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You know it's always amazing how many excuses we all come up with for putting this off.
I'm too busy. I don't have all the answers yet, "still researching". Ah, the money I need never seems to materialize. I heard that there's a better way to do it. The guest on Larry King last night said I shouldn't do it. On and on and on it goes...
Why do people procrastinate?
Especially on important things like starting their own business or investing in a piece of real estate or switching jobs into something that will stretch your comfort zone and make you grow?
I'm definitely no expert in the human thought process. I did take a Psychology class in University, I met my wife in that class and I'm not sure I got anything other than that out of it. My focus was on something else ;)
But throughout a pretty intense process of moving into sales and then managing sales people and investing in real estate I've observed a thing or two.
Let's use Rob's example of funneling all your investments through real estate.
And let's agree that it's a solid idea and you decide that you should invest.
Well, here's where the problems begin. At this point most people go into a "state of overwhelm".
They basically begin to freak right out. Because it's a new activity and you don't have all the answers you feel 100% overwhelmed by the activity.
So how do you handle it? How do you take the pressure off?
Well, most people just put the whole idea on hold. They decide to stop right at this point. They feel overwhelmed and they stop.
And why do people do this? Well, here's what it looks like to me. People are scared of FAILURE. They don't want to mess up.
And WHY don't they want to mess up? Why are they scared of failure? This is the ultimate question right?
Drum roll please...
People are scared of you. That's right. People are scared of you. YOU are the problem.
They are scared of being judged by you. They fear that you will label them a failure.
Their self-worth is tied to the outcome of the activity. If they mess up they believe they will be less of a person.
To be fair there are additional reasons, like fear of success and fear of losing money but most of it boils down to the fear of being judged.
Again, I'm not an expert but it seems accurate. When I left my six-figure sales job to go out and start my own business 99% of my friends and peers thought I was nuts.
And I knew I couldn't listen to them. I had grown enough to realize my self-worth was not tied to outcome of this new venture. I figured that if it didn't work out (which it did by the way) that I would move on from there to something else. I don't mean to beat my own drum here or anything...I'm just sharing my thought process in case you find it helpful at all.
See when you go off and start something knew you are bound to make mistakes. You will certainly screw up. But it's that base of experience that really allows you to propel forward. Without the experiences you pick up along the way you will never move on. It's the mistakes that allow you to make better choices next time.
You know how on this blog we've been discussing that real estate investing is a process? I think this is what we mean.
You need a good mentor, you need some education but at some point you need to start.
And it's not a bad idea to start small. Maybe you purchase a small single family home to cut your teeth on. You make some mistakes and then you move on to buying 2 homes, then 3, then maybe a building and so on.
A while ago I didn't understand that failure is not an absolute. Failure is part of the process. Each time I'm hit with a difficult situation the most important aspect of the event is how I move on from there. It's how I handle the set back or mistake that is key.
And you know what? Every time I make a mistake as long as I keep moving, asking for help and taking some steps forward everything works out. And it works out every single time. Always.
So the next time you are frozen from action by the feeling of "overwhelm" realize that you can break the cycle. Your self-worth is not tied to the outcome. Make a move. Do something that moves you towards completing the task. Don't think about it, just start moving.
By far the best examples I've ever read about this are the "walk the plank" stories by Neil Fiore, Ph.D. in his book "The Now Habit".
Worth checking out right now, don't procrastinate ;)
Tom Karadza
Income For Life Toronto
www.TheRealEstateRenegades.com
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