8 Big Ideas To Rescue Real Estate Investment Resolutions

The New Year is fast approaching. This post is about the real reasons resolutions and the determination to achieve them are lost, year after year after year, and how to change – yet this year – and get on track  to systematically set and achieve new goals. Of course, I am talking about REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT GOALS!….

Big Idea #1: You Can’t Achieve New Investment Goals or Make Desired Changes Without Allocating Time To Do.

In talking with  investors I find that a big reason that their investment resolutions  never become reality is no room made for them in their schedule!  If your days are already full, and you resolve to get in a 1/2 hour a day on the treadmill or on your laptop, working on a project, that 1/2 hour has to come from somewhere. Something’s gotta give! You have to find something or things currently consuming time you can cut 5 or 10 or 15 minutes from to work on your investing.

Big Idea #2: Investment Priorities Should Govern Schedule, Schedule Shouldn’t Govern Investment Priorities.

Sometimes as an investor it is easy to operate like workers instead of investors. They report to a workplace, then they let people and events ad interruptions come at them all day, take control of their day. You have to wrest control away from others’ priorities and govern by your priorities – because it is your financial future.

Big Idea #3: Investment Resolutions Aren’t Resolutions Without Resolve.

Only you can decide what really matters to you. You shouldn’t bother with ‘lip service’ faux resolutions, made to appease or satisfy others. Honesty with self is a pre-requisite for investment success.

Big Idea #4: Resolutions Require Investment Resources.

Almost anything you decide to do, any change you decide to make, any goal you set out to achieve requires new or different investment resources.

Really it’s about making Darin Garman one of those resources. That might be a ‘dip your toe in the water’ 4 – 6 unit apartment property, maybe owning a larger 50 plus unit property or investing in a property at a predetermined discount. You aren’t really serious about any investment resolution unless you invest in and gather the required resources. Sometimes investment motivates follow-through, too.

Big Idea #5: Investments Daily Progress.

Take the investment objective and break it all the way down to a timeline and to-do list for each day or at worst each week, Do you remember the Bill Murray movie, ‘What About Bob?, with the psychologist who advocates “Baby Steps.” It’s actually good to approach investing that way today. Rarely does anything get done in occasional big leaps.

Big Idea #6: Who Motivates The Investor?

Paul Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, posed this provocative question. In your day to day life of activity who motivates you? For the most part, you need to create self-motivation with structure, like Big Idea#5. But you can also find like minded investors here with us! Sometimes it makes sense to hook up with a person or persons that hold you accountable, to report progress to, to get an atta-boy!

Any professional sports coach will tell you: measurement automatically improves performance, and measurement monitored by someone else further improves performance.

Big Idea #7: It’s Not Too Late For An Investment Re-group!

You may already have let your 2013 investment resolutions slip away. Doesn’t matter. Today, tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest, block out at least 30 minutes, bolt the door, unplug phone, and re-group. Review your investment resolutions. Pick one or two or three that mean the most, and apply the above six ideas.

Big Idea #8: Make Better Use Of Your Time.

Investment resolve weakens under pressure, under stress, when you feel your time is out of your control. That’s the set of circumstances that allows procrastination to gain a foothold. If you want to be more resolute about keeping your investment resolutions, you must become unwaveringly resolute about controlling your time. Again, your financial future depends on it.

Especially in this economy!