Linz’s Musings – Its all about the Energy you bring

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Winter Solstice is behind us, and summer has officially begun State-side.  Its amazing how quickly time flies when having fun in Real Estate!

And it certainly is an incredible time to be in Real Estate right now, markets like I have never seen before.  Will be interesting to watch the RBA, Fed Reserve and see how they play out the next 12-18 months with money printing in full swing still, particularly in the U.S.

I was having a great chat with my coach this morning and he mentioned something which I thought was very profound.  We were discussing the need to schedule activities such as reading, meditation, training etc to recharge the batteries.

We all are brought up with the adage that to be successful in anything we need to work hard.  After 30 years in corporate for me, reasonably successful at it, its easy even as a Real Estate investor and business owner/entrepreneur, to fall into the same habits of working 50-60+ hours a week to ensure we are successful and not ‘seen’ to be lazy.

Truth is though, that is the wrong mindset.

I coach all the time how important a change in mindset is from being a ‘Real Estate Investor’ to being ‘In the business of Real Estate’… but even I missed this small but extremely important distinction on how we work.

So Jonathan said, “Employee’s trade time for dollars.  Business owners, investors & entrepreneurs trade energy for profits.”

Boom.

When you look at this, it makes enormous sense.

As investors, business owners and entrepreneurs, it is all about the energy we bring to the table.  Its not about how many hours we work, or whether others see us as ‘busy’ or not – this is irrelevant to real success.

For us, it is all about the energy level we have and bring to the deal / negotiation / challenge etc.  And then therefore, it is critical to ensure to recharge that energy.

If you are running on empty you cannot give your all.  Its important to schedule activities that RECHARGE your energy during the day as well, not just drain your energy.

What activities do you do to recharge?

Linz’s Musings –A good time to reassess goals

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How quickly the weeks are flying by, Winter Solstice is almost on us, and summer hitting the U.S. it’s a great time for us to start to analyse our goals and see where we are for the year.

With so much happening this year, we could be forgiven for looking to ‘give up’ on our goals.  But this is exactly the time to knuckle down and take stock of where we are.

Even if you are no further down your goal path now, that we were in say, January, that’s OK.  Adjust and start moving again.

From an investing goals standpoint, I would certainly use this mid-year time to ensure to get yourself into a position ready to invest if you are not already.  The stimulus that is being poured into the U.S. economy particularly right now, is not looking like letting up.

The real estate markets are booming, almost wherever you look.

History has shown us though, particularly after the stimulus of the GFC (which by the way compared to current packages is a minnow vs a whale!) showed massive increases in housing prices, and almost a tripling of the stock market.

Inventory on market is still low, and during this summer selling period, may get lower.  Remains to be seen whether or not this will pick back up anytime soon.

But either way, this ‘Perfect Storm’ in real estate, particularly in the U.S. is here to stay for now, lets ride this wave with all we have!

Linz’s Musings – The ‘Story’ of Life…

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As another Friday comes to a close, we close the chapter on another week in our lives.

I was sitting in our new high-country hideaway thinking what a great story we all are creating – unique, jam packed with action, drama, and suspense, and I am sure it would certainly make for interesting reading in time; sitting on our front veranda at age 85 reading to our grandkids or great grandkids the story of our lives – them sitting in awe at the twists and turns…

Virus outbreaks, lockdowns, TV billionaires winning presidency elections, then losing again; the success and failures we have all faced. What a recent generation we have had.

But how will YOU like the story of your life?

Think about how you will FEEL when reading to them?

Will you notice the missed opportunities you should have taken?

Will you regret the decisions you didn’t make at crucial crossroads?

Mourn for the missed time you had with family and friends at times we were “too busy” living and ignored life?

It is hard when we are up to our neck in crocodiles, to really see when we are at a crossroads, and often how important is that next decision.
In hindsight, we can look back and say “Wow, if only I had taken that step to do how different might my life have been!”

But at the time, is just another thing, that in our busy day-to-day lives, we just dismiss… “I don’t have time” … “oh, sounds good, but I will do it later” … “yes I would like to, but not right now” …

Then, soon turns into later, and later, and we continually miss these opportunities.

Don’t let the busy-ness of life allow you to miss those crucial forks in the road; those important decisions that will change your life.

Forge that story of life, those next chapters in the book – with excitement and new experiences, growth, and learnings… don’t just rewrite the last chapter again…

One comment I read recently, really hit home – “Most people will be in the exact same place next year, as they are today. Don’t be most people.”

Remember, life is an adventure, full of twists and turns, hills and valleys, achievements and setbacks.

Go out there and get them!

Linz’s Musings – Look for the good in things

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Happy Friday, and welcome to our Winter edition of the newsletter. This week (and ongoing), I want to include a ‘Market Update’ section for you, so keep reading below what we see in the U.S. market.

I was chatting to some colleagues recently about winter and asked what their favourite thing about winter was. One of the funniest responses I got was “the end…” LOL

But you know, this got me thinking. We can often find ourselves in less-than-ideal conditions in life or even investing.

Now, stay with me here…

It might be winter; it might be a deal that hasn’t seemed to work out the way it should; it might be a work-related position you are now in… Often, we gripe and moan about how bad things are…”Oh, you will never believe what happened to me the other day…”

But does all of this whining make a difference? Sharing your gripes with others may make you feel a little better, but you’ll notice that fewer and fewer people will join you at the water cooler (or heater)…

The truth is, complaining about a situation or action does little to help. What can be helpful is to try and think of something good in this situation…anything at all, no matter how small.

From a winter perspective, my wife says she loves the winter wardrobe!

Suppose you can identify anything little that is positive about a difficult circumstance and focus on it. In that case, you will frequently find that it will boost your frame of mind (more pals around the heater with you!) and secondly, it will aid your subconscious mind in finding a solution or way out of the difficulty.

In terms of investing, what is the most excellent thing about a deal, even if it is going bad? Is it the property’s location? What about the design? Close to a specific school or park… Whatever it is, if you can focus on the positive, you will frequently notice a thread form that will help weave you out of the bad situation and give you a better end!

 

 

Linz’s Musings – Sphere of Control

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And as another weekend looms, Melbourne descends into lockdown…  While this is certainly not a unique experience for us Victorians, it can cause some anger towards the ‘establishment’.

But the truth is, regardless of how justified the anger may be (believe me that is an entirely different rabbit hole) it really doesn’t get us anywhere.

I made a conscious decision last year to ensure that I did not allow myself to be affected by things outside my sphere of influence or control or influence.

See, we all have a small and finite group of things that we can directly control.  Then there is a slightly larger circle of things we may not be able to control but can exert some influence on.

Then, outside of those two, relatively small circles, is everything else, everything that we do not have control over.

Now, while we do not have control over most things, one thing we can control is how we allow those external forces to affect us.  We certainly cannot control the weather, but it is my choice to be grumpy at the rain, or happy with the sun. That is a conscious decision I make.

Even when we cannot affect these things outside our sphere of control, we CAN control the impact these forces have on us.  And that is a real secret to happiness.

It is fine to feel anger, regret, sadness as certain forces as they wash over us, but then ask yourself, “Is this something I can control?”

If so, great, go ahead and change the situation or circumstance.  But if it is not, then can you change your reaction to it?

What things, outside your sphere of control are you reacting poorly to?