Diary From a Classroom, Part 2

December 30, 2010

NOTE: Click HERE for Diary of a Classroom, Part 1

old school, by alamosbasement on Flickr

Well, a few weeks ago I promised more notes from a classroom and, you guys, I almost didn’t survive to tell this tale. The first half of my required classes in order to apply for my real estate license went pretty well. There was an adjustment to being in a classroom again, but the instructor was great, the company of the other students greater, and I enjoyed it.

The second half, however? Cripes. We were no longer prepping for an exam, but simply attending for the state-required certificate, so that changed the atmosphere a bit. Then the material was awful. And then the teacher couldn’t hold down a classroom to save her life, nor hear or understand what we were saying, nor find her sense of humor, nor be any, well, weirder.

Sigh.

It was one of those situations – rare, thankfully – where I stared at the clock on my cell phone willing it, pleading it, to move faster.

And it only moved slower.

I thought about nothing else except the giant list of items I could be working on if I weren’t sitting in that chair. About every place I wished I was instead. About what would happen – I mean really! – if I just up and walked out. No one would care! No one was requiring me to be there, and every cell in my body wanted to get as far away as possible from the embarassment that was that room.

As all of this was flowing through my head, somewhere around hour nine I finally resigned to the fact that I was going to stay. I wasn’t really ever considering to leave. I mean, come on, Annie. You knew you were going to push through from the beginning.

As much as I tried to convince myself it was, giving up wasn’t really an option. I mean, it was. But it wasn’t. There was a long-term goal at stake there. And that long-term stuff beats the short-term every, single time.

Sometimes you have to do things now to get yourself what you want later. And it might be painful. Paaaainfulllll. But you do it anyway. What’s that quote again?

“Do the things today that others won’t,
so that you can do tomorrow what others can’t.”

Yeah, that one. It’s those that push through the painful, tedious crap now that will reap the benefits later.

I want those commissions from our future investment properties. Give me that three-percent, please and thank you! I want an additional, more advanced way to learn about real estate, both commerical and residential. I want the inside connections that will come with getting to know local brokers, other investors, landlords, and developers. I want the additional time freedoms that come from multiple, residual streams of income. Therefore, what I’m doing now is worth it. WAY worth it. In fact, reviewing that list, those three extra days in that (terrible, awful, swear-inducing, torturous, need I continue?) classroom almost seems an inconsequential price to pay to have a lifetime’s worth of those advantages. Yeah?

So here’s the question: is what you’re pushing through right now worth it? What you’re not-so-happily suffering through? Will it pay off later? If the payoff isn’t immediately clear, hmm. Maybe change is something to consider.

What say you? Throw your thoughts below. As for me, all of these classroom memories are giving me the heebie jeebies, so if you’ll excuse me, I have a real estate empire to plan…

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Once in a while I run into a piece of writing that quickly, simply, and completely hits me to my core. You know, one of those that you don’t immediately forget upon clicking ‘X’ on the browser window? Yeah. This list from Robin Sharma is one of those. Robin is a leadership expert and author of a couple amazing, bestselling books; The Leader Who Had No Title and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Listen up:

I want to shift gears from leadership to a pure focus on crafting an exceptional life for this blog post. Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a live half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips:
1. Exercise daily.
2. Get serious about gratitude.
3. See your work as a craft.
4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst.
5. Keep a journal.
6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”.
7. Plan a schedule for your week.
8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life.
9. Say no to distractions.
10. Drink a lot of water.
11. Improve your work every single day.
12. Get a mentor.
13. Hire a coach.
14. Get up at 5 am each day.
15. Eat less food.
16. Find more heroes.
17. Be a hero to someone.
18. Smile at strangers.
19. Be the most ethical person you know.
20. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence.
21. Savor life’s simplest pleasures.
22. Save 10% of your income each month.
23. Spend time at art galleries.
24. Walk in the woods.
25. Write thank you letters to those who’ve helped you.
26. Forgive those who’ve wronged you.
27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades.
28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love.
29. Have 5 great friends.
30. Become stunningly polite.
31. Unplug your TV.
32. Sell your TV.
33. Read daily.
34. Avoid the news.
35. Be content with what you have.
36. Pursue your dreams.
37. Be authentic.
38. Be passionate.
39. Say sorry when you know you should.
40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another.
41. Have a vision for your life.
42. Know your strengths.
43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack.
44. Be patient.
45. Don’t give up.
46. Clean up your messes.
47. Use impeccable words.
48. Travel more.
49. Read “As You Think”.
50. Honor your parents.
51. Tip taxi drivers well.
52. Be a great teammate.
53. Give no energy to critics.
54. Spent time in the mountains.
55. Know your top 5 values.
56. Shift from being busy to achieving results.
57. Innovate and iterate.
58. Speak less. Listen more.
59. Be the best person you know.
60. Make your life matter.

Thanks Robin. This is brilliant. You can find the full post on Robin’s blog here. Bookmark it.

I can see you sitting in front of your screen, by the way, nodding your head in agreement with most of these. Caught! Which ones hit you the hardest?

9 comments

Diary From a Classroom

December 8, 2010

If you happen to follow me on Twitter you might have noticed lately that, uhh, I haven’t really been tweeting much to follow. I’ve been in class!

Classroom Annie! Nate and I have recently made things official: our first, solo, real estate investment property. Eek! We’ve had plans for years to get into real estate, and number 15 on my Life List is “Get my real estate license” so why not jump into both at the same time, right?

For 40 hours last week and 16 this week I’ve been sitting in a classroom in the middle of Kansas City, taking notes (actual, handwritten ones), and listening to a Southern-drawl’d teacher lecture on real estate laws, agency, and licensure.

Off the subject, but you guys, this teacher is a riot. He’s twenty minutes deep into a talk about general warranty deeds and fee simple title and then all of a sudden starts preaching about the business structure of Chick-fil-A. Earlier that day? A comparison between real property and personal property brought about the wonderful portrayal of fatherhood Laura Ingalls Wilder depicts in her Little House in the Prairie series. Don’t ask. None of us had any idea either. All of this between his accent that, sometime after hour 37 had several dozen, antsy, grown adults snickering until they cried. Dollars became DAWluhs and buyer came BIAar. It was awesomeness.

As I was driving home at the end of the week, I realized how rare of an experience I had. We purchasd the property we did right on the edge of barely knowing what we were doing. I enrolled to get my real estate license because I knew it would give us a leg up, but didn’t have any specific idea how or when or by how much. I hadn’t thought twice about anyone I might get to know during class, and five days later walked away with a half-dozen self-motivated, goal-driven, risk-taking, entrepreneurial friends.

It was a brilliant example of Ready, Fire, Aim.

Last week I realized that I need to stop aiming more often. In fact, let’s stop aiming more often…together.

You up for it?

More classroom “notes” to come. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Diary From a Classroom, Part 2

7 comments

Thanksgiving 2010

November 29, 2010

A couple quick, informal thoughts I recorded last week while home with family over Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be grateful for – YOU, most definitely included. Not many useful tidbits here, just me saying hi, being goofy, and most importantly, saying thank you.

On a different note – ack! The holiday season is already upon us! How the heck did that happen?

If you cannot see the video, click here.

For my U.S. readers, how was your Thanksgiving? For you others, how was your weekend?

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I was sitting in the salon chatting with my hair stylist the other day, and we got to talking about business and learning and self-education. Without really thinking about it, I quickly mentioned several books that I assumed everyone was familiar with – the most important of which was Rich Dad Poor Dad.

She had never heard of it and grew more and more excited about the recommendation. How it could help her husband with the launch of his new business, how it could help her business, how it could affect them personally, etc. She even made plans to run to the bookstore that afternoon.

The entire exchange surprised me. I mean, what? Doesn’t everyone know about Robert Kiyosaki’s work? And how it could change their mindset and assumptions about wealth and business? At the very least, how it’s the #1 bestselling business book?

Be Careful With Assumptions

I shouldn’t have made such an assumption. I had added the specific book titles into the conversation without a thought. If I was in a lazy mood that day or tired of talking I might not have even brought them up. And all of it really got me thinking about sharing. Specifically, sharing with a purpose.

How often do we not share a passion or interest of ours, a piece of our knowledge with others? Are we assuming that they won’t care about it or that it won’t make a difference? Are we assuming that they are already aware? Why?

Value Your Knowledge

Life is often about surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals, those that have similar ideals, similar goals, similar lifestyles. However, I think that in doing so we’re often lead to assume that everyone shares our knowledge and experiences. Yes, everyone in your circle might know, but everyone else? Probably not.

Don’t pre-judge people. Place a higher value on your knowledge and experiences in regards to their benefits to others. Lean towards assuming that your knowledge could be helpful, versus the opposite. Be polite, of course. But place importance on what you have to offer. A book, a company looking to hire, your Mom’s famous stuffing recipe, the best hotel in Rome, your favorite blogger. You never know when what you share could land on needy ears.

In Summary? Share!

I joked with my stylist that I expected a full book report the next time I came in. She practically jumped up and said that she would gladly write down and share her thoughts. Her thoughts, mind you, on a book I selfishly assumed everyone knew was out there. So exciting.

Thoughts? What have you shared lately? What knowledge do you have – big or little – that you’d like more people to know about?

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I finally had a moment to review UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging by Scott Stratten. Scott, on Twitter, is insightful, caring, goofy, personable, and inspiring. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised then when I found his brand-name book insightful, caring, goofy, personable, and inspiring. Add honest and entertaining and straightforward to the list for the book, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

What I enjoyed the most were the numerous true stories of companies and brands interacting online – how they messed up, how they fixed it (sometimes), how they won customers, how they lost them. Scott is a great storyteller. The stories were entertaining, but also added a real-life application to the book, driving his points home.

Here’s my review (click here if you cannot see the video):

It’s an action-item creating read. No fluff. No generalities. Applicable to big and small brands alike. Definitely worth your time if you’re looking to really make progress with your brand’s social media engagement online, and have a good time doing it. It’s not a huge, complex-concepts type of read, but a simple, fun, straightforward one.

So! What book(s) are you focusing on right now? Do share.

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To summarize, action wins!

November 15, 2010

I heard a quote the other day from BK Boreyko that struck a chord with me:

It’s only an advantage if you take advantage of it.

Moral of the story? TAKE ACTION.

What advantages are you leaving on the table? What business/relationships/money/success could those be turned into, if you decided to take action and make use of them?

Let’s do it now, shall we?

And that’s all there is to say about that. :-)

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On Compliments

November 1, 2010

Bashful, by whatleydude on Flickr I love your bag!
You’re a fantastic leader.
Your speech was the most useful of the entire conference.
I really like the design of your blog, nicely done.

Take the compliments life throws at you.

I know I know, way easier said than done, especially if it goes against your core personality. But learn to overcome the instinct to automatically brush off and disprove sincere compliments. Accept them with grace.

Smile, look the complimenter in the eye, and say, “Thank you.”

Do it because it will make the complimenter happy.
Do it because you have the confidence in yourself that they could be true, or that they are true.
Do it because you deserve it.

Also, every time someone kindly accepts a compliment, a kitten is saved. So just do it, mmkay?

And if I may add, you’re looking lovely today.

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