Are you Too Busy? 3 Ways To Get Unstuck

Our Summer Hiatus is over and we’re BACK! I’m sure your BIG question is what did I do and more importantly, what did I learn? I enjoyed cruising on a road trip in the desert of Navada and along the coast lines of California. I enjoyed the HOT scorching weather Panama has to offer and sailed down the Panama Canal. Enjoyed the company of friends and family at our annual summer BBQ at our favourite park. And Darlene and I got photo bombed time and time again by our friends and family and enjoyed every memorable picture created.

At the end of our summer break, I realized a valuable lesson. We are sometimes so busy working harder and not smarter that we forget to smell the flowers along the way. People think being busy means your productive and in many cases it’s the furthest from the truth. By doing this, you get so caught up in focusing on the destination that you forget to enjoy the journey.

And the Journey is the most sensational aspect of life.

I remember when I finally built up the courage to leave my job of 15 years I spent the first year chasing deals, working on Pro-Forma’s, promoting my next event, writing my next Blog, redesigning my website… I lost focus on what was important. Once I realized I couldn’t do all the work on my own, I hired an administrator (the 2nd scariest thing I had to do).

So many times I hear people say they want to invest in Real Estate and they want to break away from the chains of their 9-5 (the reality for some is 7am-7pm) job but they are so busy they don’t have the time to fulfill their dreams.

Our Summer Hiatus is something we learned to do from one of our great mentors. I didn’t understand it at the time, actually we didn’t think we could afford to. Now, more than ever I understand the importance! It allows us to re-evaluate our situation and the direction we are traveling in and to ask ourselves this VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION

“are we moving in the right direction”?

The ONLY way to answer this question is to slow time down and to answer this question during a time we are not busy.

There are 3 steps I want to share with you to make sure you are not too busy to succeed.

#1. Slow it down
At the end of the day we all have the same 24 hours to accomplish all our goals, dreams and aspirations. The ONLY way to accomplish this is by slowing things down. This gives us the opportunity to prioritize what’s important in our lives.

“But Gary.. you don’t understand! I have to work 12 hours a day, come home and make dinner, watch TV for 3 hours, take out the garbage, water the lawn and squeeze in a jog before the end of the night”. By saying this, you’ve told me what your true priorities are and I can’t change this… only you can.

Examine where you are in life, determine how you spend your money and time.  When you’re done, compare them with what you want in life… It’s REALLY that simple.

#2. Reflect On Life
If you’ve been able to slow things down, the next import thing you need to do is to reflect. Do you like where you are right now in life?

What are the most important things you want from life if money and time was not in the way?

After you’ve had the time to reflect, write everything down and I mean everything. It doesn’t matter how BIG the dream or how small the task, it’s important to write it down.

By doing this important exercise it allows you DREAM again. Remember when you were a kid? This reflection time is so important. What’s important to me may not be important to you and that’s fine.

#3. Trim The FAT
Once you’ve been able to slow things down and reflect on life the last and final step is to determine what to do next.

After you’ve written down your dreams and goals, the next step is to brainstorm. If you have a partner or significant other get them involved too.

Here’s the hard part;

• You might have to watch less TV.
• You might have to get up an hour earlier
• Find a less demanding job
• Trim out extra socializing time