When you delve deeper into the murky world of property investment, you run into something I call the ‘success monologue’.
Often insinuated rather than spoken aloud, the success monologue says:
- Unless your property portfolio is worth £10 million, you ‘haven’t made it’
- Unless you have 50 SA units, you’re not a ‘real player’
- You have to hustle, crush it, and dominate the competition…
This message can be very damaging. You end up comparing yourself to people who simply don’t share your values, goals and lifestyle aspirations.
In other words, you end up measuring yourself by someone else’s measure of success.
My wife and business partner Aniko has the following poster on her office wall. Every time I see it, it strikes me as a great reminder of the things that really matter.
We all slip up on some of these, at least from time to time. For me, the ones that stand out are:
Continuously learn
When you’re already outwardly successful it’s easy to assume you already ‘know it all’.
Share information and data
True success requires a sense of humility; as well as new information. To get this information, you have to willingly share what you know. You have to view people in your network as collaborators, not competitors.
Embrace change
When the government (rudely) pulls the rug from under buy to let landlords, you have to embrace the change.
When new Online Travel Agents burst onto scene, you have to embrace the change.
When new CRM systems and channel management tools arrive, you have to embrace them too.
Read everyday
Do you ever say to yourself: “I don’t have time to read…”
As I often say, if you think you do or don’t have time, you’re probably right.
Keep a journal
This is a biggie. If you don’t journal everyday, it’s hard to know what your values really are. It’s hard to know where you’re going, and what ‘success’ actually means to you. Quiet messages from your subconscious go unnoticed.
Harness the power of your subconscious brain, and keep a daily journal.
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I’m planning to send more emails like this, from time to time. Sometimes there will be a property focus, but I’ll be writing about fundamentals too. I don’t want you to build a ‘successful’ property business, and wind up unhappy.
