Thinking Differently
Have you ever tried to think differently? What I mean by this is thinking differently about something you believe to be 100% true or close to 100% true. Are you open-minded and a big thinker? Many of you reading this will agree with the previous statement.
How did COVID-19 affect the real estate market?
Imagine if you were a female living in the early 1900s. As a female, you would have had no voting rights. It was not until May 24, 1918, that female citizens over the age of 21 were granted the right to vote federally. Living in the 21st century, we think this is absurd and discrimination—a belief from the past that we presently find hard to believe.
Many of our beliefs in finance, politics, rights, science, and many others are built on weak foundations, yet we hold to our beliefs as if they are gospel truth. The reality of our thinking and discernment is that we become blind to better ways or ideas. The longer the pattern of thinking in a particular way makes it increasingly harder to be open-minded and think differently. Truth is, deep thinking or thinking differently is hard. This is why beginners at whatever it is that is being learned—not taught—are often the best at thinking differently.
I hope that I have gotten your attention about thinking differently. My goal is to have you think differently about business, our economy, and more importantly, today’s real estate market. Please put aside your long-term beliefs—the patterns that have been etched into your memory—and be an open-minded big thinker for a few minutes as I share some concepts and thoughts:
1. A good market tends to hide mistakes. The market is blistering hot. What are we not seeing and what are we missing in the real estate market?
2. Nothing takes the place of being actively engaged in the running of your finances, including your real estate holdings, and being thoughtful, as well as skeptical, about your future. Rarely are we skeptical when the market seems like it will never stop going up; however, I encourage you to be skeptical and think, “What if?”
3. Last week’s marketing or sales report has absolutely nothing to do with: (1) where the market is headed, (2) what the economy is doing, or (3) what the demand will be next year. Real news is always late to the party.
4. You must keep a conservative strategy during the good times because you generally do not know you are in bad times until it is too late. Like the story of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise wins the race.
Is the market going to crash sometime soon?
5. Very few teams win with an “offence only” strategy. Winning teams have fantastic defenses. They think about prevention, protection, and calculate the risks. How are you playing the game of real estate?
6. Not all progress is measured by gains, financial and units. Sometimes, progress is measured by losses avoided.
7. Speed can kill. Speed with greed necessitates aggressive leverage and increases the odds of catastrophe.
8. True wealth is built slowly. It is better to go slow and avoid the do-over.
Do these thoughts, concepts, or ideas go against your current thinking? Do they contradict what you think about business, our economy, and the real estate market today? Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow, asks the question if we are capable of thinking differently. Booth highlights that most of us are poor at thinking about new concepts, ideas, and thoughts. He gives a few suggestions to overcome our errors of thinking.
One of the ways that Booth suggests we become a different thinker is by reading a wide variety of different topics. Robert Sutton, management expert at Stanford’s School of Engineering, shares good management skills, but they apply to thinking differently, too. In an article titled “Fight Like You’re Right, Listen Like You’re Wrong,” Sutton says to argue with yourself as if you were right, and more importantly, listen as if you were wrong when thinking differently.
Learn all about Phil the Groundhog.
Be short on strong opinions, or put your strong opinion on the shelf and bring out your weak opinion, as hard as that may be for you. A strong opinion brings quick bold moves that often end with a mistake. However, a weak opinion allows a leader, a thinker, or a real estate investor to process and think differently. Thinking differently is hard, but open up your world to new possibilities by thinking differently.
Please reach out to our team for more information or help with all your real estate needs.
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STR (Sell Through Rate) Formula = Sales ÷ Active Listings + Failed Listings + Sales
Randy Dyck
Personal Real Estate Corporation
604-807-4366 or randy@eximus.com
