You may already be wondering what Star Trek, Yoda, and Purple Cows have to do with real estate investing, and if you’re looking for specific how-to stuff, this isn’t quite it.
Today, I want to push you out of the small world of real estate investing and challenge you to get to the core of your goals, dreams, desires, and abilities. If I ask you what your investing goals are, you will likely tell me to make money, generate long-term wealth and so on. And that’s great, of course, but you can accomplish those things in any kind of profession or past-time. So what is it specifically about real estate investing that drives you, once we get past the “make some money” things?
What I’m talking about here is a mindshift away from “average” and into the world of “remarkable”.
That’s the world of the Purple Cow, naturally.
Captain Picard from Star Trek explained it best when he was talking about the android Data. Picard noted that Data showed the rest of us what it’s really like to be human. He showed us how to change to become “more than what we are”.
The Pursuit of Mediocrity: No Purple Cows Here…
Too many of us settle for mediocrity. In our jobs, we tell ourselves that our efforts are “good enough”. We do just enough to get by. We gripe about our miserable lot in life while not doing anything to change it. We settle for being average…living an okay life and not stirring up any hornet nests along the way. Playing it safe. Not talking any chances. Definitely no purple cows in there.
The fear of trying something new, and failing, is stronger than trying something new and possibly winning.
“Do Or Do Not. There is No Try”… Yoda Had it Wrong!
Would it rankle you if I suggested that Yoda had it wrong? If there is only “do or do not” and no trying at all, we would all choose to “do not”. That’s the safer way. In fact, the wisdom here is all in the trying with the understanding that sometimes we win, and sometimes we lose, and being okay with that.
Don’t get me wrong about this. I know how easy it is to settle, to give up and quit, to rage against that increase in gas prices only to grudgingly accept it after a few days. I get that. But today, let’s do a little mental exercise and reconsider how your life would look if you didn’t settle for just being average. What could you have accomplished? What could you still accomplish with a simple change in mindset?
For example, if you knew you could make 20% returns annually on your real estate investments without fail, so that money was no longer your primary pursuit, what you would do with your time, talents and energy? Write it down.
Now, instead of waiting for your returns to manifest, go do those things today. Right now.
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