Have you ever thought about how you SEE things?
I’m talking about circumstances in your life and how you react to them...
Some investors get knocked down and jump right back up and back into the game. Others get knocked down and lie there while holding a grand pity party.
Hey Moguls, Cody Sperber here, asking you, “Where do you fit? How do you handle life’s curve balls?”
Well, I can tell you it has to do with your perspective and focus…
It was Nelson Mandela (the former prime minister of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison), who said, “I never lose. I either win or learn.” That’s an amazing example of a healthy perspective on life. Especially from one who faced seemingly impossible challenges.
I can’t remember if I ever said those exact same words, but I most certainly applied that underlying principle. What I do remember is how tough it was to stay focused on my end goal and not let the knock-downs keep me down.
Many of you know my story... those first few years were filled to overflowing with speed bumps, hurdles and overwhelming challenges. And yes, I even lost thousands of dollars on my first deal — money that my father had supplied for the deal. (If anything will test your focus, that would be it.)
The temptation to give up stayed with me for a long time, but I never gave in to that temptation.
Every time I was knocked down, I trained myself to stay focused on the positive. As Mandela stated — it was win or learn – not win or lose. And in those early days, I remained in the “learning arena” most of the time. But I took no time for whining, no time for pity parties, no time for blaming anyone or anything.
See, I have big dreams. In fact, I’ve always been a dreamer. But at almost every turn there were knock-downs that had the capacity to flood me with negativity and self-doubt and destroy my dreams…
But deep within me was a strong desire to succeed; that desire was coupled with an assurance that I could indeed, do this – when I stayed focused.
So, I asked myself 2 questions when a challenge came my way:
1. “What can I learn from this?”
2. “How can I get back in the game and implement what I just learned?”
Where is Your Focus?
In my world today, I mentor dozens of students, and I know from talking with them that this struggle is real for nearly everyone.
The choice is ours: Will we focus on the problem? The dilemma? The challenge? The knock-down?
The answer should be – No, we focus on what we can learn from it and do better.
Did you know that focusing on the negative is just a habit? The good news is, a habit can be broken.
The easiest route to take is to fall victim to listening to your negative thoughts. But is that what you want your perspective to be?
Remember, if you always speak of your troubles, you’ll always have troubles to speak of. Instead, talk about answers and solutions…
My choice is to think about, speak about and focus on – the positive.
The Tony Robbins Effect
Years ago, I read Tony Robbins’ book Unleashing the Giant Within. What a life-changing book it was for me! In later years, I actually had the opportunity to meet Tony in person. He truly is a giant — both intellectually and physically.
If you truly want a permanent change in your perspective, I encourage you to attend a Tony Robbins event. My team and I attend them regularly. I’m so sold on what’s done at these events that much of what we do in our high-end Clever Labs Mentoring events is modeled after what Tony does so well.
Check out what Tony has to say about perspective:
“Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions. Lingering over problems isn’t a good way to get past them. It’s OK to think about your problems so you can take steps to solve them, but the majority of your energy should be focused in a positive direction rather than wallowing in negative unproductivity.”
Pretty inspiring, huh?
Remember, learn and grow from obstacles. Have a positive perspective and focus on what’s good.
Your Turn
How do you react to the down times in your life? Have you developed any strategies for keeping focused on the positive? We’d love to hear about it below.
Replace the bad habit of dwelling on mistakes and failures by training yourself to focus on positive solutions.
Choose to feed your mind positive affirmations on a daily basis.
Focus on the gifts and talents that God has given you.
Cody Sperber
is founder and CEO of www.CleverInvestor.com. He's successfully closed many different types of real estate transactions including wholesale deals, short sales, multi-unit, subject to, lease options and my own proprietary investing strategy, the Reverse Short Sale. As a new investor he quickly gained a huge competitive advantage by mastering online lead generation, building one of the most successful real estate investing firms in the Arizona market. His companies have bought and sold hundreds of millions in properties and closed hundreds of real estate transactions. Before real estate, Cody served in the Navy and attended Arizona State, and he is now married to his best friend and has two beautiful children (Hudson and Brynlee).