Are You a Winner or a Mere Mortal?
Ohh myyyy. It never ceases to amaze me the excuses people make because deep down they really don't want to be successful. Of course, one of the most common excuses I hear is that I didn't have time. I didn't have time to send out letters last month. I didn't have time to put out signs. I didn't have time to drive for dollars. Guess what people? Get your act together and get your priorities in order. When you tell someone that you don't have time, all you're really saying is "it's not really that important to me, I'd rather watch TV, I'd rather surf the Internet, I just don’t care about success that much”. Let me tell you about some good information I got from a book by famous marketer Bruce Barton. In one of Bruce's books he emphasized the importance of being more productive with your time. He stated that some of the world’s most successful men achieved their true life's work IN THEIR SPARE TIME. Here are some examples from the book:
"A tired-out rail-splitter crouched over his tattered books by candlelight or by fire-glow, at the day's end; preparing for his future, instead of snoring or skylarking like his co-laborers. Abraham Lincoln cut out his path to later immortality—in his spare time.
"An underpaid and overworked telegraph clerk stole hours from sleep or from play, at night, trying to crystallize into realities certain fantastic dreams in which he had faith. Today the whole world is benefiting by what Edison did—in his spare time.
99 percent of real estate investors work their full time jobs for months to years, before they go full time (the smart approach to take). So, what should you do and what do I do to ensure I am SUPER productive every day?
-Get up an hour earlier. During that hour, address envelopes, post craigslist ads, read a marketing books
-NEVER watch TV (I don’t even own a TV)
-Check email only 3 times per day
-Do not go to bed until your "to do" list is completed at the end of the day
Let me share something personal here. There are many days when I have a million and one things to do. These are the days that I seem to have a thousand phone calls to make. And, every phone call seems to go longer than expected (like when I thought I had a motivated seller on the phone, but once I figure out they're not motivated, I immediately try to get rid of them, but they ramble on forever).
Anyway, about 1:00 a.m. will roll around and I'm completely EXHAUSTED. I can't see straight and I want to go to bed. The problem is, that I still have to send out an important email or two, I have to email my assistant her "to do" list for the upcoming day and I have to evaluate a deal.
Now, at these moments when I can barely stay awake and all I want to do is hit the sack, I tell myself the following: "Jason the work you are about to do right now is the reason you're successful. The average person is going to go to bed now and not complete their tasks for the day. However, you are not average which is why you are going to work as long as it takes for you to get everything on your list finished. Because the real winners in life burn the midnight oil while others take the easy way out and go to sleep".
You know, when that's typed out it looks really good. That's definitely something you should print out and post on your computer to look at every night.
Jason.... You''re starting to make sense. How about this quote from Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
Citizenship in a Republic — a speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, 1910-04-23)