Myth Three: “It would take too much time and effort— I would lose my freedom

THE THIRD COMMON MYTHUNDERSTANDING

MYTH: IT WOULD TAKE TOO MUCH TIMEAND EFFORT—I WOULD LOSE MY FREEDOM. TRUTH:TIMEAND EFFORT ARE NOTTHE DECIDING FACTORSIN SUCCESS.

This is probably one of the greatest MythUnderstandings of all. And it seems to be the one most people fall prey to. They truly believe that the more successful you become, the more time and effort you will have to invest and the more freedom you’ll lose. They say things like, “I’m not willing to make the sacrifices you’d have to make to have that level of success.” People have lived before us and I believe the highly successful ones have proven this to be a complete and total myth. They understand that you can put in fifty-hour workweeks and make $50,000 a year or you can put in fifty-hour workweeks and make a million dollars a year. Still others understand that they can put in a fifty-hour workweek and experience no limits to their income earning potential.

Try looking at it this way. Any given approach to working will correspondingly create a limit to the amount of sales production that can be accomplished by a single individual in a given workweek. Some people then believe that this means they have hit the limits of their success! Then they try to get around this problem by simply working more hours, and that is what costs them their freedom. The key to success at this point is not to apply more time or effort to the equation but to think of time and effort differently. Try to see time and effort first as an efficiency and effectiveness issue. Do the best you can with the time you devote to your business, and when that takes you as far as it can, you then have a leverage issue. When time and effort take you as far as they can, then you add leverage to progress to the next level.

When you look at this closely, you will uncover a series of related myths about time and effort. Here are just a few:

MYTH: Activity means productivity. TRUTH: You can be active without being productive.

MYTH: Efficiency equals effectiveness. TRUTH: You can do something very efficiently and still be ineffective.

MYTH: More discipline means less freedom. TRUTH: Discipline translates to effectiveness, which leads to accomplishment, and that creates more freedom—not less.

MYTH: “Justice for all.” Equal time should mean equal reward. TRUTH: Reward always comes down to who does the best job.

MYTH: We perform best under pressure. TRUTH: You perform best when you focus, and pressure is a poor means to continually gain focus.

MYTH: I have time. TRUTH: You have no idea how much time you have, so make every minute count!

Almost every one of the Millionaire Real Estate Agents we interviewed for this book understood how to be purposeful, focused, and extremely effective with their time. Then by maintaining their focus on what was important and applying leverage, they earned back their time. Wespoke to agents who could work as little as three days a week and still have a highly successful business; others could expect multiple homes to close while they were away on vacation. These agents are living proof that the more successful you become, the more (not less) freedom you enjoy.