Meandering the Maze of Mediocrity

Walk into any business in America and take a look around. Ignore your surroundings; I want you to zero in on the people. You can tell a lot just by looking into the eyes of the employees. The average worker – whether a $7.00 per hour fast food worker or a $75,000 per year mid-level executive – has one thing in common. They all have the same glazed over look in their eyes. Why?

They have no motivation, no direction, and no purpose. They're almost literally sleepwalking through life, working just hard enough not to get fired. In essence they're living two lives. One life puts food on their table and – if they're lucky – pays for gas and everything else they need to survive. The other life starts Friday afternoon at 5:00 and ends Sunday night shortly before they go to sleep. For a brief moment in time their eyes have life. They're living for the weekend.

You've chosen a different path. You had hope for a better future for yourself and your family. So you opted for the independence of real estate investing. The boundless opportunity to earn what you're worth and not what a market segment report says your time is worth. Yet, you may feel yourself falling into the same trap. Here's how to claw your way out and rise to the top.

You've read countless real estate rags to riches stories and they've shown you that more is possible than you're achieving right now. These stories all have one thing in common: Anyone that succeeds in real estate or in life succeeds not primarily because they come across a secret never before discovered technique that allows them to succeed. They succeed because they get up off the couch and get started.

It doesn't matter if you still work a full time job and invest on the side or you've had some investing success. Dust off your dreams, refine or redefine your goals and work your plan. This is an exciting time in real estate. Millions of dollars can be made if you take action today. Don't wait for next week to do what you should be doing right now. You've heard the expression, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." An updated statement should be, "Winners never quit and quitters never start."

What is your plan? If you're not sure, figure it out. Go back to your foundation and start doing something proactive on a daily basis to propel you closer to real estate investing success. Look at some listings or drive by a few properties you'd like to look at. Get the ball rolling. As you start moving, you'll feel the fire coming back into your eyes. You'll start getting excited. Ride that wave of excitement and see how far it can take you.

Make an offer on a few properties. If you hear the word "no" don't automatically assume that you're personally being rejected. Ask plenty of questions and listen to the answers. Most of the time the owner will choreograph a solution that will make the purchase possible. Will you succeed every time? Yes you will. If you define success as learning something that will help you on future deals I guarantee you will succeed every time. You won't close every deal you try. But each experience will show you a new perspective and give you additional insights that could help you devise an alternative that might be acceptable to that particular seller. If it doesn't work, file the experience away in your mind for the future and move on to the next deal. That small success will eventually result in a property in your portfolio and a check in your bank account.

Whatever you do, take the positive energy you've gained and keep moving. An object at rest tends to stay at rest; an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Move on to the next property and challenge yourself to see how far you can take the process. Success is just around the corner. If you're parked, you'll never find it.

Success is simple; mediocrity is hard. You read that right. Mediocrity is hard. It's a difficult existence to sleepwalk through life knowing that it doesn't get any better than it is right now. It may be difficult to hoist yourself up off the couch, but it's a whole lot easier than going through life knowing that all you have to look forward to in the next 40 years is a ride in a hearse and a million years of pushing up daisies.

Instead, live up to your full potential as a real estate investor. Achieve your dreams, change your income tax bracket, and give yourself the kind of life you've dreamed about. Not a life of mediocrity, but rather, a life of distinction that allows you to be and achieve everything you have hoped and planned for: A life you can call your own – a life you can spend with those you love.