I reached over to the table next to my bed for my glasses to see the time.  It was 5:47 and while I was watching the clock ticked one minute forward and started playing soft music.  With my eyes closed again, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed deciding to swing back or stand up.  Chava and I go to the health club each morning.  This morning I just didn’t feel like it. 

The thought crossed my mind, back to bed. And, in that slow motion thinking that occurs as you awake from a night’s sleep I said to myself.  “If you didn’t follow through on all the things you don’t feel like doing…”  The thought ended there.  I stood up. 

Motion motivates motion.  Once I got to the washroom and turned on the TV (Chava put cable in the bathroom for my birthday many years ago.) it became easier and easier to follow the routine of putting on my gym stuff and starting my day. 

I tell you, my philosophy of not being so fascinated by thoughts and feelings has a lot of applications in life.  Instead to put aside thoughts and feelings that don’t serve you well and replacing them with thoughts and more importantly action, this is a valuable talent, a mental habit really. 

The sun is shining, blue sky (a bit hot) I’m glad I spent fifty minutes on the elliptical machine instead of in bed.  Have a great day.

“What other books have inspired you?”   An Agent asked me this in a recent session of our latest S.P.A.R.K. Course.  Then she asked, “Would you compile a list for us?”

So here it is.
The Four Agreements, a Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
This is a wonderful summary of many great teachings in just 138 pages. 

You Can Heal Your Life- Louise L Hay
Perhaps the best book written on how your mental and emotional mindset affects your health and your success

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie
Call it a success classic.  You will recognize much of today’s best teaching on this subject was based on Carnegie’s original work.

Think and Grow Rich-Napoleon Hill
Another classic on which all future writing on success is built

Raving Fans, a Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service - Ken Blanchard
This is the original source of the Loyalty Ladder from which you build success based on referrals.

In Search of Excellence- Tom Peters
This book was the catalyst for the Nation’s focus on quality and quality service. 

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Stephen R. Covey
One of those books that leads you step by step from where you are to where you want to be.

The E-Myth- Michael Gruber
A clear explanation of why people who are excellent at what they do fail at turning it into a business; and then how to overcome those difficulties

There are many more.  These are just those mentioned in the latest S.P.A.R.K. Course.  I’ll climb into the attic and dig into a few boxes of books that I have chosen to hold onto over the years.  It will be a very pleasurable trek through a couple of decades of my business education and will likely inspire a treasure of ideas to share with you.
Oh, and I would love for you to share your favorite books!!!

Imagine learning to drive in a car with not speedometer.  You could drive and do pretty well but you would have a handicap.  You would always be judging your speed by the others around you and when on the road alone you would always be worried and stressed.  That’s how most Agents “drive” their businesses because they have no “speedometer” to know how they are doing.

Now imagine learning to wake up each day with no sense of purpose.  The first e-mail you read or the first conversation you have determines what you will focus on and how you will feel for the day.  It may not take an e-mail or conversation; just your first thoughts of the day determine the quality of the day.  That is how many Agents live each day. 

They have the knowledge and skills to have a very good business.  It is not more Real Estate knowledge, skills, or tools that are missing.  It is those two skill sets mentioned above. 

It takes all three for most people to be successful.  In addition to the knowledge and skills it takes a “speedometer” and an accurate one.  In a Real Estate Agent’s business that means a method to know how their “speed,” progresses, in other words whether they are winning or losing.  Like a speedometer it has to be in real time so they know each day with confidence.  Most Agents don’t have that method. 

It also takes the knowledge of how to create and control your attitude.  Notice that I did not say that it take a good attitude.  That would be naïve.  Of course it takes a good attitude.  The challenge is learning how to create and control that attitude so that you are able to generate it at will.  And I am not talking about repeating an affirmation that has little real impact on you.  I am talking about shifting your mindset and your emotions at a level that motivates you deeply.  And knowing you can create that at will.

Why do Agents fail soooo often?  Because they are always working on just one of these three aspects of their business; the three are: knowing your accurate numbers, controlling your attitude, and your skill set.  Agents learn the skill sets and spend little or no time on knowing their numbers or learning to control their attitude.  Unfortunately, this means that many of those that produce good sales numbers are not stable, confident, and comfortable with their business.

Build your business on a foundation of all three of these aspects and you will succeed more quickly with greater control and satisfaction.  For more information on how we coach and teach Agents to do this.  Go to www.BestCoachingOnEarth.com and join our Daily Coaching Program.

It was session three of the seven weeks of our S.P.A.R.K. Course and one Agent after another approached me at each break.  Each comment or question had the same theme.  It was weird. 

Each Agent said something along the line of, “I can see how this is really going to work for me but here is the problem.”  Or, “This is great stuff and it would really work for me except her is what I face.”

There are over a hundred people in the class and over a dozen of them expressed this type of sentiment.  The problems ranged from other jobs that took their time, taking care of children, to not enough experience and more.  It was clear that the problem had nothing to do with the issues that they were bringing up.  Something else was going on…

Driving away from the conference center I realized what it was.  As these Agents began seeing and feeling that they were capable of achieving and exceeding their business goals, when they were sincerely confronted by the prospect of their own success, then the psychological barriers that have prevented their success began to come to their consciousness.  Their mind perceived their most desired future for their business and their psyche was finding the reasons that it was not likely or possible to achieve it.

This is the definition of a limiting belief; a thought that is perceived as the absolute truth by the person having it; when in reality it is a false barrier.  So, at the following session I led them through an exercise to identify and eliminate limiting beliefs.  The response was overwhelming.  One after another was experiencing a breakthrough they knew was possible but couldn’t previously quite reach.  Now it was happening.  The skills were there and the barriers were not.  

They described it as powerful.  If you would like a copy of the exercise, it is just a few steps in a couple of pages, e-mail my assistant at Rebecca@RichLevin.com  We’ll get it right off to you and then I’d love to get your feedback on your experience of it.

I am smiling. Why Because I have trained myself to smile and relax when I am under pressure.

Do you ever leave something until the “last minute” and then there are lots of other priorities and you can’t even imagine how you will get it all done?

I know silly question, most, if not everyone does from time to time and to be honest it is even more prevalent with Real Estate Agents.

Well that’s me for the next three to four weeks. My old style was to be tense, angry, frustrated and mean. Of course that breaks down everything which leads to nothing very good and most of the time the deadlines don't get met.

So, I worked hard to train myself to do projects earlier and when I am backed up to bear down, work hard and relax. I will trust my talent and team.

It is so much better to work under happiness and contentment rather then fear and anger. The best part is I actually get more accomplished too!

We have several updates and reminders before next week’s class.  

1. Please remember to dress in layers so you are comfortable!
2. Remember to bring your name tags and rubber bracelets if you wore them home.
3. During the class please contact either Rebecca or Chava if you need something and not the staff at Country Party House. It is a great venue and a wonderful staff; they were a bit overwhelmed with multiple requests.
4. Remember to send your 2009 and 2010 Sales information to Rebecca. Any questions contact her directly.
5. Many people requested copies of the slides used in the class. Rich is generously sharing them with you! If you did not get them in the email. Please contact Rebecca and she will send you the link again.

We are pleased to announce the following companies who are generously going to sponsor the following meals:

Premium Mortgage Corp will sponsor lunch on May 11, May 25 and June 8.

Attorney, Steve Pheterson will sponsor lunch on May 18.

Nothnagle Home Securities will sponsor lunch on 6/15 with a special graduation surprise!

United Professional Advisors (Courtney Laffler-Rep) will sponsor breakfast on June 1.

 Please consider these sponsors at your next Real Estate transaction; we are all very grateful to them!

As always if you have any comments, questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us and if you think of someone in your office who could benefit from this course please have them call us, we would love to have them.

 Thank you for trusting us to bring you… to your next level and beyond!