“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”

– Tony Robbins

Simple, boomer, wisdom has never failed me when it comes to achieving the goals that I set for myself. It was a generation that worked hard through wars and the depression and there is no doubt that is why they are called ‘The Greatest Generation.’

My grandpa gave me this stellar piece of advice as a kid and it has stuck to my ribs through lots of scramble, toil and scale-up in business, and through personal accomplishments.

He said, “There are two types of people in the world: the ‘doers’ and the ‘gunnas’. Most people are ‘gunnas’. Good ideas, that they are ‘gunna’ (or going to,) do, but they never do.”

Don’t Waste your Potential

The truth is that every person has certain talents, innate gifts for work, that will help them do the job – you can think of this as potential. It is no secret that potential isn’t fair. Everyone brings to the table a different set of talents and circumstances that will define the parameters of their talent.

The equalising force in a world where talent isn’t distributed evenly is ACTION. Actually doing the work. Moving what needs to be done from the ‘To-Do-List’ to the ‘Doing-List’ and then to the ‘Done’ list.

The ability to start, do and finish is the critical behaviour that separates a ‘doer’ from a ‘gunner’. Notice that we call this a behaviour, rather than a skill or a personality – because that ability can’t be learned, and no one is born with it – ACTION is practised and habitual.

ACTION is also different from just ‘doing’, it is determined and creates productive outcomes rather than just a sense of being ‘busy’. ACTION also understands that what you DO is a priority, and what you don’t do simply, IS NOT. What you act upon then gives you a good sense of what your priorities ACTUALLY ARE as opposed to what you THINK THEY ARE.

There is so much truth wrapped up in the phrase that hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard.

 

Action-Based Learning

‘Gunnas’ are in search of the perfect moment to start, a perfection that will never exist. Doers, by contrast, start and figure out the details as they are ‘doing’. Starting also has the unique benefit of giving you room to experiment and adjust so that you can gain speed and create perfection from real-world scenarios.

You won’t know until you try is also a piece of sage, boomer advice that rings true for real estate agents that applies to action.

In the software world, particularly with the pioneering in artificial intelligence, we are constantly experimenting and doing – failing fast (and failing cheap!). This allows us to define what works and what doesn’t so that we can keep moving forward, enabled by the information and feedback we perceive while ‘doing’.

For real estate agents, speed and doing are more important than many agents might realise. We talk about ‘The Race To Relationships‘ which identifies the value of acquiring relationships (data) and then nurturing those relationships through regular, outbound consistent prospecting. In other words, setting yourself apart from your competitors by ‘doing’.