About one-third of the Think a Million formula is attitude and perspective. Now, don’t be mistaken. The Nine Ways is not just a rehashing of popular clichés about positive thinking and affirmations. We’ve learned that when you’re looking to change your habits, you need to be more precise and a little more on purpose. A mechanic can’t tune an engine based on a generic statement like, “The engine makes a funny sound.” If you offer that up in the garage, a good mechanic will ask you whether it is it a grinding noise or a high-pitched whir, when the car makes the sounds, and when the vehicle first started showing signs of trouble. Just like the successful mechanic, if you want to improve the way you think about your real estate career, you’ll have to start by zeroing in on some key specifics. In breaking down the way the Millionaire Real Estate Agent thinks into nine specific categories, two categories—Think Powered by a Big Why and Think Big Goals and Big Models—clearly stood out from the rest as foundational mind-sets that almost all top real estate agents have in common. The final seven—Think Possibilities, Think Action, Think Without Fear, Think Progress, Think Competitively and Strategically, Think Standards, and Think Service—are no less important but tend, interestingly enough, to be supportive to the first two.
Over the years, whenever I consulted with agents, I always probed for the ways they thought. When they would tell me about their current production level, I wouldn’t pronounce it as good or bad but simply asked how they felt about it. I asked them why they chose real estate and what kept them going. Before thirty minutes was up, I could usually identify at least one of the Nine Ways that had evaded them. Now, make no mistake about it, while some of the Nine Ways the Millionaire Real Estate Agent Thinks are more vital than others, all are essential to creating a high level of success that can weather storms and the test of time. The first and probably the most powerful way that the Millionaire Real Estate Agent thinks is to Think Powered by a Big Why Above all else, we’ve discovered that one thing all high achievers have in common is they are working for a Big Why. The Big Why is about having a purpose, a mission, or a need, that in turn gives you focus. High achievers always have a Big Why powering their actions. A great example of how a Big Why works in our lives is the day-before-a-vacation miracle.
Ever see anyone work the day before a vacation? It is truly amazing! No matter how they approached yesterday, today they have become a model for the entire world on how to get things done. Why? Because if they get it all done, they get to go play! That’s a pretty Big Why! So the day before we leave for vacation, we’re on a time-management mission! We don’t sit around idly and surf the Internet or chitchat with fellow workers. We screen our calls, ignore trivial e-mails, and toss out junk mail with abandon. Maybe we even eat lunch at our desk or on the run, and by the end of the day we’ve accomplished more than we ever thought was possible in a single day and still have time to pack, drop the dog off at the kennel, and cancel the newspaper. It’s simply incredible! How does this happen? Because a Big Why brings big focus and big energy, and a Little Why brings little focus and little energy