Monday Motivation, 12.11.17

Written by: Kevin Long

Every Monday, The Rogers-Long Team meets for one of its two weekly meetings. The Monday meeting always ends with “Monday Motivation” in which a few minutes are spent listening to one team member presenting a quote, a quick reading from a book, a scene from a movie, or anything else they find motivating to provide a “spark” to the whole team on a Monday morning.

There is no such thing as failure…only giving up too soon.

We are in an immediate satisfaction society. You can order your groceries on your computer now. With Amazon, almost anything you can think of is just two days away from being on your front porch.  Everyone wants it right now. While you may be able to have whatever you want delivered in two days, unfortunately that is not how most people’s life works.

People are missing out, by being satisfied with the status quo. We listen to others expectations of us and turn them into a reality. What we should be doing is listening to ourselves. What goals and aspirations do you have? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Is what you are doing today going to help you get to where you want to be?

You hear success stories all the time. How everything ended up falling into the right place at the exact right time and that person found “success”.   What the reporting of those stories often does not show is the hard work and struggles that those people had to do to be put in a position to get that “lucky break”. Before the “lucky break” there was no shortage of setbacks along the way.

Turn on the TV and you can see examples of people who pursued their dreams and achieved them. From billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, to superstar athletes like Tom Brady and Russell Wilson. Also, open your eyes to those around you. There are people who started with humble upbringings and have been able to accomplish extraordinary achievements. It did not come without hard work and repeated failure.

I have friends that accomplished incredible feats after incredible “failures”. I can tell you about my brother’s childhood friend and college teammate. He was a top pick in the MLB draft and spent 7 years in the minor leagues. He was released from multiple teams and had to find someone else to give him a chance.  He made his major league debut with the Reds this past September. He was labeled a “bust” or a failure, but that did not stop him. He did not listen to the outside noise, but instead believed in himself and accomplished one of his goals. Most would have given up, he did not.

A high school friend of mine ended up living on a couch in LA. He was so broke and hungry that he had to call his younger sister in Virginia to order him a XL pizza. He didn’t want her to send him money because he would spend it on drugs. He froze it and ate one slice per day to get by. He found a way into the music industry by doing anything and everything his employer needed him to do. Knowing that he only had one slice of frozen pizza waiting for him at home, he made himself indispensable at his job. Four years after that, he now spends his time managing artists and commuting between LA, NY and Nashville.   

Luckily, most of us are not in as desperate situations as my examples were in. But it goes to show you that if they can achieve great success after going through all they went through, what can YOU do? If there is something you want, chances are no one is just going to give it to you. You can find out how bad you want something, after you fail to attain or achieve it the first time. Do you want it enough to get back out there and potentially fail again, and maybe again and again? The people who really want to achieve their goal, find a way.

Failure is easy. Success is earned. The choice is yours!

Kevin Long, The Lead Buyer Specialist for The Rogers-Long Team, has been in the real estate business since 2012. In 2014, he and Ben began The Rogers-Long Team, which produces $20,000,000+ in volume annually. In addition to selling hundreds of houses over the past 5 years, Kevin also serves as a mentor to less experienced agents on The RLT and in the company, and he spends most of the little free time he has working on his own personal home renovation project.