Monday Motivation, 2.7.2022

Written by: Ben Rogers

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.

I’ve always relentlessly pursued excellence. I do recognize that perfection is rarely attainable, but I agree with Lou Holtz when he sent a letter to his team at Notre Dame in 1988 that read the following:

“I’m writing this to you because I don’t want any misunderstandings about the way I feel. I’m here to win football games for the University of Notre Dame. Not some of our games, not most of our games. I’m here to win every single football game we ever play. To play at Notre Dame is to seek perfection. We are either going to reach it, or we’re going to come so close that the average person doesn’t know the difference.”

That’s how I feel about leading this team. That is what I’m here for: I’m here to win. And I’m confident that our personnel – the people we have in this room – are the people I can win with.

To further explain the intensity I wake up every day with, I’ll quote Tim Grover when he says “Forget about trying, because if you’re just trying, then losing is still an option. You want to be the best? Then you ignore the pain and the exhaustion and the pressure to please everyone else. You don’t let your enemies take your pride, you don’t let them set up shop in your head. When all hell breaks loose on the outside, you barely notice; you’re calm on the inside because you’re ready, prepared, and the best at what you do. You don’t tell anyone how you’re going to handle the situation, you just handle it. Everyone else is panicking and choking and you say, ‘No problem.’ You step on the other guy’s throat, and you finish the fight.”

Personally, I like when everyone else is panicking; it’s where I find my sense of peace because I’m confident I’ll handle it. I confident that when everyone on the outside – that is, everyone not in this room – is stressed out, we’ll collectively say “No problem” and we’ll finish the fight.

Don’t confuse my intensity with not caring about others. I also agree with Lou Holtz when he says he follows three rules: “Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people that you care.” Put in RLT terms, relationships will always be more important than transactions.

I’ve heard before that if we stay focused not on what we have to get done, but instead on who we want to become, success is inevitable. When Kevin and I first started working together, I didn’t really think about growing a team. I was zoned in on selling houses and that’s who I wanted to be: I wanted to become the best at selling houses. I didn’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t own a house, and I was focused on one thing and one thing only: becoming the best at selling houses and my goodness, we sold a lot of them.  

Times have obviously changed. Instead of becoming the best at selling houses, I wanted to become someone that relentlessly pursued helping others achieve their goals. I take a lot of pride in that. So, we began to grow our team, starting with our amazing TC Stacy. I wanted a team that cared more about family than work; more about earned flexibility than money. And I’m proud to say I think we have that.

While growing a team, my priorities began to shift. The shifting of priorities is something I’ve learned is indefinite. We’re always going to have to recognize what is most important and be sure our actions reflect those priorities.  Today, as we sit here with 11 team members, my personal priorities work like this:

1. My family and close friends always come first.
2. My teammates and their individual and collective success is next. I don’t care if we’re selling houses or any little widget you can think of, we’re going to do good, we’re always going to work on getting better, and we will strive to be the best every single day: personally and professionally.
3. Finally, my coaching clients. I’m deeply committed to making sure our future generation has sound leadership: at home and in the workforce.

Notice that no where in there did you hear “selling houses” and that is on purpose. That is no longer a priority of mine. That’s why you’ll notice teammates starting to out-generate me and that’s strategic; it’s part of our growth plan. Priorities have shifted and I have different responsiblities now. But I’m confident that if I pursue those three priorities – in that order – with the same intensity I did when “selling houses” was first on my list, we – as a team – will still sell a lot of houses and each of you will accomplish your individual goals. I’m asking each of you now to hold me accountable to pursuing excellence with my family, my friends, my teammates, and my leaders and if you ever feel I’m not zoned in on those, in that order, call me out on it.

I recognize that I lead three teams: the Jolly Rogers, the RLT, and the TBL Army of Disciplined Leaders. All are different and require different styles of leadership. But if I could combine them into one and sum up the way I feel about all of them together, here’s my attitude (quoting Tim Grover again):

“I want people who want to work as hard as I do. I’m going to be relentless in my own pursuit of excellence, and I expect you to do the same. It’s my name on the work we do together, and it’s your name on the jersey. That better mean as much to you as it does to me.”

When I say it’s my name on the work we do together, that’s me looking through my eyes. Through your eyes, I want you to feel the same. It’s YOUR name on the work we do together. And I can guarantee you that means as much to me as it does to you.

Ben Rogers, The Team Leader of The Rogers-Long Team, has been in the real estate business since 2012. In 2014, he began The Rogers-Long Team with Kevin Long, which produced over $25,000,000 in volume production in 2017. In addition to selling homes and leading the team, Ben hosts a podcast show called the “The Bottom Line”, which can be found by clicking here. The Bottom Line is a Podcast that links lessons learned from sports, business, and life and is targeted at those who are striving for excellence, while ‘Average Sits on the Bench’.