Stephen Covey published a book in 1989 which has become a personal self-help "bible" of sorts. In recently re-reading it for what seems like the twentieth time, it was amazing how much of what he wrote about nearly 20 years ago applies today and specifically to today's volatile real estate market.

There's an old cliché in business in that if you want to be successful, just do what successful people do! The blueprint for success could not be simpler. In the recent movie, The Pursuit of Happyness" Will Smith plays Chris Gardner who from being evicted and sleeping in a subway bathroom, rises to become a Wall Street legend and whose life changed upon seeing someone successful and asking him.."what do you do..and how do you do it?

What do you do..and how do you do it? Ten simple words. One simple question and yet the key to success is found in that question. When you look close you realize that Gardner’s one question and Covey's 7 habits coincide.

Covey's 1st Habit was about being proactive..about taking responsibility for your life and your circumstances. Certainly it would have been easy for Gardner to give up but he knew what he wanted and he knew what he had to do in order to be successful so he began visualizing where he would end up.

That visualization, Covey's 2nd Habit allows you to move forward with the end in mind..having a direction and purpose.

Once you have a purpose, it's important that you work on the things that are most important that allow you to reach your goals. Covey spoke of prioritizing in his 3rd Habit. Putting thing sin their proper order and in my opinion Covey's 3rd Habit was based on Pareto's 80/20 principle. In Gardner’s life he obviously knew which things were important and which things were not. He had a little boy and no money ..yet he had the ability to change his situation with hard work.

If you can visualize your goals then you develop an attitude that allows you to seek out solutions that are beneficial and integral to your success. Can you imagine a month where you can earn $50,000 to $100,000 per month? Better yet, do you have a plan or solution developed to take you there? Gardner did, and Covey wrote about it in his 4th Habit. Gardner tells of a story wherein he had blisters on his fingers from all of the calls he would make in a day. He visualized it and then worked to make it happen..

Before you can begin making money as a stockbroker, you must go through a long period as an unpaid intern. Even after that period you are flying without a net and there is basically no salary for the new stockbroker..you have to learn the ropes and earn your stripes.

To be successful you have to truly know what you are doing and you must completely understand the nature of what you are doing before anyone will buy from you. Covey explained this in his 5th Habit.

Successful people know what they are talking about.

The 6th and 7th Habits are the easiest habits to place into practice. Synergy and teamwork, as an ideological basis point is obvious as to why success breeds success. People are going to want to work with others that are successful. Few lone ranger types are successful.

In today's real estate market, Covey's 6th Habit is necessary yet many do not take advantage of the educational and industry resources available to bolster one's potential for success.

The 7th Habit, something Gardner has definitely been enjoying is the fun that is derived from being successful. We all love exotic trips and all of the other pleasantries and luxuries that are the scorecard of success. Covey was definitely onto something here.

But in the 20 years since the publication of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, it makes me wonder why more people do not emulate successful people. All of us got in business to succeed..so when one is struggling to succeed, why not reach out to those successful?

What do you do and how do you do it? A simple question but obviously not asked enough.

What do we do? We invest in real estate and we adapt to the fluctuations and volatility swings in the market. Presently we are professionally executing short sales and properly formatting our packages so that we and our student clients can enjoy substantial profits.

If you would like to be successful in today's market, and if you are willing to work hard to enjoy success, then join us at one of our seminars where we will show you what we do, and we'll show you how to do it. If you follow the path we show you then you will most assuredly succeed.