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Throwback to the lunch with Adi and Gigi to celebrate Adi's birthday.
At one point, our conversation steered towards how we constantly sabotage ourselves when an opportunity is presented to us.
"When I was given the opportunity to market a property for sale, I told myself this unit would be hard to sell because it was overpriced, it was facing the main road and the market was slow etc. The next moment, another property agent sold it!"
"When my buyers tell me they are not keen on this project, I just stopped following up with them for other projects, telling myself these buyers are just shopping around. The next moment, they bought something!"
Do the above sound familiar to you? It sure sounds familiar to me!
Why do we talk ourselves out instead of taking action when presented with the opportunity?
Why Do We Procrastinate In Taking Action?
1) Fear
One of the biggest reasons we are not taking action is FEAR.
Are we fearful of failing? Are we afraid that after we put in the effort and money, we will not achieve what we want or be where we want to be?
Or are we fearful because we have had a bad experience? We have tried and failed before, and this might turn out to be the same.
I have experienced this many times in my real estate career.
During my years in this industry, I was given many opportunities to market properties I don't commonly market, including GCB, shophouses and commercial buildings. I will talk myself out by telling myself reasons like these:
"I don't have such high net worth buyers."
"I am unfamiliar with the procedures, so I better not market. What if I do something wrong and get sued?"
"There are so many more experienced realtors out there. They will get the property sold and not me. I better don't waste my time and money."
Sounds familiar?
Looking back, I regret sabotaging myself with such thinking.
Apart from the monetary rewards that I would get if I successfully transacted those properties, I would have learned and gained experience marketing such properties.
It will benefit me now because I am leading a team of realtors specializing in different market segments. My knowledge and experience would have been so helpful to them!
No wonder there is this saying:
You win, or you learn.
Nobody enjoys failure. However failure is part of the equation that leads to success.
Fear of failure is not the only thing stopping us from taking action. How about being fearful of other people's opinions?
What will people say or think of me if I do this?
The truth is, regardless of what we do or not do, there are bound to be haters and people who disagree with us. Are we going to let them decide our actions and our lives?
I have my fair share of dealing with naysayers. I find peace within by asking myself if these people matter to me.
If yes, I will understand their point of view and see if what they say makes sense.
If not, I won't bother.
I agree with the Chinese idiom 树大招风, which literally means when the tree is big, it attracts the wind.
So, let's reframe how we think.
When you are somebody, people discuss about you. When you are nobody, people won't bother talking about you.
Let's all remind ourselves to stop living based on what others say!
2) Overthinking
Overthinking is another reason why we procrastinate in taking action.
In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, overthinking might sometimes be our way to delay taking action!
I repeat.
Overthinking might sometimes be our way to delay taking action. Ouch!!! 😩
One of the best ways to deal with the problem of overthinking and procrastination is to set a dateline and confirm with all parties needed to get the job done. By doing this, we force ourselves to take action.
Ok, I know I am so guilty of this! I have been wanting to create more videos but have been procrastinating! I promise to book my videographer and a studio and most importantly, convince people to do the videos with me! 😅
Also, if you are a serial over thinker, do you realise that sometimes the more you think, the more you doubt yourself?
This leads me to my next point: Self doubt!
3) Self Doubt
It is normal to experience self-doubts, especially when faced with new or challenging tasks.
"I am not good enough."
I have caught myself saying this a few times.
While I am not a perfectionist, I am my worst critic. These self-doubts can sometimes be paralysing and stop me from taking action on what I am supposed to do.
Imposter Syndrome in play?
Imposter Syndrome in real estate is not uncommon. It can have a significant impact on an individual's performance.
Check out this article I wrote: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome In Your Real Estate Career
I recently learned of this famous 5-second Rule, introduced by one of the most inspirational female speakers, Mel Robbins.
If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within five seconds, or your brain will kill it. The moment you feel an instinct or a desire to act on a goal or a commitment, use the Rule.
This works for me!
I attended a web seminar on public speaking just recently. One of my goals this year is to improve on my public speaking skills. When the speaker called for us to sign up for the boot camp, I applied the 5-second rule and signed up immediately.
The old me will probably think about it and conveniently forget it afterward!
If it brings me closer to my dream, just do it!
4) Distractions
We are so easily distracted these days.
Have you experienced this before? When you stop doing what you are doing to attend to something else, you forget what you are supposed to do after you are done with that something else.
Hahaha this happens to me so often! I attribute that to me being old, but the truth is there are too many distractions nowadays!
To help me remember my never-ending to-do list, I go back to the ancient way of writing down the things I wanted to do in a notebook. This helps me keep track of what I need to do!
And oh ya, I think meditation helps too!
5) Task Looks Daunting
As realtors, we are sometimes given challenging tasks. These require us to step out of our comfort zones, learn new things, and do things differently.
And when the task looks daunting, we tend to procrastinate and do the easier tasks first.
One way I overcome this is to break down the big task into smaller steps needed to complete it. This helps me understand the task better and improves my confidence as I check off those steps.
I recently taught a website creation and SEO training class for my team. It was quite an overwhelming task for me. While I have the knowledge to create a website and optimised it for SEO purposes, it is another skill set to teach.
To help me overcome this, I break down the big tasks into smaller tasks and write down the steps needed to achieve those tasks. This makes it less overwhelming and gives me confidence in completing the task.
Conclusion
This statement serves as a poignant reminder of the need to take action to reach our objectives.
Refraining from taking the shot deny us the chance to discover what could have been. We will then forever wonder whether we could have reached the target or scored the goal had we seized the opportunity.
Therefore, let us not be deterred by fear. Instead, let us embrace the uncertainty and take the shot, for we never know what might transpire when we do.
Cheers to becoming the best version of ourselves!
If you would like to explore how we can collaborate, or looking for a real estate career mentor, drop me a whatsapp or schedule an appointment with me using the link below.
About The Author
Vivian joined the real estate industry in 2002. Having been in the real estate business for more than 2 decades, she knows the rewards and challenges that a real estate agent face.
While the real estate career offers lucrative income and flexible work hours, it also presents many challenges - financial insecurity as we do not have basic pay, time management as we juggle work, children and family all at one time.
Only those who have walked the same journey will understand.
Vivian would now like to pay it forward by mentoring fellow agents, especially women who want to build a real estate career.
It is her vision to see women achieving their dreams and live their lives with passion through a successful real estate career.
Connect with Vivian at 98577714 to embark on this journey.