Staying Succesful
Lessons from the Masters Golf Tournament
How to keep your real estate career on course and on par
By Bob Corcoran
Did you see the final round of the Masters Golf tournament in April? Rory McIlroy, a 21-year-old sensation from Ireland woke up that Sunday at 12 under par with a four-shot lead over his nearest challengers.
Up until then, he had made just three bogeys while stringing together 15 birdies. In those 54 holes, he never three-putted, not once.
Then, the wheels came off. He pulled a tee shot on the par-4 10th so badly it nearly hit a cabin that sits 50 yards from the fairway. He triple-bogeyed that hole, bogeyed the 11th, four-putted the par-3 12th and ended the miserable day with an 8-over 80 and finished tied for 15th. His pay check shrunk from $1.44 million to $128,000.
Winner Charl Schwartzel sympathized. “One moment you’re on top of it, the next moment it bites you,” he said.
A brutal breakdown. And it brings me to this question: In the game of real estate, how do you stay successful and keep the profession from biting you?
I’ve been at this job of helping Realtors for about two decades now; and here are a few tips I hope will help you keep your paychecks big and your career on course:
- Define success. Many Real Estate Agents never define what success really is to them. Is it selling 100 homes in a year? Is it working 40 hours a week so you can spend time with your family? You have to define it before you can reach it. Even though Rory had a bad day, he still knew what success would be at the end of that Sunday: the lowest score.
- Have a mentor. Who do you admire in real estate? Someone you think epitomizes success? Get to know that person. Take her out to lunch, get to know her and how she works. I know you didn’t get into real estate being shy, so take the initiative and learn from those who’ve shown they can do the job well.
- Get an accountability partner. Along the same lines of a mentor, get someone who can hold you accountable for what you say you’re going to do. Without one, it’s easy to not follow through with what you need to do to stay successful. Coaches keep their athletes on the straight and narrow. You should have the same. This is a role I often fill with my clients, and not to brag, but my clients increase their business on average by 47 percent after one year with me. Accountability works!
- Measure your confidence. Any athlete will tell you confidence is vital. Without it, you’re dead in the water. After he lost, McIlroy said, “I lost a lot of confidence in my putting around the turn.” Regularly check your confidence levels, especially before important meetings, such as listing presentations.
- Take lessons from your losses. Unfortunately, you will have bad days. Hopefully they won’t be as painful as McIlroy’s was. But even in the bitterest of defeats, you have to learn to take away lessons. After his loss, McIlory said this: “I’m very disappointed right now, and I’m sure I will be for the next few days, but I’ll get over it. I’ve got to take the positives, and the positives were I led this golf tournament for 63 holes.” When you have a bad day, look at it, analyze it and take away whatever good you can from it.
Let me hear from you. Have defined success for yourself? How are going to achieve success for the remainder of the 2011? Have you identified any obstacles you’ll need to deal with before you’re successful? Please send any comments or questions you have to Article@CorcoranCoaching.com or http://www.facebook.com/CorcoranCoaching.
Bob Corcoran is a nationally recognized speaker and author who is founder and president of Corcoran Consulting Inc. (CorcoranCoaching.com, 800-957-8353), an international consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and the implementation of sound business systems into the residential or commercial broker or agent’s existing practice.
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