On this 240th episode of my Monday Morning Pep Talk, I will dive into the power of scheduling time with yourself to think. Keith Cunningham brought "Thinking Sessions" to the forefront for me in his 2018 book The Road Less Stupid. They have been an incredibly important part of my daily and weekly routines since I first read the book in 2021. On this episode, I'll share with you how you can use thinking sessions to solve the biggest challenges you face in your life and in your business.
Before I provide you my insights around this topic, I want to remind you of my professional purpose and that is to help you, the broker/advisor, optimize your productivity and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? "Because Happy Brokers Sell More Real Estate". I do that by teaching you how to handle the challenges and opportunities that you face every day. If you can effectively manage those certain situations that arise on a daily basis in your business, you'll be more productive and live a life that is the best version of you. My ask is that you listen as if you are in a one-on-one coaching session with me in my office or on a phone call. If you'd like a transcript and full recording of today's MMPT, send me an email at [email protected] and I will add you to my private email list.
A thinking session from this weekend produced a series of content that I plan to bring you over the next quarter. Since we are starting Week 13 of Q2 2024 today, I pondered the type of content that would be meaningful to you in Q3 2024. During Q3, not only will you be attempting to right size your businesses to hit your personal and professional goals, but the industry will be navigating massive changes to how real estate brokers get paid.
I thought to myself, how can I best bring the content that is most meaningful to you in a manner that is different, fresh and valuable? Hmmmm, maybe I give my listeners the questions I ask myself during my thinking sessions? Up until now, on my recorded MMPTs, you get the finished product, written and re-written several times over to create a transcript that I read on Monday mornings which is then produced and pushed out to you in the form of a podcast and a supporting weekly email. To let you in on a little secret, my MMPTs are just conversations I am having with myself that I share with others. To create them each week, I listen, I think, I write, my team produces it and we push it out. My hope has always been that you feel connected to the content as if you are having a one-on-one conversation with me.
Thinking sessions help solve questions that have risen to the top of your priority list. Here is how I conduct mine:
- Identify a time and a location in your home that is peaceful and quiet. I have to do mine early in the mornings in my favorite chair. My best thinking sessions happen on the weekends.
- I come to the session with a question that needs an answer.
- I grab a pen and a journal to keep it analog. If I use my device or my laptop, I get distracted.
- I think, write, repeat, stress test until I get a 100% hell yes.
- If you can't get to "hell yes," keep asking the same question in subsequent thinking sessions until you've got the information you need.
Team, if there is a major decision that I need to make, I may take an entire quarter to come to the answer. In 2021, I gave myself the entire year to create my life plan.
This process is so much better than "throwing spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks." Keith Cunningham talks, in his book, about the fact that everyone makes 3 decisions out of emotion during their life that they wish they could take back. He calls it the "dumb tax." He argues that the key to making and keeping money is to avoid making dumb mistakes, rather than chasing smart ideas. To make good decisions you have to THINK. He goes on to say that Napoleon Hill didn't name his book "Use your gut and grow rich," he named it Think and Grow Rich. You get the point. He describes the power and process around "Thinking Time" in the first few chapters of the book.
In Q3, let's THINK together. I'll bring some of the challenges I'm seeing in the market, the opportunities within your businesses and the questions you need to ask yourself. I need you to bring the time to think, your journal and a pen.
Again, the book we’re focused on today is The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham. He ends most every chapter with "Go Think and you will thank me later."
I'm out next week in Michigan with my family and I’ll be back on the 8th. Enjoy the holiday week and make sure to reserve some of that down time for thinking sessions of your own.
