Don’t Be a Donkey
There is a medieval paradox concerning the logic of sound judgement and freewill called, Buridan’s Ass.
The phrase Buridan’s Ass is a take off on the philosophy of Jean Buridan. Jean believed that if you had a donkey that is equally as hungry as thirsty placed in between water and food, that donkey would be unable to choose between the two. Thus, said donkey would die of thirst and hunger.
Sometimes I’m the ass. Suffering from indecision based a lot of times on the fear of leaving my comfort zone. With the choice of being comfortable, or being the best I can be… a lot of times I choose to do nothing! With the real dilemma being that:
“You cannot possibly be completely comfortable if you are not choosing to be your best.”
The same is true for most all real estate agents that struggle in this business. Making the choice to do what is necessary to succeed in this business rarely includes… the comfort zone. At least in the beginning stages of building a successful real estate career.
As I said in one of my favorite writings, The Declaration of Greatness:
“The tradeoffs for success and greatness are tough. Few, and now fewer, agents are willing to make them or even consider them… thus producing a widening gap between the top, middle, and bottom of the real estate mountain… of the real estate pyramid.”
The key words in that quote are: tradeoffs and willing.
There are tradeoffs to success in the real estate business. However if your approach to real estate is thought out (big picture, system based growth, leverage, etc), you will be left with an amazing life!
All you have to do is be willing to make the tradeoffs and sacrifices necessary for your success. These sacrifices when applied properly are short term. You must be willing to go out of balance in your life. Work will temporarily become more important than family and friends.
As my friend Alain de Botton says, ”There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.”
You decide. Donkey or not?
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