Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach

Best Lifehacks of 2009: The Year in Review - Personal Productivity and Creativity Excerpt

Dustin Wax of Stepcase Lifehack posted this Best of 2009 - I am highlighting the Productivity and GTD links in this post.  Read the comprehensive blog post with 90 Best Links at Lifehack.org.

Personal Productivity and Creativity

Advice about getting productive makes up the core of Lifehack’s content, so naturally our most popular and most talked about posts this year were just that. From developing the right mindset to promoting creativity to finding inspiration and motivation, we offered tons of advice on getting things done.

1. 12 Lists That Help You Get Things Done (Dustin M. Wax)
2. Procrastination – NOT a Problem! (Francis Wade)
3. 10 Best Productivity Books of 2009 (Dustin M. Wax)
4. 11 Ways to Think Outside the Box (Dustin M. Wax)
5. 8 Ways to Kill Clutter in 5 Minutes (David Pierce)
6. Reaching Your Goals – Dutch Style (Christine Buske)
7. New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work – Here’s Why (Steve Errey)
8. How to Make Decisions Under Pressure (Joel Falconer)
9. Limits and Creativity (Dustin M. Wax)
10. The Daily Grind: A Matter of Momentum (Joel Falconer)
11. 4 Pocket-Sized Tools to Help You Generate Killer Ideas Any Time, Anywhere (Chuck Frey)
12. How to Think What Nobody Else Thinks (Paul Sloane)
13. 9 Lists To Keep Updated, and Keep Handy (David Pierce)
14. 10 Reasons Paper is The Most Flexible Productivity Platform (Joel Falconer)
15. 3 Tips to Improve Memory Quickly (Steve Martile)
16. How to Wake Up and Instantly Achieve Something Everyday (Paul Dickinson)
17. Stripped GTD: 3 Habits That Make You More Productive (David Pierce)
18. Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity (Paul Sloane)
19. Scoring 100% in Time Management (Francis Wade)
20. 7 Steps For Making a New Year’s Resolution and Keeping It (Annabel Candy)

My incomplete series on getting back on track with a productivity system, “GTD Refresh”, was quite popular but was never completed. The next step for me was supposed to be eliminating my email backlog and adopting an “Inbox Zero” approach, but frankly, email won. This year – I’m going to try again in 2010 and so you may well see more “GTD Refresh posts in the not-too-distant future.

• GTD Refresh, Part 1: Getting My Head Together
• GTD Refresh, Part 2: Contexts and Calendar
• GTD Refresh, Part 3: Projects
• GTD Refresh, Part 4: Getting Sorted
• GTD Refresh, Part 5: Building the Weekly Review Habit
• GTD Refresh, Part 6: Decisiveness

2009 was bookended by two publications with something to offer the would-be personal productivity expert. David Allen’s Making It All Work revisited the core concepts of GTD and expanded on elements that had been weakly developed in his earlier work. You can read my lengthy review here: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

And our most popular series, my “Back to Basics” posts from 2008, were collected, revised, and expanded (with 2 new chapters) in the release of Back to Basics Productivity which will be joined in 2010 by several more ebook releases.

via lifehack.org

Posted via web from jan obrien's posterous

What's Your "Great Opportunity" in the current Real Estate Market?

At the Prudential Real Estate Affiliates (PREA) National Sales Convention held March 29-31, one of the keynote speakers, Geoffrey Colvin (Senior Editor-at-large for Fortune Magazine) presented a compelling talk on our economic recovery, how we got here and how we are going to get out of it. 

As he was speaking, the thought that came to me was...What if everyone could stop focusing on the next "great depression" but rather see "The Great Opportunity". What have you been focusing on in the past months?  Are you open to the opportunities in the market?  Are you making the appropriate adjustments in your business plan and daily tactics?

The key points of Colvin's speech that resonated with me included:

• The two main areas to watch and track are:
  1.  Consumer behavior.  Colvin explained that this recession showed a distinct "opposite behavior" by consumers compared to previous recessions.  Specifically, this time around, the consumer trend leading up to the economic downturn has been increased spending and decreased savings rates. 
  2. The price of risk (tracking the gap between junk bond rates and low-yield instruments)
     
• This has been historically the longest recession but not the deepest.

• Three things that have to happen to drive the economic recovery:

1. Employment rate must increase
2. Credit markets have to start working again
3. Home prices have to stabilize.  Colvin also relayed his belief that "small business owners especially us (Realtors)"  were vital to the economic recovery.  Housing is after all at the center of this situation
   

• What the leading companies are doing differently during this down turn and recovery:
  1. Investing in their core
  2. Protecting their most valued assets (their people)
  3. Communicating like crazy  (with optimism, the victories and sucesses)
  4. Creating new solutions for new problems

This last point is "the golden nugget."  Are you actively creating new solutions for new issues?  What is your "Great Opportunity"  and what action steps are you taking to make it your new reality?

10 Tips for Business Success in a Challenging Market & Down Economy

I first wrote and posted the following article on this Real Estate Coach Blog in November 2007.   I have updated the intro paragraph with my thoughts on the current real estate market in Las Vegas.  The 10 Tips to THRIVE are timeless however and easily adapted for any business owner.

Our current real estate market in Las Vegas (and around the country) continues to present an interesting test for all involved… from the buyers, to the sellers to the practicing real estate agents and also for the brokerage firms.  I’ve been living and working in Las Vegas since 1992 and last year was my first experience in a “challenging market”.   Fueled by local and national media with a slant to reporting the negative and “newsworthy” hype of doom and gloom,  many prospective buyers and sellers continue to stay out of the market.   For the second half of 2007, 70 to 80% of all residential closings in Las Vegas were bank-owned or short sale properties.   And real estate professionals are either thriving ( by adjusting and capitalizing on the opportunities), surviving, trying to adjust or in many cases just plain giving up. There are opportunties for those who are willing to make the necessary adjustments both in their action plan and MINDSET!

The following 10 points are my observations and best advice on how to Thrive (not just Survive) in Today’s market.

1. You ARE the Creator of your Reality. Check in with yourself often.  Are your thoughts positive or negative - towards or away from what you desire? Do you find yourself slipping into the negative muck and mire - from the media or the glass is half-empty people around you?  Be deliberate and intentional in your thoughts and actions.  Focus on what you want not on what you don’t want.
2. Educate yourself about the market, understand the stats and trends.  Become an expert in short sales, REO, loan modifications and the foreclosure process.  Make sure you are receiving current market data from local sources.  Know the inventory.
3. Improve and upgrade your qualifying, presentation and closing skills.  Learn how to better present the history and current real estate market story to your buyers and sellers.  Update your buyer and listing presentations with supporting graphs, statistics, etc.  Take sale-able, properly-priced listings!  Use all of your available company marketing and advertising tools. Practice, Practice, Practice your closing and qualifying skills.
4. Get back to the basics now.  Do you have a solid SOI/Referral system in place?  Are you prospecting  daily? Have you selected 3-5 target markets to concentrate on this year?
5. Have a written business plan with specific goals.  Track your expenditures and return on investment.   Know what’s working and what is not and make the appropriate adjustments.
6. Adopt a daily ritual to start your day in a positive mindset.  Some suggestions…morning meditation, prayer, exercise, read your affirmations, review your goals, eat breakfast, review your day’s tasks and schedule.
7. Exercise and eat properly for you.  I recommend yoga! 
8. Show up - Mentally, Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually.  Now more than ever it’s important to get up, do your morning mindset ritual, get dressed for success and go into the office or that first appointment.
9. Have a daily activity plan and work it - know how many calls, face-to-face contacts, emails, mailers, contacts you must make before you call it a day.  Challenge yourself with daily goals - don’t go home until you have at least one appointment for example.
10. Get an accountability partner or hire a coach. Ask for help.  Help each other.  Form a support and accountability group.

An Affirmation for the New Year….“SUCCESS IS MINE IN 2009!“

4 Questions for Maximum Productivity - Focus on Results

Are you focusing on what you want or do you find yourself stuck in the negative trap and putting energy on what you don't have?  The following information is adapted from Brian Tracy's abundant material on the subject of productivity and performance.  I recently revisited and read these Brian Tracy Books:

• Eat That Frog - 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
  
• Focal Point - A Proven System to Simply Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve all your Goals
  
• Maximum Achievement - Strategies and Skills that will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed
  

Tracy states in Eat That Frog:
"You can get control of your time and your life only by changing the way you think, work and deal with the never-ending river of responsibilities that flow over your each day." 

Your "frog" is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on.  It is also the one task that will give your the greatest positive impact on your life, business and results at the moment.  The key to achieving high levels of performance productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning.

4 Questions for Maximum Productivity - Remember to focus on results and what you want as you answer these questions for your business and life:

1. What are my highest value activities?
2. What are my key results areas?
3. What can I only do that if done well will make a real difference (in my life and business)?
4. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?

Here are some best practices and action steps to implement in your daily plan now:

• Do the Worst First
• Resist the temptation to clear up small things first
• Identify your high value tasks and do them first
• Examine each of your personal and work activities and evaluate it based on current situation
• Select at least one activity to abandon immediately or at least put off until more important goals are achieved
• The key to success is ACTION
• 80/20 Rule Applies to Everything!
  • 80% of salespeople spend 80% of their time on people who are not going to buy or sell
  • m20% of activities will account for 80% of your results

Identify Your Key Business/Sales Results Areas and the targeted activities for each area:

1. Prospecting
2. Trust & Rapport Building
3. Identifying Needs
4. Presenting Persuasively
5. Answering Objections
6. Closing the Sale
7. Building Referrals

• Grade Yourself in each area
• What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?
• What am I really good at?
• What do I enjoy most about my work?
• What has been most responsible for my success in the past?

Continuous learning is the minimum requirement in any field:

1. Read in your field minimum of 1 hour/day
2. Take every available course and seminar, workshop 
3. Listen to audio programs in your car (average car owner spends 500 to 1,000 hours/yr in their car
4. Practice, practice, practice
5. Hire a coach or mentor!

How to Thrive in the Current Real Estate Market

Our current real estate market in Las Vegas (and around the country) presents an interesting test for all involved... from the buyers, to the sellers to the practicing real estate agents and also for the brokerage firms  I've been living and working in Las Vegas since 1992 and this is my first experience in a "challenging market".   Fueled by local and national media with a slant to reporting the negative, "newsworthy" hype of doom and gloom, buyers are afraid to purchase, waiting for the  elusive "bottom of the market" before jumping back in.  Sellers are holding on to every ounce of equity and hope which has led to only about 30% of the current inventory of available homes to be priced properly for a sale based on current supply and demand.  And real estate professionals are either thriving, surviving, trying to adjust or in many cases giving up.

The following points are my observations and best advice on how to Thrive  (not just Survive) in Today's market.

1. You ARE the Creator of your Reality.  Check in with yourself often.  Are your thoughts positive or negative - towards or away from what you desire? Do you find yourself slipping into the negative muck and mire - from the media or the glass is half-empty real estate agents around you?  Be deliberate and intentional in your thoughts and actions.  Focus on what you want not what you don't want.
2. Educate yourself  about the market, understand the stats and trends.  Become an expert in short sales, REO, foreclosure process.  Make sure you are receiving current market data from local sources.  For Las Vegas, I recommend the Equity Title Market Condition Report and Salestraq Fast Facts. Read Forrest Barbee's recent post on the Las Vegas Market October 2007.   Check out the great information including audio conference calls on Mark Stark's Blog.
3. Learn how to better present the history and current market story to your buyers and sellers.  Update your buyer and listing presentations with supporting graphs, statistics, etc.  Take sale-able, properly-priced listings!  Use all of your available company marketing and advertising tools.
4. Get back to the basics now.  Do you have a solid SOI/Referral system in place?  Are you prospecting  daily?
5. Have a written business plan with specific goals.  Track your expenditures and return on investment.   Know what's working and what is not and make the appropriate adjustments.
6. Adopt a daily ritual to start your day in a positive mindset.  Some suggestions...morning meditation, prayer, exercise, read your affirmations, review your goals, eat breakfast, review your day's tasks and schedule.
7. Exercise and eat properly for you.  I recommend yoga!
8. Show up - Mentally, Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually.  Now more than ever it's important to get up, do your morning mindset ritual, get dressed for success and go into the office or that first appointment.
9. Have a daily activity plan and work it - know how many calls, face-to-face contacts, emails, mailers, contacts you must make before you call it a day.  Challenge yourself with daily goals - don't go home until you have at least one appointment for example.
10. Get an accountability partner or hire a coach. Ask for help.  Help each other.  Form a support and accountability group.