How to Overcome Distractions & Keep Focused on Your 2011 Goals
In today’s post, Rob Russell of The Real World Investor shares 5 tips to help you stay laser focused on achieving your 2011 goals (and btw… Rob’s one of our PMBP member’s who is kicking some serious butt in today’s market… he’s getting private money and closing deals right and left… go Rob!)…
Hello fellow Real Estate Investors,
I must admit, with the invention of social media, I-phones, I pods, and who knows what those brilliant marketers are working on next, keeping your focus on your goals in 2011 is going to be a challenge!
I’m speaking from experience.
You see, even after a 10-year stint in the Army where I was hand-picked to be trained as a “sniper” and where I developed incredible mental focus and clarity, I struggled after I got out of the service.
Luckily I had the mental fortitude and discipline to develop my own systems and habits that keep me focused and on track to reach my goals.
As you get to know me more, you will see that one of my passions is to help out my fellow investors and share what I’ve found works best in “THE REAL WORLD”!
With that said, here are my top…
5 Tips & Tricks to Overcome Distractions & Stay Laser Focused on Your Goals
(I’ve spent the last 20 years fine tuning these… enjoy :-)
1) Develop a Weekly “Roadmap” to Follow
What works for me is a template I have developed that I call my “Weekly Performance And Accountability Progress Sheet”. In a nutshell, I break up all the areas of my Real Estate Business, and put down 1-4 tasks that I want to accomplish in each area for the week.
2) Develop a “Mini Roadmap”
Each day I develop a simple and easy to follow checklist of the 5-10 tasks that are most important for me to get done that day. I draft this up in an e-mail and put it on my clipboard and carry it with me. I review it often, and check off a task when I complete it.
3) Stay FLEXIBLE and ADJUST as you go
You have to realize that we live in an imperfect world, and you are going to have to work around that. If you don’t complete some tasks for that day, carry them over to the next day. Also realize that sometimes your priorities will change and you might just take something off the list as a more important task (higher income producing) comes along.
4) Guard Yourself Against “TIME VAMPIRES!”
Let’s face it, as you go through a typical day you are going to get into situations where you can feel yourself getting sucked into a task, or talking to someone and you get that feeling you are starting to drift off target!
That is where you need to ask yourself “Is what I’m doing right now, the best use of my time, and getting me closer to my goals?”.
Be honest with yourself, and if the answer is NOT EVEN CLOSE, stop doing it immediately. If you’re in a conversation, politely look at your watch and tell that person “I’m sorry, but I really have to run, I have a few things I still need to get done today”.
5) Keep a Daily Journal of Your Progress Towards Your Goals
I know what you’re thinking right about now… “Man this guy sure likes to write a lot, I’m never going to find the time to do that much writing, I’m way too busy!” Here is my answer to that, MAKE TIME! This will help motivate you to write down your goals:
In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that :
=> 84% had no specific goals at all
=> 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper
=> 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them
In 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. You can guess the results:
=> The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all.
=> Even more staggering – the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.
(Source: “What They Don’t Teach You In The Harvard Business School”, by Mark McCormack)
Pretty darn cool!
Ok, I have to run! I have a few more tasks I want to get done before I wrap up my day!
Talk to you soon,
- Rob Russell
The Real World Investor
P.S. – Here’s a pic of my wife, Kristi, and I hanging out with Patrick in Portland at Ron Mead’s Probate Mastery Conference. Good times!
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If you would like a copy of Rob’s “Weekly Performance and Accountability Progress Sheet”, go to The Real World Investor and toss your e-mail in the sign up box on the right hand side just below the video.
It all starts with setting goals.
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