Day #92 - Home Decorating

This past weekend I brought my Mom a get well gift of magazines. My Mom loves house magazines and I thought it would be great to stock her with some new ones so she could relax and have something new to read. I bought 4 of them and she already had one in her personal pile, so I kept one of them for myself. I actually went down to her house the very next day as well and she informed me she had been through all of them and handed them back over to me...geez, that didn't take long. I have thumbed through most of them this past week and it made me itch to do something about the decorations, or lack thereof, in my house. I'm suddenly restless and unsatisfied with how my home looks. I am wishing Melissa was here to help me, but I guess I just need to start with one room at a time and get it done.

One thing I may implement immediately is book stacks...whats this? I have a bunch of books that I haven't read and they are messing up my loft, so now I am going to go around and create decorative stacks with them. I'm pretty sure it will be irritating to dust them, oh well. Perhaps if they are in plain sight every day I will be inspired to read them.

This seems like an easy place to start. Perhaps I will take some pictures when I am done and you can critique it for me. I'm pretty excited to have those magazines to help give me more ideas - now I just need to execute them.

There is another photo I must post - I LOVE this picture of Mom w/Keri's baby, Seerie. There are several of them w/Mom talking seriously to her and her listening intently with big shiny eyes, but here are a few of my favorites.

I think the grand kids of this family are very lucky to have such great grandparents who love them so much and it is super cute to watch them interact with my parents. Seerie is quite the talker now and soon everyone, besides her Mom, will even be able to understand what she is trying to say. I have the feeling she will be keeping her Mom and Dad on their toes.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.” Charles M. Schulz (hmmm...maybe this is what I am after...nah)

Day #91 - Finally

WE FINISHED THE FAMILY CALENDAR!! It really does feel like a miracle. We normally try to get the calendar done in November and it seems to get later every year. This year I was ready to bag it, but my Mom really seemed set on getting it done and even went so far as to print of the date pages herself. The best part of this is how many "holidays" are listed in the months...there is probably a "gum eating" day in there somewhere...we were all kind of giggling about it.

I am super stoked it is done. I think most of us do not do much with our photos taken during the year. For me, at least, this calendar is my scrapbook and the pictorial progression/history of my family. I am very grateful we do this every year and am glad Mom didn't let us off the hook.

The other great thing about the calendar this year is the kids wanted to help out. Abbie completed one of the pages for us and I was super impressed...suddenly I realized the calendar will begin to get easier as the kids get old enough to begin to help and most likely eventually take over. I do enjoy doing some of the pages, but it will be wonderful to have more hands on deck and to see how others represent their creativity and talents in building the pages.

I went back down to my parents house today to get my hair done...sure seems like I'm getting my hair done a lot, doesn't it? I was disturbed to hear my Mom has been very sick. Dad took her on a trip to AZ and she had to stay in the hotel for 4 days due to some vertigo issues that were causing her to throw up and fall over. She is still not doing well and the doctor thinks it will take 4 to 6 weeks for her to recover. On top of this, and the constant lingering cough, she has gout in her foot. I just had an agent in my office go through a bout with gout and he was MISERABLE.

Learning about how poorly Mom has been feeling made me really want to spend more time with her. I hate seeing her feeling so badly and it freaks me out. Frankly, I can't stand that all of us are getting older. Amy told us today that someone asked her who was older, her or Keri, we had a good laugh and Keri was appalled (she is 4 years younger). I think we are all feeling the years creeping up on us. This is also one more reason the calendar is so important to me - all the good times and memories are there for review anytime we want them.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "You may delay, but time will not.” Benjamin Franklin

Day #90 - Gotta Lava Kathy

In November I lost a neighbor...she moved. Tonight Trav and I took her to dinner and it was so fun to see her again.

This particular friend, Kathy, is pretty interesting. Kathy is the friend that took me on the girls trip to Lava Hot Springs this past summer. She is SUPER outgoing and makes friends everywhere. She is accepting of anyone and everyone, except perhaps her son's girlfriend (but truly what Mom is), she's well traveled and has a zillion different interests.

I have decided she is going to be our local restaurant guide. Tonight we went to a Greek place Trav and I have been to before, but during dinner we were talking about our favorite kinds of food and I realized, as I have in the past, how much variety she has in her life. Kathy is not afraid to try anything new. We were talking about all kinds of cuisine: Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Bohemian, Tia, Sushi, etc.

Kathy knew of a locally owned restaurant for all of the different kinds of food. In the course of dinner, Trav made fun of me for loving Chili's (mmmm fajitas) and she told us she very rarely eats at a chain restaurant. She is one of those people that supports local business owners for all kinds of goods and services. I admire this. It is so easy to just go to a big box store for gifts, clothing or household stuff, when it might make a huge difference to a local business owner to purchase from them instead.

This is something I want to work on - I want to try out some local shops the next time I am looking for a gift and the next time we go to dinner with Kathy, hopefully next month, we will go that that Bohemian restaurant owned by that cute couple Kathy met there.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way; no day but today!" -- Jonathan Larson

Day #89 - First Summit of the Year

Today was our monthly company get together called "Summit". This is where we get all sorts of insight and inspiration from our bosses and others. This month there was a 6 agent panel - I loved hearing from them. My boss had prepared questions for each of them and they took turns answering and I want to recap a few of their thoughts here (these are in quotes, but they are paraphrased - I didn't actually memorize the questions and answers):

Q: "What keeps you motivated throughout the entire year? You closed over 50 houses in 2012, but when I called you the other day you were out knocking doors...what makes you do that?"
A: "It is important to know what you are working toward. I have goals...I have one big goal, one life's goal and purpose that keeps me motivated - this is the thing that involves your emotions, revs you up, makes you cry because it is so meaningful. If you don't have something like that in your life, you will not be focused. I also have smaller goals that I work toward along the way and this keeps me motivated and looking forward, while experiencing smaller successes along the way."
A: "Every day I start from 'zero' - it doesn't matter how many deals I have under contract, I start at square one each day and that keeps me focused."

Q: "What are some of your work habits? You obviously have a process you follow; what is it and what advice would you give a new agent in the business?"
A: "I get up at 4:45 a.m. every day." Audience gasped and groaned - I might have been the loudest. "I used to get up at 5:15 a.m. until I realized 30 minutes doesn't make much difference in sleep, but it makes a huge difference in my day. Now, I wake up and walk across the room to turn off my alarm with the understanding there is no crawling back into bed once that alarm is off; I mediate on all my life goals, I chant affirmations on my way to the gym, I take care of myself, I get to work by 7:30 a.m. every morning and I am on the phones by 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. every day. If I get these first few hours of the day right, the rest of the day works out, if I mess those first hours up, I don't get as much done and I am not as productive."

Q: "What do you think has been the biggest thing that has helped you succeed?"
A: "Coaching. There were a few months a few years ago that I committed to coaching. It cost me more money than I thought I could afford, but I also felt I couldn't NOT afford to do it. I quickly ran thru 2 credit cards and was on the verge of running up a 3rd when things started to click. I had to trust the process, I had to learn from those who knew more than me, I had to be committed to go the distance. I still have a coach and I feel I always will."
A: "Learning my craft has given me the tools I need to succeed. I know what our market is doing. If a client or investor calls me, I am prepared with bullet points of information for them. They understand they can call me anytime and I will have the answers they need. I spend a lot of time on this. I also continue to learn about other streams of revenue. When the market crashed and half my appointments turned into no sales because of upside down mortgages, I learned about property management and now I have an additional revenue stream each month and I remain in contact, providing a valuable service to clients who WILL sell when the market improves. If I run across something I do not know...I learn it."
A: " I read books. I commit to reading 10 pages a day from a book that someone may have spent 10 years of their life writing - in just 10 pages a day, I get to learn all about this thing or subject that this other person did all the work compiling for me."
A: "I had 18 deals fall out in the first 3 months of last year...EIGHTEEN! I learned 18 lessons on what not to do, how to do things differently and what I do and do not have control over. I ended the year with 49 sold transactions because I kept going despite the frustration, I kept my mindset on moving forward instead of on the set backs."
A: "The habit must become stronger than the results. No matter what happens, how many rejections you get, the trick is to trust the process and persevere - no matter what."

The more I write the more I remember and the more I could share. What I loved about today, was the very different approaches each agent had, the amazingly different reasons they had in their lives for working as hard as they do, but they have all been successful and continue to improve year upon year. Pretty amazing group of people.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?” -- Ernest Hemingway

Day #88 - Goooaaaaaaallllllll......

I saw a joke today...it had two animals sitting side by side and the first one asks, "What are new year's resolutions?" The 2nd animal answers, "a 'to do' list for the first week in January." Also today, I went to a meeting where my boss talked about setting goals. He gave some good pointers that I thought were worth sharing.

We all have different roles we take on in life...some of my roles are: Spouse, Sister, Daughter, Friend, Relo Director

My boss encouraged us to set at least one goal for each role. BUT...first you need to determine what you "Value Most" so your goals and what you actually value will be equal. For instance...if I want to sell 100 homes, but what I value most is evenings and weekends with my family...most likely my goals will not be realistic. If what I can DO with the money I can make by selling 100 homes, ultimately gives me more time with my family or what I can do with the money I earn makes the temporary sacrifice of working evenings and weekends worthwhile...these things can be negotiated. The important thing about sacrifices are...they have to be temporary. Here are the questions he wanted us to ask about each of our roles:

• What do you truly want?
• What do you value most?
• Why do you want to achieve this goal?
• Is the temporary sacrifice worth it?
• What mindset is required to achieve this goal?
• How do you intend to achieve the right mindset (coaching, training and skills, etc)?
• What accountability will be required?

This is what I will be spending time thinking about the rest of this week. I also stopped by Office Max to buy some items for Trav and I to create vision boards - I can't see my future lately and I don't think it is because I don't have one, I just haven't thought too far ahead lately. I think this is an important part of keeping your eyes on the prize...first you have to know what the prize is...I am going to talk Travis into making one with me...wish me luck!

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "A year from now you may wish you had started today.” --Karen Lamb