The Good Kind of Cheating
I was hanging out with my daughter at our office this week when she taught me a valuable lesson.
At the office, we have these real estate-themed coloring pages, and my daughter was working on one. One of the activities on the page is a maze that’s house-shaped. She showed it to me and said:
“Look Daddy, I did it.”
I replied:
“That’s great, honey. Good job.”
Then she slyly added:
“Guess what? I actually cheated.”
Curious, I asked:
“How so?”
I was thinking, How do you cheat on a maze unless there’s an answer key? (Which I knew there wasn’t.)
Then what she said was fascinating:
“I started with the finish line and worked backwards. It’s way easier that way.”
I laughed and told her that wasn’t cheating—it was just smart. But she insisted:
“No, it’s still cheating.”
So I gave in and said she was right… but I insisted it’s the good kind of cheating:
“Start with where you want to go and work backwards.”
This immediately reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend and new agent that joined Light House Realty this week. We were talking about how many people are not organized with marketing activities because they don't have a clear goal. At Light House Realty, we believe what the great Stephen R. Covey said, "Begin with the end in mind." Habit #2, by the way, from his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. But yes honey, this is cheating, but its good cheating because it is WAY easier, and you don't get lost along the way.
What we encourage at Light House Realty, I also strongly recommend you think about for any type of investing or any career path for that matter. We start off by asking how much do you want to make this year based on real-life goals? What do you need your money to do for you? Plan a big vacation? Allow your spouse to cut hours? Send your kids to a private school you really like? Travel? What is it? You figure out that number, then break that down by the average amount of money you NET from each transaction. Then figure out how many transactions you need to do in a year to hit that goal. Then you can tailor your activities to hit that target and have clarity on what you need todo to get there. Break that into actionable tasks and habits for each week, find an encouragement group to keep you focused and BAM look out, yes honey, this is cheating!!!
So many people jump in and say, "I need to do a flip!" or "I need to sell 10 houses!" without looking at how much they need to make, how much they are going to make, and what its going to take to get there. Then they get burned out, lost, and frustrated. Learn from my daughter, practice a good life cheat, and start with the end in mind! Lets chat about what this looks like for you!
