Re: 156

A few people were VERY UPSET and OFFENDED by yesterday’s email!

On one hand, my apologies.

On the other hand, GREAT!

I can see how it could be misinterpreted - that some people had a great year despite the market not helping, and they felt like I was dismissing their success. If that was you, my apologies.

For those of you who work with me on a regular basis, you know that most calls start with...acknowledging the wins!!! Our tendency as human beings is to focus on what went wrong, so we forget to focus on all the things that are working, which is why I start most calls with the wins.

So what I should have said FIRST was, “Take a moment and acknowledge the wins for the year, and for all the things that worked! What can you be proud of?”

And, “Congratulations for all of those things!”

But, I didn’t - and my apologies. (Except the people who were most offended have already removed themselves from the list :-0)

Nobody “needs” help. Yet, my experience over the last 30 years is that breakthroughs happen in, or as a result of, conversations with other people. They rarely happen by ourselves. Worse for us, real estate is a lonely business, so many agents feel alone! (I didn’t say they were lonely! Feeling “alone” is not the same as feeling “lonely.”). Therefore, one reason I suspect many real estate agents don’t experience the breakthroughs they want in their business is that they are not having the types of conversations with others that can lead to breakthroughs. The message to “get help” was intended to be a call to get out and be with people, and spend less time in our own heads. ‘Get help’ may have been the wrong way to phrase it.

For a few years, I got to spend a lot of time with and around Jack Canfield. He is really successful! Of the many things I learned from Jack, one thing stood out: he was a humble, lifelong learner. For as much as he knew, and as much as he has achieved, I watched him continually be open to learning, especially when he made a mistake or was naive to some new way of operating. He simply had this curiosity to always be learning, always being better. I watched him learn from everyone. It was never ‘beneath’ him to admit he didn’t know something, or to be open to “help”. In other words, I always saw him as open to contributions from others. He knew that he got better by being around others, by working with others, by learning with and from others. He never considered himself as someone who had “arrived.” He didn’t need to “do it all by himself.”

That type of self-awareness, restraint, and intention - it takes courage and commitment, and I believe it sets really great performers apart. So what I was really saying, in fact, I have been trying to say all year, is that it takes courageous action to confront the things that are most holding us back. Myself included! It-is-hard!

But there is no real breakthrough without confronting the hard stuff.

When I talk about having profound satisfaction in this business, it is not about who sells the most. Profound satisfaction is about being fulfilled. Being at peace. Experiencing joy, for no reason other than your appreciation for being alive. Profound satisfaction also includes having miraculous freedom in your life.

Morgan Housel defines rich as an income, and wealth as having choices. Many people are rich, but they are not wealthy. I simply don’t meet too many people who have real freedom in their lives. Instead, they often feel like a slave to their business, they feel obligated to work with jerks, or lack the courage to charge what they are really worth. Sometimes it’s simply fear and scarcity having more of a hold on them than they want to admit. Me too.

Sooooo...as you look to 2026 - what makes a year worth living? What can you do throughout the year that has you feeling profoundly satisfied, whether you are having your best production year - or not? Because even if you don’t quite hit your production goals, would it be unfair to say that creating profound satisfaction would be worthwhile?

I sincerely wish this for everyone.