"Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else."
~Brian Tracy
"The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come." ~ James Whitcomb Riley
As I sit here this early morning of December 25, 2009 waiting for Santa to bring me my gifts, I decided to write to you about persistence. Many times real estate investors fail in this profession simply due to their lack of persistence, they quit to early. Real estate investing is a numbers game, it is about looking at enough properties to find the ones worth making offers on, it is about making enough offers to receive the yes we are looking for.
To be successful, you must maintain a positive attitude. It is easy to be discouraged after you send 10 offers and you receive 10 negative responses. This happens! During this time, it is easy to give up, you haven’t seen any results. However, remember that riches comes to those who persists. Do not give up or think that you won’t be successful at real estate investing. Remind yourself that deals are like buses, if you miss one, you can always catch the next one! I understand that when we are hit an unexpected roadblock in our path, we may be tempted to lower our expectations. Even though this is a natural human reaction, a winner does not back down from his or her high expectations simply because the going gets tough.
Accepting setbacks graciously is not an easy thing to do. If we stopped at the first road block, we wouldn't be where we are today, we would not grow. Real estate investing is about persisting on, and keeping at it, getting better every time. So remember, the next time a seller rejects your offer, smile, get back up there, and do it again.
I am not giving up, I am waiting here for Santa to bring me my gifts! Merry Christmas to you and a prosperous New Year.
I just wanted to comment on how important persistence is to success and contibute my point of view on the issue. In any endeavor or enterprise, a person is generally stepping outside their comfort zone. When a person steps out of their comfort zone to learn something new, they are attempting to grow into a better person. The achievement of any goal is a sign of personal growth and deserves recognition. When a person experiences growth from learning something new, they are subjecting themselves to inevitable confusion and discomfort. No person can expect to step outside their comfort zone to experience something new with the intent to achieve a goal and not experience some emotional discomfort and confusion. However, if you do this on a regular basis and consciously remind yourself that the stress and confusion is a result of personal growth in a particular area of life and then deal with the discomfort, you are becoming a mature and active learner, but also when you apply persistence to push through the discomfort and move toward and ultimately achieve your goal, you have done something that many people never do. Most people buckle when the stress comes on, but I look at it as a sign of personal growth in what area I am working whether financial, leading a group, taking critism from a boss, or reading a book in one sitting. All these experiences lead to stronger and more capable individual. Persistence is the key to overcoming that discomfort as well as the awareness in the cliche' "no pain, no gain."
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