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Editor’s Note: Dennis Fassett is a former corporate finance executive turned real estate investing “Cash Flow Mercenary.” Dennis specializes in single-family and multi-family cash flow properties and thoroughly enjoys assisting his fellow investors with their own strategies, including how to buy your first apartment building.
As an ongoing contributor to Mogul’s “Market News Updates,” Mr. Fassett provides us with his own unique, lively, and thought-provoking commentary on the timely industry news and events of today that are impacting our industry. And be sure to check out his other super-helpful Market News Updates. For now, enjoy...
From Dennis Fassett, Cash Flow Mercenary...
Since we’re just starting a new year, I thought I’d offer up some thoughts on a concept that has paid huge dividends to me. And one that I wish I would have implemented a couple of decades ago…
The concept is focus. And I don’t mean just focusing on a pile of different things – I mean focusing on ONE thing. The most important thing.
For years I had the multi-tasking disease. Even with a family and a demanding day job, I didn’t think that it would be any big deal to “focus” on several other unrelated business activities.
The result? I was busy, but in hindsight not nearly as productive as I thought I was. The problem was, with the limited time that I could allocate to each of the businesses, I couldn’t do justice to any one of them.
As a result, my results across the board were crappy. And I’m being generous with that assessment.
Going on two years ago, after looking at yet another year of weaker-than-expected financial results, I decided to make a seismic change to what I was doing. I shut down one business altogether; I automated another one; and I began to transfer all of my rental properties to a property manager. So I could focus on one thing - wholesaling.
Now I have to tell you – it wasn’t easy. Or fast. Doing all of that ate up a good chunk of 2014. But as the dust began to settle, I could already see the positive results from my new laser focus. 2014 was good. 2015 was been great… the best year I’d had in a while; and I can already see based on what I have in the pipeline that 2016 is going to be extraordinary.
And it was all from figuring out what that one most important thing was and devoting all of my time and energy to it, outside of my family and day job.
This Is How You Focus
I read a piece in the Harvard Business Review on this, and I want to share some of it with you on how to tactically implement focus.
They recommend:
1. Stop being reactive
Not every email or phone call or meeting requires you to call out the marines for a response. Force yourself to understand which do and which don’t, and treat each one appropriately.
2. Do the most important thing first in the morning
Preferably without interruption, for 60 to 90 minutes, with a clear start and stop time. If possible, work in a private space during this period and resist every impulse to distraction, knowing that you have a designated stopping point. The more absorbed you can get, the more productive you’ll be. When you’re done, take at least a few minutes to renew.
3. Establish regular, scheduled times to think more long term, creatively or strategically
If you don’t, you’ll constantly succumb to the tyranny of the urgent. Also, find a different environment in which to do this activity — preferably one that’s relaxed and conducive to open-ended thinking.
4. Make time to clear your head
Create at least one time during the day when you stop working and take a break. Go for a walk, work out, take a yoga class or find something else that lets you unplug for a short time so you can recharge your batteries during the day.
5. Take real and regular vacations.
Real means that when you’re off, you’re truly disconnecting from work. Regular means several times a year if possible, even if some are only two or three days added to a weekend. The research strongly suggests that you’ll be far healthier and more productive overall, if you take all of your vacation time.
Why Focus Matters
The biggest cost of not having a focus – assuming you don’t crash – is to your productivity. That’s a simple consequence of splitting your attention, so that you’re partially engaged in multiple activities but rarely fully engaged in any one. In part, it’s because when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you’re increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25%.
A single principle lies at the heart of all these suggestions. When you’re working… fully engage for defined periods of time. When you’re renewing… truly renew. Make waves. Stop living your life in the gray zone.
How Do You Focus?
Got anything to share in the comments section about how you commit to staying focused? We’d love to hear from you.
Dennis Fassett
earned a BS in Economics and followed that up with an MBA in finance. After working and corporate finance and banking for several years, he started buying single family houses, and quickly built a very nice portfolio of cash flowing rentals. When the credit markets started to dry up and he couldn’t get any additional single family mortgages he shifted his focus to apartment buildings. He now has over $3 million in rental real estate. He manages most of it his self and still has a day job. Dennis has even created his own Private Equity fund to buy apartment buildings.