Routines that Serve You

I wrote this in April for my email subscribers, so you'll notice a reference to a cruise that I went on.  To sign up to receive my weekly emails, head here.

Every morning, I wake up at 5 am (6 am on the weekends) and hit the gym.  I am fairly new to this gym habit, but now that I've got the habit, I'm hanging on to it tight.  So much so, in fact, that I'm even making plans and arrangements to keep it up on my vacation next week.  Yes.  You read that right.  I plan to wake up early to work out while on a cruise with my husband.  I've thought through how to pack my pre-workout and protein shakes.  Made plans to download the podcasts I intend on listening to and even bought myself some new work out gear.  Perhaps it sounds complicated, but in actuality, it gives my day and mind a framework that I can't quit.  I've come to LOVE doing what I don't want to do, when I don't want to do it.

Spoiler alert: I NEVER want to wake up when my alarm goes off.  Ever.  Even though I know I love it, the thought always crosses my mind to sleep in...just this one morning.  The problem is, I know that if I sleep in this one morning, I'll sleep in the next and the next.  How do I know that?  I've done it.  

I had had this habit a year ago and fallen out of it and do you want to know what?  It was INFINITELY harder to get back into it the second time around because now I had to break that habit of sleeping through my alarm.  So now that I'm back in it, I'm staying right here.

So what does this have to do with real estate?  

I want you to take a minute and think of the routines and habits you have about generating your leads?  Do you have a routine?  A formula? Is it built into your day?  Do you do it even when you don't want to?

One thing I remind myself on those mornings I'm dragging is this, I say, "Amy, you NEVER regret getting up.  It's just a hard 20 seconds and then you'll be so glad you're awake.  You can be uncomfortable for 20 seconds."  Then I'm up, and I have yet to regret it.

You must treat your business the same way.  You must create routines and habits so that you consistently have clients to work with.  A quick exercise I use when I'm having a hard time getting going is to do a brain dump.  I grab a sheet of paper & pen and then ask myself the following questions:

1. What does it look like if your business is thriving?  Take a minute and write down a bullet point list of what this actually looks like in the future.  You might include things like retiring your spouse (that's definitely on my list!), traveling as a family, enjoying the flexibility of time and space.  Really let your mind wander here.

2. What are 3 thoughts/beliefs that keep me from achieving my thriving business.  Again, you're going to write down a bullet point style list.  These are your 'sleeping through your alarm' attributes that keep you from reaching your goals.  You might include the negative thought patterns you have, lack of planning, distractions, etc.

That one is hard, right?  It's hard to point out our weaknesses, but we can't train them, unless we know what they are.  Now, that we've mapped that out, this is the fun part.

3. What are 3 ways you can show up for yourself to create the business you were meant to create?  Here, you might go more than 3, but don't go over 5.  Write down who you need to be in order to achieve what you want to achieve.  You might write, "I need to be the kind of person who plans her week, then remains committed with her plan."

Once you've done this, the goal is to begin creating routines, structure and habits around those 3 things.  I can promise you, were won't be perfect at it.  I can also promise you, you'll be frustrated when you're not perfect at it.  

That's okay.  It's part of the process.  The trick is to not give up, but to instead tweak your system, make adjustments so that you can become consistent. Then, once you are consistent, hang on tight to that progress!  Let it become second nature, then watch your business grow.

Work hard!  Learn, grow & enjoy!