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Almost half of New Years Resolutions will be broken within a month. Crazy huh.
For reasons I have yet to understand, I’ve been more content with going against the grain. I’m the one who swims upstream while everyone is swimming downstream.
The office manager where I work. She’s been pushing us to fill out our “GCI” for 2017. GCI, for the unfamiliar, is Gross Commission Income.
In other words, how many homes do I want to sell this year.
To me, this always rings hollow.
Tim Ferriss, the author of the new book “Tools for Titans” has a wildly successful podcast. I seem to have a love/hate relationship with his podcast. Some episodes are very informative while others go WAY too deep into topics and I get bored.
During a recent episode he discussed “resolutions”. He said something intriguing. Rather than get worked up about creating new goals, what he does is take a look back at the previous year. He takes an inventory of his life, deciding what brought him pleasure and what didn’t. What brought him income and what didn’t.
With the positives defined, he then applies the 80/20 rule to those positive aspects of his life, thereby focusing on the 20% of things that brought 80% of his pleasure and income.
To me, this rings true.
When I look back at 2016, there’s no doubt what brought me the greatest pleasure.
Impact.
How many people did I have a positive impact on last year?
Not enough. I could have impacted more.
That’s my “resolution” for the year. Well, I shouldn’t call it that because then I’ll have to break it in 30 days. I’ll call it my “goals”. Something that I will do.
Business
Believe it or nuts, the biggest impact here: writing. The impact has been good and bad.
Good because in sharing my real estate stories, about unethical practices I experience, I’ve gotten great feedback from you. Bad because some agents have pushed back against it. I don’t care. I call it like I see it. These newsletters allow me to share this with you. Look for more.
Also there’s a book coming out. I finished the final proof a few days ago. The physical copies should be here in the next few weeks.
To be a good writer, you need to read. A lot. My goal here is to increase the amount of time that I read. Next on my nightstand – Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Thank goodness Amazon lets you buy used books for 30% off the “brand new” price. I’d go broke!
Growth
Your grow by doing new things. Pushing yourself.
In the theme of “Impact”, I’m working on a project that will let local business leaders and thought leaders share their stories with you.
Another project currently in the works is geared towards helping people. In the sphere of education, job training. Which leads me to …
Philanthropy
John Mackey, CEO of Wholefoods, wrote a book called “Conscious Capitalism” and gave a talk at Voice and Exit. His words have really inspired me, about bringing philanthropy work into the DNA of a business.
This is something I have wanted to do more of. It’s time to stop “wanting” and start “doing“. I’m working on a program that’s going to help people who I believe have gone above and beyond the call of duty. This will arrive in the next few months.
Also I’m privileged to be watching something spectacular be born and unfold. About 4 months ago, a group (that I belong to) of like minded entrepreneurs started kicking around how we could really have an impact on the community. We’ve hatched a program, right now we’re testing it. Seeing what works, what needs improvement. Once we have a more complete, fully-baked version we’re going to roll it out.
The initial testing has been very encouraging and we’re excited about it.
And that’s about it. I know this email was a big vague. Details will come. What I wanted to do was set the stage for what’s coming.
You have a front row seat.
So did I fill out my “GCI” for this year? Oops. Golly Darn it. I knew I forgot something…
I guess I was too busy swimming upstream.
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