re doing the thing in the now then don’t worry about your future because the future happens. The future will be born from your actions in the now. Only focus on your now, only focus on what you need to do today and that’s what you can control. That will determine your level of success or failure based on what you do in the now. What is the action you need right now? I’m going to give you some distinctions on this to say okay that’s great Hoss but what actions do I do in the now? I’m going to help you with that but know this, eliminate the whole past thinking and eliminate the future thinking. Look for the future and be excited about the future but know that it’s happening. I’m going to take you through an exercise later and you’re going to tell me what your future looks like. When you write these things down it’s going to happen. Know this, everything that you want is on the other side of fear.
I look at my family every morning, even this morning I was sitting there with my daughter, we were talking, she’s so awesome, she’s such a smart, beautiful, fun, incredible leader girl; she’s four years old. She asks me the most awesome questions. I’m looking at her and listening to her, and I’m blown away when I see how blessed I am to have her and how lucky I am to be her father and have my family. I look at all those blessings that you guys have in your life and know that that wouldn’t have happened if I let my fear stop me a long time ago. That wouldn’t have happened if I chose comfort instead of setting out to conquer. I wouldn’t have those people in my life today if I didn’t take the action I was scared to take. It reminds me every single day that everything you want is on the other side of fear.
The stories are endless. You’ve got to be to overcome that. And how you do that is you have a vision. You have to know what you want. Where are we headed? I didn’t know when I was making the prospecting calls every day from nine to noon, 200 calls a day, every day, not missing a day, I didn’t know I’d be here today talking to you, sharing those experiences, impacting you, helping you get the same. Yes, I knew that my future was certain because that’s where I’m headed, but you don’t know all the answers. You don’t know where that way of thinking will lead you, or where that skill set will lead you. You just need to know that you can achieve anything you want, but it’s going to be bigger than you ever thought. That’s usually the case. Your vision is usually not big enough. It’s knowing where is it that you want to be and realizing that better be a big thing. Where is it that you want to be? Where are you headed?
I’ll give you an analogy. When I mowed lawns as a teenager I had the best equipment, best lawn mowers and that’s an important thing; you’ve got to have good tools in your business; good tools will make you look good; good tools will make your life easier, make you more efficient. Always have good tools and good equipment in your business. Whether it be a lawn service or a real estate business always have the best tools. I bought the best lawn mowers and I would teach somebody how to mow. I used to mow the high school football field. Every Friday night I’d be looking at my lawn mowing job under the lights and be like, wow look at those lines, those lines are straight, I killed that one. Here’s what I would do, in order to create a straight line when you’re mowing, you need to have a focal point, that’s how you keep a straight line. It’s off in the distance, maybe a fence post or a tree. It’s a destination. It’s the landmark, it’s where we’re headed. You look directly at that thing and you don’t take your eyes off of it. You don’t look down, up, sideways, you don’t wonder, Am I keeping a straight line?
You just know you’re keeping a straight line because you’re heading toward the destination, you don’t question it. I use this analogy in life as well, because to know where you’re headed you don’t need to question all the things around you, you just need to know where you are headed is exactly where you want to be. And know that you have to have that focal point, that vision, the destination of where you’re headed. that will pull you towards it; it’ll help you with your mindset in overcoming the daily obstacles that most people face because they don’t have that vision; a better version of where they are, a better version of what they want to experience; their goals. This is something that will help you in a lot of ways. You want to know what you want, why you want to achieve it, what is your vision, what do you want to experience. If we don’t know that it’s not going to just happen. That’s got to motivate us to do the actions in the now that’s going to put us there.
So, what is it you need to do? I’m going to give you some exercises on this but I want you to understand that when we do your visions sheet and we write down your perfect life and where you want to be, know that you’ve got to think bigger and know that you can do more, you can become more and that vision has got to be big. I’m going to give you an exercise, you don’t have to do it right now but you to do it by the time part two happens. I want you to write down 100 things you want to achieve in your eyes. Do not roll your eyes when I say that, if you’re rolling your eyes on writing down 100 things you want to do or achieve in your life you’re in the wrong spot; this spot is for achievers; this spot is for people who take their future seriously; this spot is for people who want to obtain different results and that will not happen by mistake. The only way that will happen is if you’re intentional; you’re intentional with what you want and you work towards what you want.
Keys to Success
The first step is write down 100 things that you want to do or achieve in your life. I did this in my early 20’s; I pulled it out the other day and it’s absolutely unbelievable how many of those things actually came to fruition. I’m a speaker, I’ve got a book, I’ve got 3 kids. It’s important to know what it is that you want but at the same time write it down. It’s like a seed planted when you write it down it sets the intention forward; there’s magic in writing something down. You don’t need to question why it’s magic or how it works, it’s just something you need to have faith in that everything you write down and ask for you shall what…you ask and you shall receive. A lot of you haven’t ever done that, how amazing is that that you’ve never written down 100 things you want to do or achieve in your life and now you’re going to have that. I know if you did nothing but that one thing that value will be tremendous because I know what happens; the power that come from setting that intention forward.