“Hindsight is 20/20.” The meaning of this phrase is that, in hindsight, things are obvious that were not obvious at the outset – we are better at evaluating our past choices than at evaluating them in the moment of choice. The phrase is based on having 20/20 vision – perfect eyesight.
I’d like to highjack this phrase and use it as a pseudo-rallying cry for all of you to take a look at your past choices as they relate to your life and business and to evaluate what has worked for you and what hasn’t been working. I’d like to suggest - in the kindest way - that you make an active choice about whether you are fine with your current situation. Some of you are doing really well and staying in maintenance phase is perfectly appropriate. Maintaining a desired state is sometimes harder than trying to grow to another level. Others of you know that you need to make some changes to different areas of your life and business.
The infographic that I posted recently on my “From the Desk of Jim Miller” Facebook page stated that “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
So how do we know what needs to be changed? There are two ways. It takes experience and wisdom to know what to change. A quote I read this weekend from Warren Buffett said “Experience comes from making your own mistakes. Wisdom comes from watching and learning from others’ mistakes.” I love the simplicity of these distinctions and how nicely this quote sums up the concept of self-development.
We learn from making mistakes. Making mistakes should be celebrated. We are all wound so tightly because we feel like we have to be perfect all of the time. Go out and make mistakes for pure self-development reasons.
Keep your eyes open and learn from others. Celebrate the success of others as much as you worry about your own success. As others improve around you, you will naturally improve with them out of pure osmosis.
LeBron James spends $1.4M a year to improve and maintain his performance. That’s 4% of his salary with the Los Angeles Lakers. He spends this money to hack his nutrition, his health and fitness, and his instruction. He hires the best to help him gain extra years of performance. He’s on his 15th season. The average NBA player is in the league for 5 years. This is what elite level producers do. They surround themselves with the best minds in the field and learn from them.
So, essentially, I’m suggesting that you use what you learned in the past and from others. Next, make a choice to start the new decade pushing for a new level in 2020.
As we wrap up this decade and start fresh in a few weeks, I want to give you 7 things that I can say are 100% truth in my book:
- It all starts and stops with Mindset. I went into 2019 feeling a tad beat down and tired. During the holidays last year, I made the commitment to take my #mindset to a completely different level. What I found is that I was not worn down physically. I was worn down mentally. I was using pure will power to get through the days. By 6:00 p.m., I could hardly function. After a switch in my focus and adding meditation, my mind power kicked into overdrive. What had been difficult before proved to be much easier. I sat down and wrote this #MMPT in an hour off the cuff. I say that not to impress you but to prove to you when your mind is functioning in a proper way, you learn differently, you execute more sharply, and you have more energy. You realize your intuition is a tool that will guide you in a really powerful way. So, if you feel stuck, start between the ears.
- If you don’t have a vision and plan for your success, expect to be where you are or worse at this time next year. You don’t advance without goals and a vision. Some ‘unconscious competents’ do this naturally, but the vast majority of people, like me, need to work on it. You need to "feel it" and you need to live your vision. If you don’t, just paying the bills will be your default.
- Your current and past clients are 18x more important than getting new clients. If you make a habit of ‘one-night standing’ your clients post-transaction, you will never get off the treadmill. Make your database and relationship management process the bedrock of your business.
- Learn to teach others. You retain 3x more information if you read and learn with a goal to teach or influence. As you become successful, bring people with you. The only way to truly win is to help others meet their goals in life. It is more rewarding than anything else you can do.
- Hold yourself accountable. You’ve got one shot. Build a consistent lifestyle built for success down to your habits, rituals, routines, boundaries, and rules. Run everything through the filter. “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no.”
- De-clutter. De-clutter your workspace, de-clutter your closets, de-clutter your environment and, in some cases, you need to de-clutter some of your relationships. In Fung Shui, clutter is considered a stagnant, negative energy. Your intuition is telling you exactly what needs to be done. Listen!
- Get 1% better every day. Learn something new, make contact with your past and current clients, take 15 minutes to reflect, meditate, and be grateful. If you get 1% better each day over the course of a year, it will compound 37 times in twelve months. That is a winning formula.
Now, I am a master at making mistakes. Thankfully, I’ve gotten pretty good at learning from my mistakes and modeling the success of others. When I took over the role to be in leadership at Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty almost 7 years ago, my mission was to scale what I had learned during the debacle of 2007 to 2010. If I knew in 2005 what I know now, I would have made way different decisions, but “Hindsight is 20/20,” right? As I look back on that journey, as tough as it was at the time, it ended up being a blessing and, ultimately, a competitive advantage for me.
So…
Collectively, let’s take the experience we learned from our mistakes and the wisdom we collected from others this decade, clear the calculator on January 1, 2020, and set course for new levels in the coming decade.
Let’s take that “Hindsight” and dominate in 2020.
