“A weak mind must be constantly entertained and stimulated. A strong mind can occupy itself and, more important, be still and vigilant in moments that demand it.”
- Ryan Holiday, Discipline is Destiny
In the aforementioned book, Ryan Holiday has a whole chapter on Queen Elizabeth II. I knew very little about the late monarch - actually I knew nothing. She was a remarkable woman who presided as Queen for 70 years. 70 years! She was 96 when she passed in 2022, and get this: “most nations on Earth today did not exist when she was born.”
Of her many noteworthy qualities, one of her press secretaries remarked, “In a very noisy world where people constantly want to express themselves or overreact, what the Queen has done has been the opposite.” “Where she’s been brilliant is in her quietness.”
It would not be unfair to say that the noise surrounding residential real estate this year has not been quiet, in opposition to the market itself. In case you didn’t know, existing home sales in the U.S. are at a 30-year low (it dipped briefly in the middle of 2010). We are currently running at around 3.8mm existing home sales this year. Immediately following COVID the country was running well north of 6mm homes sales per year.
Some agents have no idea that broadly speaking, the US housing market is in a nuclear winter compared to where we have been - because they have been having their best year ever! Other agents are frozen numb with the lack of production.
Queen Elizabeth II had a grueling schedule, even though she officially didn’t “do” anything. She read the daily briefings from the Prime Minister - and met with him every week, but couldn’t even do so much as comment publicly on policy. She read six newspapers each morning - she actually read them, not skimmed them. If something stuck her as concerning, she would request more information and dive deeper. She did all this not because she had to, she felt it was her duty. Remember, she had zero personal responsibility or ability to direct policy or governance.
She worked every day for practically seven decades. On one single royal tour in 1953 she traveled 40,000 miles, mostly by boat! “She shook thirteen thousand hands and received tens of thousands of bows and curtsies. And this was just one of more than a hundred of these royal tours during her reign.” This is just a small peek into her work ethic and temperament, given that over her reign she traveled millions of miles by boat and air over, and met more than 4 million people.
I simply ask you to talk to 50 people per week - and take 8 weeks off! Is that really so hard? You don’t even have to travel!
Sure, the national market activity is at a ridiculously low level. So what? Two and a half years ago it was almost at an all time high. Markets come and markets go. No market lasts forever. The thing that lasts is you. Or it doesn’t.
If you are having a great year, keep going! DO NOT LET YOUR FOOT OFF THE GAS! If you are not having a great year, what the heck are you doing? Get to work! Talk to 50 people per week (or more!).
This is a time to be still and vigilant. Be still in your resolution and vigilant in your action.
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