Potential
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” – Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Steven wrote that on his blog today and I was transported back to the first time I’d read The War of Art. It was 2010 and our KW office was in temporary quarters. We’d had a fire and had to move out of our main office. The market was crashing and burning too. 2010 was tough but our office was a great place to be in the midst of all the troubles. Lots of positive energy and encouragement, even in a tough time.
That was also the first year I attended the KW Family Reunion. It was in New Orleans that year and the Saints had just won the Super Bowl.
My team leader in 2010 was Jason Bonds and he wanted us to go to New Orleans and Family Reunion but money was tight for me. He worked out a way and I remember seeing the remnants of Hurricane Katrina’s damage from 2005 but I saw the joy in the faces of the people celebrating the Super Bowl win after that year’s Mardi Gras. Mixed feelings but a sense of hope.
I remember the feelings of encouragement and discouragement at the same time as I read The War of Art. I was encouraged that there was more in me and I could overcome the resistance but discouraged at the market. I had the fleeting thoughts about trying the cold calling stuff because I thought that was the Resistance I had to overcome but I couldn’t bring myself to try it.
Funny how memories clump together. Sometimes they are clumped by a date or period of time and some are clumped by feelings and experiences. Those memories I just listed were triggered by something that happened this week.
Adrian Terei is my team leader at our KW office and on Monday he responded to a random question on Facebook.
The question was “How do you overcome the fear of cold calling?”
His answer was “It’s not a “fear” that you are battling. It’s an inherent personality trait that you do not possess, and because of that, your brain says NO WAY anytime you think about doing it. Through training, script practice, and by sheer will, you CAN do it. However, it will be physically, mentally, and spiritually draining for you to do it. Why not choose a different approach that aligns with your God-given talent and natural personality traits? Doing so will give you energy and you will be a happy agent”
I wish I had Adrian as a team leader when I started in 2003 as a new agent. When I started, everyone said you had to cold call or call expired and FSBO listings to succeed.
I was convinced that wasn’t the truth.
It is true cold calling works but so does a slot machine and besides, if everyone is doing it and still failing at a rate of 85%, there must be something else I could do to succeed. I doubled down on building relationships, caring for the folks I knew in my database and referrals came to me. They still do.
We all feel mixed emotions when we face something difficult. Excitement and Resistance at the same time.
From Steven Pressfield in The War of Art “Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul’s seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star’s beacon, and Polaris. Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.”
Being a real estate agent is all about creating. Creating a business that can support you and your family out of almost thin air. Building relationships based on trust and expertise of taking someone through the challenging and confusing venture of buying or selling a house. Being an entrepreneur, leaving a job with a weekly paycheck to a business with no guarantee of success. Resistance tells us “you can’t” but inside we know we can.
Thankfully I listened to my inner Genius and focused on relationships. In this business, relationships are everything. The rest is just details. I hope this is encouraging to you in some way as we navigate to a new ‘normal’.
Remember, ‘normal’ is what you’re used to, not necessarily how it ought to be.
We’re likely to be in transition from the old ‘normal’ to a new ‘normal’ for a while and if you’re isolated due to the pandemic it might be helpful to talk to someone.
I’m here and I’ll talk with you.
I mean it.
If you want to schedule a call you can click on this link. It will take you to a calendar where you can request a 30-minute time block. I’ll accept and we’ll get on Google Meet to talk face to face. We can go longer than 30 minutes too but we might need to schedule another time.
It’s free and it might just help if you’re stuck. No strings, no pitch, just someone to listen and maybe get you unstuck.
I’m here if you want to reach out.
I hope you will.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson