In the first 3 weeks of our #MMPT, TAKE FLIGHT series, we spent our time discussing ways to prepare ourselves to get our lives and businesses off the ground. You were encouraged to begin the journaling process of deciding who you want to be and how you want to live. We defined what a FLIGHT is and you’ve started the process of deciding on your first “destination.” We went on to do a quick audit on the productivity tools last week needed for the maintenance of your business. Today, we start the process of doing the heavy lifting to make drastic changes for you to TAKE FLIGHT.
Before I continue today, I want you to understand the actual physics behind AIR FLIGHT and how it compares to our process. The physics of flight requires that lift, drag, weight, and thrust happen at the correct time and in the proper amounts. For an airplane to go up into the air, the lift has to be stronger than the force of gravity. Lift happens at the wings as air passes over them. Airfoils in the wings make the air move over the tops of the wings faster than it moves across the bottoms of the wings. The faster air decreases the air pressure on the tops of the wings, and the air pressure gets higher on the bottoms of the wings, which is the basis for air flight principle. This is how lift happens. The weight of the airplane determines how much lift and thrust it takes to get it off the ground. The thrust comes from a plane’s jet engines and has to be a stronger force than the drag. Drag happens as the airplane naturally resists moving through the air. The shape of an airplane helps reduce the drag, which helps it fly faster.
There is one line in that description that I would like to focus on today. “The weight of the airplane determines how much lift and thrust it takes to get it off the ground.” In the TAKE FLIGHT definition, we’d say the less stagnant, negative energy we have in our mind and our environment, the easier it is to get lift, gain altitude and create speed in our business. (Less baggage = more altitude and greater speed.)
When you think about the traditional real estate coaching or sales training, your expectations might be that you will add a bunch of new processes, lead gen ideas, time management ideas, etc. The idea is justified but in TAKE FLIGHT we start by ridding your mind, your environment and your business of what is not working. For use another metaphor, would you fully irrigate or add seeds to a garden before making sure all the weeds are gone? No, so to TAKE FLIGHT, you have to start by weeding and pruning. This is the only way you have a shot of success. Unfortunately, we don’t get taught this. We get sold the shiny objects that are just noise and in many cases, take our time, take our focus and take our energy with no results. Without doubt, some of the best success stories I’ve witnessed have come from when brokers have removed from their life and business what does work for them or serve them. Here are some areas that I’ve watched agents make a drastic impact on the productivity and happiness factor in their business:
- Mindset: They deleted old paradigms around what it means to be successful, normally created by a lifetime of programming. I’ve seen some brokers want to hide their success from family members because their financial position is so much more advanced than how they grew up. I’ve also seen brokers literally work themselves into the ground to live up to expectations placed on them by others. These are real drivers that exist that no-one wants to talk about, but they need to be addressed to live a happy and abundant life. Making lots of money doesn’t always mean working yourself into the ground. Many people believe the #hustleculture that defines that mindset to be true. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Environment: Team, your physical environment has to be built for success. Show me your closets, your desk, your refrigerator and your spice rack and I can tell you how stressed you are on a daily basis. Most of our negative, stagnant energy lives in our physical environment. IF this is you, it’s time to finally take on this project and get it done. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Time: We waste so much time on worthless, unproductive activities. To TAKE FLIGHT, you’ll need to really live with intention and protect your time. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Finances: Get automated, delete debt, invest regularly. You can make all of the money in the world, but if it is managed poorly and bad decisions are made, you’ll never fully get off the ground. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Relationships: You are the average of the 5 people with who you spend the most time. I’m not saying you have get rid of relationships that are bad, just make sure those relationships are not in your top 5. In some cases, you may need to move on from a relationship with someone to TAKE FLIGHT. Hint: Create an accountability group of 3 to 4 like-minded, happiness driven brokers. Discuss your wins and losses. Support each other. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Health and Wellness: Many of us battle in this area. The best results come from what we don’t do, eat or drink. Sounds like an idea for a FLIGHT?
- Business Strategies: A lot more on this to come during our TAKE FLIGHT series. My goal for you is to do less with better results. Get rid of what doesn’t work and get really good and consistent at what does work for you. Every business is different. We’ll discover ways together on how best to identify where your efforts should be pointed.
Okay, did this TAKE FLIGHT series just get completely real for you? Good! My job is not to always tell you what you want to hear. As you know, I am not a therapist, a Fung Shui organizer, a financial planner, an attorney or a fitness instructor so you may need to seek assistance of a team of professionals that can hold you accountable. What I will tell you is that if you really tackle the 7 areas I listed above, you will not recognize yourself in a year. The process could take longer but you will see immediate results. There is so much opportunity for growth if you tackle these areas with consistent effort. You might already be in really good shape in 1 or more of these areas but you may require significant work in 2 or 3 others. This is completely normal. In fact, I would like to congratulate you for being human.
What I do know is that if you do not address the negative, stagnant energy, you at some point will have to make a choice:
- Work harder (thrust) to carry the useless “weight” of your life or business. This creates burnout.
- Fail. You’ll just never create the lift needed to Take Flight.
So in wrapping up, I’d like to end with a story. I love history lessons. The Doolittle Raid was a military mission in World War II led by Lt. Colonel James Doolittle. It was a bombing mission on Tokyo as a retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. It was meant more for psychological impact. Few were actually killed or injured in the raid but the main challenge for Doolittle and this mission was how could they get their B-25 bombers off aircraft carriers and have enough fuel to conduct their mission. They realized that if they had any shot for success they’d have to get the aircraft carriers as close to Tokyo as possible without being detected and they would have to strip their bombers of everything that was not mission critical so they could add additional fuel tanks. The bombers had to be as light as possible to create enough lift to get the bombers off the carriers and fly the long distance. Their mission was successful not so much because of what they added to their bombers but because of what they got rid of. The victory prompted Japan to attack at Midway Island which ended in a massive defeat for them, turning the tide of the war toward the Allies.
Team, part of me would just like to stop this TAKE FLIGHT series right here and have you focus on unloading what isn’t working for you. You truly can do more by doing less. You just have to be smart about it, be aware and take action. Throughout this series of MMPT’s, I will continue to challenge you to work smart, but if you can put intention behind these 7 areas, you will see results and you will see them fast. Strategically for you, outside of calls 1 and 2, this MMPT might just be the most important episode of the series.
