Becoming Successful

Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.

This post is going to be more inspirational than informational because, if you're like me, sometimes we need to find something in the world around us that gives us the impetus to keep going in the face of adversity. When things aren't working the way we'd like we get frustrated and we need something to which we can look to help us see that yes, it is still possible and that we just need to keep going.

Two points we'll cover today:

1. "Fake it 'til you make it"

2. "You'll See It When You Believe It"

Now, the first of those is from the world of learning new life skills, acquiring a new career or a new direction in life. We all start out learning how to do or be something we've never done or been before. We need knowledge and skills which, once acquired, will create our new self, our new experience, our new world.

The second is actually the title of a book by Dr. Wayne Dyer. It seems a little backward compared to "conventional" wisdom, yet it is an immutable truth. We tend to ignore that which runs counter to our beliefs. When we expand what we are willing to accept, we expand our possibilities and a whole new world of exerience and joy will open up to us.

The two tie together when you want to create a real change in your life, especially in the area of what we loosely call "success". However you define success, make it something that is natural for you, that comes easily to you and just fits effortlessly. If you have to force it, it will never feel right to you and your efforts may lead to something less than your true desire.

You'll need to decide for yourself what success means to you - no one can define success for you. Create the definition - in writing, if that helps. Make it real and make sure it fits you naturally, effortlessly.

One way to achieve success is to actually see yourself being successful, whatever success means to you. Make it so real you can actually picture it your mind. See yourself being successful - create your own "picture of success", if visual images have the most meaning to you.

If feelings mean the most to you, then imagine how you would feel being successful. Stand and walk the way you would if you felt truly successful. Sit as you would sit if you felt truly successful. Breathe and walk the way you would if you felt truly successful.

If words and sounds mean the most to you, then speak the way you would if you felt truly successful. Play the music you'd most want to hear as your successful self. Surround yourself with those sounds you'd most want to hear as your successful self.

If you imagine yourself as successful, and really make it real, now your brain has a specific target. It knows what you expect from yourself and it begins to figure out how to make that your reality.

One of the most powerful features of us as beings is our subconcious self. It works all night, even as we sleep.

Try this: as you're settling in to sleep, bring to the front of your conscious mind a specific question to which you seek an answer: something you need to figure out, a problem you need to solve for whatever reason. When you awake in the morning, unless you've had a restless night due to storms going by, children needing attention or other every day things, you will likely discover that you have answer to your question or problem, perhaps even something you might not have considered before.

It may take more than one night, so keep at it. Many things can disturb our sleep and make this less effective, so stick with it. When your mind understands that you REALLY want an answer, it will provide one.

When you act as if you already have the success you desire, your subconcious mind will figure out what you can do to make your reality match your life as you imagine it.

-THAT- is what "fake it 'til you make it" REALLY means: not to deceive yourself or anyone else, but to create in your imagination that which you desire and make it so real - by your actions and the very way you act and carry yourself - that your brain must change your thoughts to make your life match the success you seek.

If you want to BE successful - whatever that means to you - make it real in yourself and, as long as it is something natural for you to be, it will become real in your life.

I listen to and read many successful people in my personal quest to become more than I have been. In this blog, I provide to you the benefit of what I have learned from my success "coaches", my "adopted mentors". This post is, in fact, a combination of Tony Robbins and Dr. Wayne Dyer.

Choose successful people to model and study. Read or listen to their accounts of their lives, what they have learned and how they have changed their lives because of it.

"Success leaves clues", as Tony Robbins says. Study success and learn all you can about it.

Be a life-long learner!

We'll talk again soon!

Take care - be well!

Much Success!

Housing Shortage

Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.


Well! It's been a while, hasn't it? Hope everyone has been working diligently on their real estate business, studying their classes ... taking those actions that lead us to our goals!

While we've all been busy, something surprising has been happening: the housing market has taken an interesting turn.

See, after the economy went down, almost all but the largest homebuilders went under as well. Thousands and thousands of contractors found themselves idle. Building supply vendors felt it, as well. Some analysts estimate that we're short some 5.5 million housing units from where we need to be just to meet the current demand.

...but, during the time since then, what didn't happen? Homebuyers didn't stop entering the market, did they? Folks were graduating college, looking to move away after school, they even went ahead and started their families while waiting for the housing and home finance market ships to right themselves. Some folks changed jobs or just decided they need a different home for any of many reasons.

Now, the economy is sputtering back to life, and home values are rising slowly. Mortgage lending is still tenuous, as best, but at least some lenders are beginning to "go back into business". Banks are flush with cash to lend, yet lending criteria remain so tight that qualifying for a home loan still remains the holy grail of the 75% of credit holders who are now considered to have "bad" credit (that number was 57% before Springtime of 2009: the banksters did it TO THEMSELVES!)

In this climate, we're seeing something we've not seen for years now: multiple offers on available homes, offers above the asking price, ... Yes! Bidding wars in some places!

The dearth of lending is still keeping home prices supressed by artificially dampening demand. So, the run-away increase in home prices we saw in the years leading up to 2007 haven't materialized yet. People have less cash available for down payments, lay-offs and other challenges have raised issues with peoples' credit, ... in short, the environment is very different from what it was, and yet very different from what it should be.

By rights, the dearth of housing should be pushing prices skyward, yet the weakness in the lending world keeps a lid on demand for both existing and newly built homes.

Some of my Facebook friends have posted that homes they find via the MLS on Realtor.com and other sites are often sold by the time the listings appear on line.

So, homeseekers, if you've also been a job seeker recently you'll need to apply those same networking skills to your home search, just as you did in your job search.

Where can you go to network your way into a new home? Well, there are some options you'll want to consider.

One might be to find the monthly meetings of the local REIA (Real Estate Investor Association) clubs in your area. Investors have been buying bank-owned homes as well as short sales. They've been rehabbing them and putting them back on the market, often without listing them with a broker or agent. The best shot you've got is to find homes before anyone else does and get first crack at making an offer on something that you like, especially if you find it before it gets listed on the MLS.

If you've been following my blog, you may know that the investor group I'm with meets weekly, every Thursday evening and holds a monthly workshop - GREAT opportunity to learn stuff you may not hear anyplace else, and also to network with active real estate investors over lunch. You may even find someone with a home for sale in your target area that no one else has heard about yet!

Speaking of classes, I hooked the laptop up to the big screen TV. Now, I can watch my classes in my recliner with a Pepsi handy and my notebook in my lap. Great stuff!

I'll keep my ear to ground and report back when something good comes along! LOTS of great stuff coming this summer, so we'll be back in touch more often.

We'll talk again soon!

Take care - be well!

Much Success!