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The Naked Truth About Success (Posted September 12, 2016)

At the gym recently, I walk into the pool area where there's only one other guy who’s busy getting ready to swim a few hundred miles – I can tell by the swim cap he’s wearing that he’s serious about all of this.  I get into the pool and do some stretching (so I can look like I know what I'm doing – I can’t have a dude in a swim cap mocking me).  Just as I turn around to face the opposite end of the pool and affix my goggles, this other guy comes from out of nowhere and plops himself into the pool at the other end of THE VERY LANE IN WHICH I’M GETTING READY TO SWIM.  I’m wearing goggles for Pete’s sake!  How do I NOT look like I’m about to swim here?  And there’s no one else in the entire pool – there are four lanes for the taking, and Swim Cap McHundredmiles has yet to choose a lane.  The interloper at the other end of the pool could have jumped into any one of the other three lanes, but he chooses mine. 

Now, I’ve seen something similar to this before.  The lane in which I’m getting ready to swim is closest to the Jacuzzi.  I’ve seen people pop out of the Jacuzzi and jump into the pool to cool off and then quickly exit the pool again – I think this is what Mr. Personal Space Invader is attempting, so I stand my ground and wait for him to exit the pool.  But he doesn’t!  He proceeds to jump from foot to foot all the while staring at me from his end of MY LANE!

I keep staring at him, wondering when he’s going to finish his little exercise jig and depart.  Swim Cap turns around and notices what is happening and looks at me.  I look at him and say, “You can see me, right?  I’m not invisible, am I?”  What puts a guy into a mindset like this?

At this point, I’m reminded of a recent article I read that detailed the mindset of the “super rich”.  Not to be confused with the “stinkin’ rich” (a whole other tax bracket), those that fall into the “super” category earn over $370K/yr and/or have a net worth north of $2.5 million.  (If you’ve read even a handful of these newsletters, you’ll realize I’m going to make a point, so buckle up!)  The super rich share these traits:

•  A stronger belief in their ability to solve problems, have more control over the things that happen to them
•  A greater internal drive/passion to pursue their goals
•  Less likely to overspend or gamble compulsively, financially enable others, hoard possessions, or have trouble sticking to a budget
•  Money should be saved, not spent; more likely to be anxious about not having enough money

Stop me if I’m wrong, but didn’t that just describe the traits of a successful real estate agent/broker?  Didn’t that just describe the traits of someone who is getting ready to purchase his first home or her twelfth investment property?  In the case of the first-time homebuyer, the agent’s job 95% of the time is helping that buyer realize that he or she has those traits, even if they’re buried below the surface – and those agents who can help them find them are the most successful, personally and professionally. 

As I peer down the lane at Mr. Oblivious, I truly can’t figure out what traits he has that make him think this is cool, so I just move over to the next lane.  It’s not worth a fight – and my choice to avoid a confrontation proves to be a good one as I later see him walking around the entire locker room for about 45 minutes in nothing but his birthday suit.  He’s either a vampire (because he obviously can’t see his own reflection in any one of the many mirrors) or he has an overabundance of “self confidence” – he never would have seen my point.  And as an aside, you can’t unsee that no matter how rich you are – super or stinkin’!

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