By Joyce Paron, CEO – Canada, EXIT Realty Corp. International
We all need our big goal, whether it be in our personal life, building a real estate brand or in our own personal real estate business. We certainly have a big goal for EXIT here in Canada. Our goal is, “Three hundred and forty franchises in prosperity with over 18,000 real estate professionals who love the corporation and everything that it stands for, whereby they all work together arm in arm, peacefully, harmoniously, joyfully and productively to build and stabilize the largest and most productively successful real estate company in the history of Canadian real estate.” And it’s a huge goal, a huge vision, and we’re well on our way to achieving it.
No matter who we are – agent, owner or CEO – whenever we pick a goal, it’s because it excites us, there is something about it that resonates with us. The voice inside of us says, yes, I want to do this, I think I can do this, achieve or attain this thing. A goal is something that is bigger than who we are right now. Our big goal should send a little shiver down our backbone, but it shouldn’t paralyze us. That’s why Jim Collins called them BHAGs – big, hairy audacious goals – all that, but achievable too.
The goal is the destination, it’s not the journey. The journey is every single day, and it’s not meant to be heavy and onerous, although it can feel that way at times. It’s not meant to stop you from where you want to go. The journey provides you with opportunities to grow into that vision of yourself where you can attract and stabilize what it is that you actually want.
Along the journey, there are going to be hurdles and places where you stumble. You’re going to feel at times like you’re running through a swamp being chased by alligators and at other times like you’re hiking up a slippery, dangerous mountain. All these trials are meant to strengthen you. They’re all meant to get the best and the most out of you to reach your full potential. There are lessons to be learned and they’re learned on the journey.
Sometimes it helps to look at the journey like a video game. The journey will provide the obstacles, opportunities and rewards, and each time you make it to the next level, new obstacles, opportunities and rewards appear. In a video game, you don’t admonish yourself for failing at level two or three. Instead, you review what you did and strategize what you will do better and then go at it again. You keep the excitement of the challenge as your focus, realizing that at each new level, you are better, smarter and stronger than where you’ve been.
Having absolute conviction about who you are and the why behind your goal will help you to stay focused not on if you’re going to achieve it, but when. Change your language, both spoken and in your thoughts around your goal. Instead of, “If I earn $250,000 next year”, rather, “When I earn $250,000”. Words matter. Intention matters.
I have heard it said that nothing can compare to deserving your dreams. Making the most of the journey, overcoming the struggles and learning the lessons along the way to achieving your goals is key to proving to yourself that you deserve them.
