Goal-Setting

It seems like all we ever hear about these days is goal setting and accomplishment and success and all of that, especially if we spend any time on social media. And we agree, that setting a goal and hitting it is a magical thing, but what if you’re setting the wrong goal? Or the right goal for the wrong reason? Or what if you’re setting goals based of what you think you ‘should’ want to accomplish but in your gut you feel like what you’re working toward isn’t really right for you? This is the ongoing struggle you’ll face as you achieve higher and higher levels of success.

When you first get started in real estate, it’s relatively easy to set your first set of goals: sell a house! Then sell another one! But if you don’t have some kind of underlying clarity for why you chose real estate and what you’re working toward, eventually the excitement will wear off and you’ll be left wondering what you should do with your day. If you’ve been in real estate for a while, you’ll likely find that increasing the number of houses you sell, will only fulfill you for so long, and eventually you won’t be able to single-handedly work that many deals.

Seeking clarity on who you are, what you’re trying to accomplish, how you’ll get there and why you want to do this thing in the first place is an important first step, and a recurring set of questions you’ll need to ask yourself to make sure you stay aligned with your true goals and purpose.

Start with Why

There is an amazing book and TED Talk by Simon Sinek called Start With Why. If you haven’t read it yet, watch the TED Talk video quickly before you continue.

Broker Amy’s “Why”

“When I first got my real estate license, I was fully on the Dave Ramsey train and this was going to be my second job to earn more money so I could more quickly pay down my 55k in student loans. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into with real estate but I hit the ground running and started making money right away. The day I received my first commission check of $2721.60 which at the time was more money than I made in two months as a Licensed Nutritionist, I decided to put as much of every commission as I could toward those loans and pay them off in one year. It took me a year and a half to accomplish this goal, but the pain of paying those loans, and not getting to enjoy the fruits of my real estate labor, and thinking about having these loans hanging over my head for the next 20 years was big enough to keep me motivated and working hard toward that goal.

By the time I had accomplished this first goal, I had learned a ton. I had learned what worked and what didn’t, what kinds of clients I loved working with and who I’d prefer to avoid. I’d changed my financial situation from have a $20 balance in my checking account to building some savings and beginning to invest. I was in a really good place. And it happened really fast.

Now what?

One of my favorite things about making money in general, but also making money by commission, is that you learn the value of your time and you learn how to make your work more easy and efficient. You also create opportunities for yourself simply because you can free up a ton of time and space in your life for learning and exploring what you really want to do.

After I hit my first goal, I started setting ‘units sold’ goals because I preferred doing many transactions and knew I’d get more experience doing so than if I set a ‘gross closed’ goal and relied on getting a few, bigger commissions. But as I hit goals of 30 houses and 50 houses in a year, I also realized that a big part of hitting those goals was the natural progression of doing the work. It was at this time that I realized in order to really be fulfilled by this work, I needed to turn my goals to helping others because I really feel good about that and it gives a deeper meaning to the work that I do. It also makes me better at what I’m doing. This is not to say that teaching or mentoring is where your goals should come from, it’s just telling you my experience.

In order to figure out what your goal is, you need to figure out why you’re doing this. It’s great to daydream and think about this stuff, but you really need to write it down to be able to process it. Spend some time writing your dreams and hopes and goals and plans and bucket list items. They can be business and personal and life and family and all of that. Write about what you’d like your life to look like in a year, in a three years, in five years. How do you want to spend your time? What are the things that make you feel great? What things would you like to stop doing? And so on.”

Think you’ve got your why? Go deeper.

Simon Sinek talks about this but the first time I heard this was at a nutrition conference, with Dr. Bob Rakowski. He said “you need to go 5 why’s deep, and if the patient isn’t crying by the time you get to the fifth why they are probably not being honest with you.” When we ask the first why, you usually get the perfunctory response “for my kids” or “to make money” etc. but digging to the next why again and again will either get you to the core reason, or leave you with a bigger question to think about. Try this with yourself and see if you can get past 3 whys. It’s really hard!

Seek clarity in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it so you can set the plan of how you’ll accomplish it.

A few other great books on personal development and goal setting and creating the habits that will make you successful are The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard,  and Do the Work by Steven Pressfield. These books alone are probably worth about 20k in one-on-one performance or business coaching hours.

Zig Ziglar’s The Seven Steps of Goal Setting

When setting goals, we often just list the goal (ie. sell 30 houses). But in order to build the plan for action and successfully hit those goals, we need to spend some time breaking it down. Zig Ziglar is the old school master on goal setting. Watch his video on the topic here. Then use his seven steps to break down your goals and develop your plan of action.

1. Identify the goal. If you don’t identify a target you will never hit it. When you identify a goal it means that you write it down and describe it clearly. Don’t set any nebulous targets. If you want to have specific success you must have specific targets. A goal “To improve my results” or “To spend more time on homework” is not specific. A specific goal would be “To increase my marks by 10% for each subject”.

2. List the benefits-what’s in it for me? Once you identify a specific goal you need to list the benefits you will receive when you reach that goal. Let’s face it, we only do the things we want to do and are willing to do. If there are no personal benefits your motivation for completing the goal will be diminished. You will need all the personal motivation you can muster, and understanding what’s in it for you is vitally important.

3. List the obstacles to overcome. There will be some rough spots on your journey as you work to achieve your goals. Many of them can be anticipated and if you can anticipate something you can prepare yourself in advance to overcome it. So, think it through and make a complete list of all the things that can prevent you from being successful. If you can’t think of everything, ask a trusted friend who knows you well to help you finish the list.

4. List the skills and knowledge required. Knowledge gives us the power to accomplish things we would not otherwise be able to do, and skills give us the tools to take advantage of our knowledge. There is a direct relationship between knowing and doing, and successfully accomplishing your goals will require that powerful combination.

5. Identify the people and groups to work with. People do a better job when we have the help of others. They can help us with knowledge and skill and can offer valuable advice we need to be successful. So when you set your goals always consider the people and the groups you can work with that can help you be more successful.

6. Develop a plan of action. This is the most critical step and it involves thinking through the details of how you will achieve your goal.

7. Set a deadline for achievement. If you don’t set a deadline for completing your goals you will not be able to be accountable to yourself, or anyone else. If you are not accountable for your goals you will not achieve them.

Accountability

Once you know what you want to do and why you want to do it and have your plan of attack, you’ll need to hold yourself accountable. Everyone responds differently so you’ll need a little bit of ‘know thyself’ or take a few minutes and take Gretchen Rubin’s quiz on the 4 Tendencies to find out what kind of accountability system will work best for you. (Read her book when you have a minute too, it’s really interesting!)

Think about what works best to keep you on track and put a system in place to keep you accountable to your goals and yourself. You’ve got this!

Action Items

1. Get some clarity. Spend some time writing. Dump your brain. Sort it all out. Decide what you want to do and why you want to do it.
2. Work the Seven Steps for EACH goal you want to accomplish.
3. Tell someone about it!