Ralph Waldo Emerson
Multifamily #Trust30: Tiger by the Tail
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
For today, trying asking yourself often, especially before you make a choice, “What do I know about this?”
(Author: Jen Louden)
It’s an attention economy and there are a plethora of messages competing for your interest every second of the day. Not only that marketers are getting more creative and more clever as it relates to sucking you in. Marry in some ADD or ADHD and you have the ingredients for never having to think for yourself again.
Multifamily Think
Anyone who has worked for or with me in the multifamily space knows that I expect you to think for yourself when it comes to running your business. Early in my career someone said, “I am handing you keys to a multi-million dollar business, I expect that you know how to tie your shoes.” Made a ton of sense to me then and it still does to this day.
Anymore whether it be a hiring agent or me personally, you better believe the homework will been done. That is to suggest the background has been explored, the questions have been asked and the references have been checked. And, while I don’t use FB or LinkedIn as a part of the hiring process, I do look you up.
The over-riding point here is that I expect to think for myself and I expect those that come to work for me to think for themselves. And, asking yourself what you know is just half the battle. The even more important part is believing the answer. Even on the tough stuff. I expect to fail fast. I expect people to fail fast. I expect to learn fast. And, I expect people to learn fast. 
What I don’t expect is to light fires – if I have to do that then it’s time to move on.
Your always looking to catch a tiger by the tail contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: One Sentence
Day 17 to the #Trust30 challenge –
Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
…How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.
(Author: Liz Danzico)
Multifamily Sentence
Fail forward fast, learn, grow and press for excellence in all that you do.
Your taking it from the gut today contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: Dream
It’s day 15 of #trust30 and it’s Friday!
Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Write down your top three dreams. Now write down what’s holding you back from them.
(Author: Michael Rad)
Dreams
Top three dreams
1. See my three children prosper in health, family and their definition of a meaningful contribution to society
2. Reconcile relationships that I have marred along the way
3. Buy a home in a foreign country – in prep for retirement with my soul mate
What’s holding me back?
I feel blessed to report – not a thing…we are progressing well and taking actions to give ourselves the best shot!
On an aside, I want to give a quick thanks to those that have given me some kind words along the way in the #trust30 challenge. And, for those of you that have endured when the topic gets off the multifamily path, thank you as well.
Your continuing to love the #trust30 challenge contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: Character
Day 14 of the #Trust30 challenge – Trust
…Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now.
(Author: Cindy Gallop)
It’s an elegant way of saying Trust thyself. There is no way of really telling how many times a year we have brilliant ideas cross our mind only to be lost in the same instance. And, no way to tell just how many times that dismissal is a direct result of our innate lack of trust in our own wherewithal. Or, back to that ever persistent dream killer – fear.
What do I want people to say about me when I die
A number of years ago I took the time to write a personal creed for myself. The soul-searching was prompted by a book I was reading at the time; don’t quote me but I do believe it was Steven Covey’s 8th Habit. The methodology included thinking about your very own funeral. I know, morbid huh?
You are at the back of the room as you watch four people take the stage to speak about you: a family member, a co-worker, a coach, mentor, friend or otherwise and a civic/church member. In the exercise you wrote about all the things you would want those individuals to say about you. In doing so you would discern the things that meant the most to you in the way you would want to live life. In a word: character.
Once you defined the character traits, the next step consisted of writing your creed. And, once the creed was written it was time to pen your goals and strategies with which you went about achieving them, predicated on the creed. Or, what you were going to do to build your character.
Character leads the way
Every year in early Jan, I sit and pen my goals for the coming calendar year along with five years and ten years down the road. All predicated on my creed. All in an effort to work on character first, accomplishment second and gathering of things third. In my head if I work on character, accomplishments will come followed closely by money and the things that money can buy.
Over time I will post the creed and the goals that go along with it as one of the last steps in the methodology is to share openly with those that would hold you accountable to living up to what you penned. But, not yet.
What about you; what methodology do you use to create the future for yourself?
Your working on 2011 goals predicated on creed and aiming for good character contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: Like New
Day 13 of the #Trust30 challenge
…Can you remember the moment when you stopped walking a path of someone else, and started cutting your own? (Author: Bridget Pilloud)
I am a bit off prompt again today but hopefully you can appreciate the spirit of it.
I can remember the day like it was yesterday. It was late 1998 and I lived in Silverdale, Washington. I worked for a national REIT at the time. I was privileged to work for a gentleman that I still consider one of the best in the business especially as it relates to the topic of leadership. He was a teacher first and a business person second. Working for him was an absolute education.
The moment of truth for me came in the way of an employee concern. This individual had an alpha dog Type Triple A personality. Bite first and forget
about asking questions later. I had given it everything I had up to that point and resigned to calling my RM in. What did he do? Nothing! He listened to my plea for him to assist in taking care of this guy and he simply kept asking me what I was going to do about it? To me, I was doing what I was going to about it; I wanted him to deal with it.
Up to that point in my career; two things existed for me, 1. I worked on amazing assets and 2. the people loved what they did. The path I followed up to that point was one of little to no resistance to getting things done. At this moment the only path that existed for me was vertical and gave cause for a major pain in my side. And, I no ability to displace it. G thanks, Mr. RM man.
Fast forward: I survived!! Mr. RM man forced me to stare my moment of truth right in the eye and do something about. I had to choose my own path and fortunately it worked out. I was able to forge a new beginning with Type Triple A and he actually thanked me for taking the time to care. Whoa! Not what I expected to hear.
From that day forward, I looked at every employee issue – like new.
Your looking at everyday and every circumstance like new contributor,
M
Photo props to cheesy42
