Personal Lessons from 2011  

Every January, I set a list of goals and get ready to take on a new year of frenetic activity. The beginning of the year is a great time for renewal of energy and taking on the things I have always wanted to tackle — debt, fitness, helping others and living a life with purpose.  But it is also a great time to learn some lessons from the previous year. Here are some lessons I learned in 2011:
   
  • Persistence changes everything. Most people give up before they give themselves a chance. An investor friend was turned down 9 times before a bank finally approved a loan for him to purchase his first real estate investment. He now owns over 15 properties.
  • Condition yourself to see failure as feedback:You have to get rejected and turned down before you appreciate your successes. Everything is progress.
  • I get stress even from a moment of rushing. The second I am in a hurry, stress hits my body. When I slow down, I enjoy myself more. I am trying really hard to slow down and not pack too many things in my day.
  • Don’t worry about what is difficult today. Tomorrow will be here faster than you want. Just put your head down and do good work. As a human rsources professional I have seen many people overcome difficult learning curves because of a hard work ethic. I knew very little about investing in real estate 5 years ago…today I know 10% more than I did 5 years ago. Learning anything new takes time.
  • It’s never that big of a deal. Everything that goes wrong usually feels like the end of the world when it happens. But give it a few hours or days and you realize life goes on and everything’s usually fine. No single thing is usually that big of a deal. Act that way. I lost my phone in December and was really upset with myself because my entire life was on that phone.  It took me a week to get over it….and I did.
  • Anything is possible with the right motivation. 20% of what I do on a daily basis are things I used to think were impossible. Find compelling reasons to push the limits.
Sometimes it is far better to improve on the lessons from the previous year, than to set new ones.