by

Wendy Byford

Given the lackluster performance of the stock market over the past few years, many investors have turned to real estate to create the wealth that has eluded them when investing in individual stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  Smart investors have understood the need to educate themselves on any topic before jumping into a new area; consequently, seminar rooms around the nation are filled with intelligent, motivated people, eager to learn the latest tips and strategies from those who have mastered them.

Technical training is important for understanding and applying any system of real estate investing. The information is available in many forms, from books to tapes, CDs to DVDs, group seminars to one on one coaching.  There are two skills that are essential to success in any field, however, that must be learned in addition to these technical programs.  They are

1. the ability to decide on a goal, and to hold yourself accountable for achieving it; and
2. the ability to see yourself as a success in your chosen field. 

Goals

Let’s start with goals. 

All successful people set goals.  Denis Waitley, the former head of the mental training program for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Council, said “Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.”  The issue with many people, particularly new investors, however, is that they never quite decide on a goal – the “where they are going” part.  At best, at the end of a seminar, when they are asked to state what they will do when they leave, they scribble a goal on the bottom of the page; but the commitment to achieve that goal is lacking.  Set in a haphazard manner, the goal exists in isolation, separate from their life’s purpose, their values and their vision; separate also from their hearts.  Without that emotional connection - the fire within - there is no driving motivation to get them to do the unpleasant things that will make them successful, to get them through the days when sellers are rude, deals fall through, houses are trashed, or any of the myriad other things that happen when you are building your business.  They start, struggle, win, fall down, get up, fall down, stay down. 

So, after spending so much money on education, why don’t each of these investors take the time necessary to decide on a goal that speaks to their heart?  The answers are many.  Some simply do not realize they need a goal.  They run out, armed with their system of choice, and dive in; only to discover that, perhaps, things are not as easy as they had thought.  Without a goal that is linked to their core desires, there is nothing to sustain them while they work things out, and they give up.  Some feel overwhelmed and powerless at the thought of moving ahead with a plan.  Faced with all the “I don’t have”s, they assuage their fears by scurrying away to attend one more seminar, to read one more book,  to listen to one more tape, content in the belief that knowledge is power, and all they need is a little more.  Others feel that, when it really comes down to it, they don’t deserve to achieve goals, particularly those that involve bringing them real wealth.  Noah St. John, author of Permission to Succeed, wrote “… an astonishingly large number of people not only don’t know that they are allowed to succeed, millions of people actually believe that for them to even WANT to succeed is bad, wrong, or immoral.  They honestly (and unconsciously) believe that they can’t or shouldn’t or are not even allowed to succeed.”  Consequently, they procrastinate; and, even if they manage to get started, they sabotage their efforts to move forward. 

Let’s assume you are different.  You really want to succeed.  How do you get started?  If picking an investing system that appeals to you and just working on it isn’t the answer, what is? 

Earl Nightingale said that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.  Any worthy ideal must be in alignment with your life’s purpose.   To determine your life’s purpose, look at your skills, gifts and talents – the things you are good at – and the things you love to do.  These are good starting points for determining what you are meant to do.  Your purpose sets your direction in life, and everything you do should be in harmony with it, including your investing. 

Next, think about your values.  What attributes are important to you.  If honesty and straight-forwardness are high on your list, then you may be uncomfortable using neurolinguistic programming (NLP) in your real estate dealings. 

Given your purpose and your values, next visualize what life would be like if you were living on purpose; that is, if you were living in harmony with your values, working on your life’s purpose.  Access all your senses to build as detailed a picture as you can, then write it down.  Do this over and over again, until you can write a succinct description of your vision, including not only what you are doing, what it looks, smells, feels, sounds and tastes like, but also why. 

Now you are ready to set your goal.  Your goal, this worthy ideal, should be something that, when accomplished, brings you closer to achieving that vision you created of living your life on purpose.  It should be something that consumes your thinking, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  It should be big enough to excite you and scare you at the same time.  Most people set goals they think they can achieve, not what they really want, because they do not believe they can be successful.  Set your goal as if you could not possibly fail.  After all, this goal must be worth your trading the days of your life to achieve it.   Then decide you will do whatever is necessary to achieve this goal.  By deciding, you cut away all the alternatives, the excuses, that give you a way of giving up gracefully.  You force yourself to focus on how.  “If” no longer exists.

For many of you, the goal you have just set will not be directly related to real estate investing.  That’s okay.  If you are drawn to this method of wealth creation, when you begin to plan how you will achieve your goal, you will find that one of the strategies you decide to employ will be to invest in real estate.  That strategy, then, becomes your real estate investing goal, and it should direct all your efforts in this area.  One thing to remember in setting your goal is to be specific. 

Decide if you want to invest in residential property or commercial.  Decide if you will be an active or passive investor. 

Decide whether you want to invest for cashflow or equity / appreciation. 

Decide what strategy or system you want to follow. 

Decide what market will fit your strategy.  If your market is not one with which you are familiar or one in which you live, decide that you will assemble a local team with which to work. 

Decide what you will give up to free the time necessary to work on your goal. 

By deciding these things up front, the goal you set will be one you can achieve.  Although your tactics may change as you grow and learn, your goal will remain the same.  You are committed.   You have the ability to decide on a goal and to hold yourself accountable to do whatever it takes to achieve it.  Write your goal down.  Look at it often.  Work on it, even if only a little bit, every day.

Self-image

Now let’s talk about self-image.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that before you can do something, first you must be something.   The difference between someone who is highly successful and someone who is somewhat successful, or someone who fails, is self-image.  We do not allow ourselves to do things that are inconsistent with who we think we are.   However, most of the things we aspire to do are outside our comfort zone and inconsistent with the way we see ourselves.  To a large degree, our ability to achieve any goal we really want, to be successful in any undertaking, depends upon our ability to see ourselves as successful in our chosen endeavor, doing the things that feel uncomfortable today. 

Your self-image has been built up over the course of your lifetime.  It encompasses all the things you heard, were told and experienced as a child, reinforced by all the things you have heard, been told and experienced as an adolescent and adult.  Your current self-image reflects your conditioning, not who you really are.  It reflects other people’s views of your limitations and shortcomings, not your wonderful abilities and potential.  You are capable of far greater things than your current self-image is allowing you to believe.

Given that your self-image dictates what you will allow yourself to do, which in turn dictates your results, how do you get out of your comfort zone to scale new heights of achievement?  You must change your self-image.  To be a successful real estate investor in the market, you must first be a successful real estate investor in your mind.

To change your current self-image, know what you want your new image to look like.  According to world-renowned coach, speaker and author, Bob Proctor, in order to do this, you need to fantasize, to create a picture in your mind of what your version of successful real estate investors pursuing your goal look like, sound like, feel like.  See what they do, what they earn, what they own, how they are seen, how they are recognized by their peers and by the industry, what they study.  Then you must ask yourself two questions:

1. Am I able to live the life in my fantasy?
2. Am I willing to make the changes necessary to live that life? 

Regardless of your current circumstances and past failures, the answer to the first question should be yes.  Your potential is limitless.  You are certainly able to do whatever you decide you will do.  The answer to the second question is more difficult, because all of your old programming is waiting to tell you exactly why you cannot change.  If you decide, truly decide, that you are willing to make the changes required, your fantasy will become a theory and you are well on your way to creating the You that you most want to be. 

To change your theory into fact, you must now create the habit  of visualizing yourself as the success you want to be several times each day, comparing your life to that image, and changing what needs to be changed.  You must also, as Bob points out, reinforce your changes by studying materials that support what you are doing, and by socializing with people who exhibit the winning characteristics that you are trying to emulate.

While you are focusing on the changes necessary to become the successful investor you want to be, be aware that your old self-image will not transform easily.  Each of us has set points that dictate where we are most comfortable and where we will normally operate.  Think about the thermostat in your house.  Right now it is cool, and perhaps your thermostat is set at 70 degrees.  When the temperature in the room falls below that mark, the thermostat will trigger your heating mechanism to bring the temperature back to 70 degrees.   Your personal set point operates in alike manner.  When you attempt to make changes in your thinking and your actions, you are working outside of your comfort zone.  Your old self-image will try to give you false feedback in order to bring you back to your familiar way of thinking and operating.   At this point, when you are perhaps most vulnerable, it is important that you keep your thoughts focused on where you are going.  Just as when you are exercising to tone your body and lose weight, you must be consistent in your efforts to push through to the next set point.   

Understand that your old self-image does not reflect your self-worth.  Your self-worth reflects your limitless potential: it can only help you.  Your old self-image reflects your lifetime of programming, habits, attitudes and beliefs: it can only hold you back.  Rely on your self-worth, that higher version of you that knows what you are capable of, to guide you through the tough times when your old self-image fights back; and continue to reinforce your new thoughts and your new actions by visualizing, studying, and surrounding yourself with people who demonstrate clearly what you can be. 

Napoleon Hill reminds us that what the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.  Keep that vision of yourself as a successful real estate investor strong in your mind.  The old self-image must then give way.

As you create your professional team to help you with your real estate investing, remember to add a coach or mentor who can hold you accountable to achieve the goal your have just set, and to help you create your new self-image.  With these two items firmly in hand, you can make effective use of your technical systems, and become the investor you want to be.

Wendy Byford is a Certified LifeSuccess Coach, a Small Business Consultant and a real estate investor.  To learn more, go to www.free-your-dreams.com.

The concepts in this paper are available from the following sources:

The Goal Achiever – Bob Proctor

The Winner’s Image – Bob Proctor

Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

Mapping Your Dreams for Success – Wendy Byford