Your Mindset Matters

I'm a big believer in mindset. I believe that your mindset is a conscious choice you make on a daily basis, not a result of the things you are facing in life and business. Your mindset determines your attitude, your efficiency, and your overall health.

As an agent, I believe there are four main areas where your mindset needs to be strong: as an entrepreneur, as a servant, as a student, and as a leader.

1. You Are An Entrepreneur

First, you must not only realize that you are an entrepreneur but approach your business as one. You must not only get up each morning with an eye towards making sure you operate your business that day, but that you are reaching towards an end goal. If you've never thought of your business that way, I highly encourage you to read the book, The E-Myth Revisited. Bottom line: you must being working on your business while you are working in your business. Until you realize that, and prepare daily to reach your end goal, you will be no better than someone working a 40-hour week at a cubicle.

2. You Are A Servant

Servant leadership has become one of those business school and motivational book terms like "think outside the box" or "synergy" or any others that drive people crazy. To me, for what that's worth, servant leadership can be wrapped up in two simple concepts. First, you must possess empathy (and know the difference between empathy and sympathy). Second, you must realize the needs of those who depend on you and put them above yours. Those people could be family, clients, associates, colleagues, or the industry in general. That doesn't mean you have to be weak. Most of the greatest servants I have encountered are strong, willful people. They simply have a vision and are driven toward it.

3. You Are A Student

Curiosity not only didn't kill the cat, but it probably gave the cat nine lives. Your position requires you to be constantly learning, constantly developing yourself. Don't let it only extend to your professional life, but your personal life. Learning, a life of learning, should be something you embrace. Whether it's reading or webinars, classes or service to your industry, take everything you can from those who have done it before and make yourself better. Become the expert.

4. You Are A Leader

Do you know how few people will ever take the entrepreneurial leap? Do you know how few that do will be successful? If you're reading this and you are successfully running your business, making your clients happy, and enjoying what you are building, you have a responsibility to share with your industry. You don't have to become a professional speaker, or an author, or even a manager within your own brokerage. Become a mentor to an agent, serve at your association level, share with colleagues. I hate to watch the petty behaviors of so many great agents. These agents could be an amazing asset to our industry but instead choose to act like children fighting over a toy. There is enough business out there for all of us. How others perform reflects on you whether you like it or not. Help change the perception by recognizing that you are a leader and that your responsibility as such requires you to be more than a single agent working in real estate.

Whether it's meditation, affirmation, or visualization that helps put your mind in the right place, practice it every day. Make it part of your daily regimen. Not only will it change your business, it will change your life and the lives of those you serve and those you lead.