TANJA M JONES HAS joined the ‘head coaching crew’ in Transform 2017. Here she discusses her ‘Steps to Success’ framework which she uses every day in her regular coaching practice, and with #teamtanj in Transform 2017.
I remember attending the ‘Million Dollar Agent’ couch conversation with John McGrath and Tom Panos at my first AREC in 2015. Both sat firm, like red Google pins on a map of mastery, casually commanding the stage, seasoned in their wisdom through decades of real estate practice.
John gave a pursed-lipped ‘tough love’ glare at the eager-to-learn lunchtime audience and said, “Guys, your biggest problem is your mindset! Honestly, this game is 90 per cent mindset and 10 per cent skill. We can teach skill, but your mindset is what will make the difference.”
I remember John’s message invited us to consider that we can attend all the training and listen to all the podcasts we want, but if we don’t get our mindset right we won’t last long in this game. Instead we will become a statistic, likely to join the line of thousands who leave the industry within their first twelve months, never to realise their real estate dreams.
As if a puppeteer had tightened my vertical strings, I sprang up in my seat as every cell in my body hollered, ‘He’s right. I’m not a real estate agent, but I know he’s right.’
John’s message has been consistent ever since, as I have witnessed him speak at McGrath kick-offs and watched numerous interviews online.
In my two years immersed in the industry, I have come to completely appreciate the kind of human being real estate agents actually are.
Now, I know the 2016 Roy Morgan research highlights that they are currently the third least trusted profession in Australia, and I have certainly had my own fair share of below-average experiences with numerous agents. However, I also get to work with some of the most big-hearted human beings I have ever met; human beings who display a huge amount of servanthood, sacrifice, and extraordinary work ethic, change agents who dedicate their life to enable their community to realise their dreams.
I also swiftly learned that this game is completely counter-intuitive to our innate human desire of certainty, security, instant validation and immediate gratification.
Real estate is a world of rejection where every single day agents get told ‘No’, are knocked back, sometimes abused and often hung up on. Pepper that with the fact that it is a highly competitive industry where most work on commission only and get paid three months after making a sale the scarcity mentality is understandable.
So how can agents build a muscle of resilience like Popeye and profit? How can they build a mindset for success that supports them to roll with the punches, stay focused and take consistent action towards their hopeful horizons?
Well, I believe the answer is to apply the Three Steps to Success, a simple architecture crafted by international peak performance specialist Tony Robbins. Tony has dedicated over 30 years of his life to studying the art of human excellence. He has decoded what makes us tick and how we can each get more ‘tock’ out of our mental clock. He understands our innate flaws and consistently shares simple tools and traits that, if applied, enable us to triumph.
The Three Steps to Success model is so simple, yet so powerful and is something I use every single day in my coaching practice. It is equally a wonderful framework for leaders to mentor their teams, as it provides an instant choice of three doorways in which you can search for solutions.
STEP 1: STANDARDS
You may have heard the phrase ‘Reach for the moon; even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars’. Well, most of us don’t even look up.
We often underestimate what we are capable of and don’t acknowledge the innate power we have to liberate ourselves and others around us to absolutely fulfill our deepest desires.
Step one is about clarity. It’s about defining our standards, our why, our what, our values and expectations. If we don’t know where to stand we’ll fall for anything and get side-tracked along the way, diluting our power and potency.
The only way to achieve what you want is to turn your shoulds into musts.
Until something becomes a must it remains a ‘nice idea’, a consideration, and we end up deluding ourselves that our thoughts are actions. The ‘shouldness’ consumes our mental landscape and takes up valuable space for innovation, which thwarts the rise of our natural genius.
STEP 2: STRATEGY
Now that you are clear on what you want and you have simplified your musts, it’s time to reverse-engineer a strategy to ensure your time is allocated to taking the actions you need to take to produce the results you want.
I assume you are no stranger to having an ‘ideal week’; this simply means you have sat down with your schedule and allocated time to do what you need to do to achieve your musts. Many people, however, have an adverse response to ideal weeks as they experience feeling ‘boxed in’.
International real estate coach Tom Ferry, together with his assistant, defined 75 tasks he needed to do each day, week, month, quarter and year to ensure he realised his musts. To guarantee success, they sat down and planned his entire year out, clearing his mind of distraction; now his ultimate must is to simply follows his schedule. It’s a no-brainer.
STEP 3: STATE
Manifesting our musts takes energy and energy is everything, especially in this game. To master your mindset consider, you need to take care of your four bodies: the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
A brilliant tool to do this is to follow ‘The Morning Miracle’ and practise SAVERS. This is an acronym for Silence (meditation), Affirmation, Visualisation, Exercise, Read and Scribe (journal).
For more information, I invite you to read The Morning Miracle for Real Estate Agents by Hal Elrod, Michael J Maher, Michael Reese and Jay Kinder, or visit miraclemorning.com.
