If I’ve learned anything in life, it is that if you believe something is possible, you tend to focus on the constructive means necessary to make that possibility a reality. I’ve also learned to believe the opposite. If you don’t think something is possible, then you will be blinded to the ways it could be done. It’s like a self-imposed blind spot. For anyone who wishes to achieve the very best, this becomes a defining moment. Now that you have a Big Why and you’ve decided to adopt Big Goals and Big Models to power it, the question is: “Do you really think it is possible to become a truly high achieving real estate agent?” In my mind, it all comes down to your affirming or nonaffirming answer to this question: “Do you think it is possible?” I believe there are three stages of possibility thinking that people can either get stuck in or go through: (1) Nothing is possible, (2) Something is possible, (3) Anything is possible. For many people, “nothing is possible” because they just don’t think in terms of possibilities. Thus, they take no action and nothing happens—just like they thought. For most, “something is possible” because they believe in the power of possibility thinking. They believe that if you think something will happen, it probably will. The problem is that they have an erroneous mental map that says thinking possibilities is all they have to do.
And since possibilities thinking, by itself, is so powerful, they do end up with something happening! But it stops there. Because they take no appropriate action, something is all they get. For a very few people, however, big things happen. Why? These people believe that anything is possible if you want it badly enough and are willing to do what is necessary to get it. When possibility thinking supports a Big Why with Big Goals and Big Models, watch out! Anything is possible. When I was growing up, my mother always told me, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” In essence, what she was saying was, “Son, if you want it badly enough, if you have a big enough reason for achieving what you want, then you’ll figure out a way to get it.” My father would be listening to these discussions, and he would invariably point out that history has shown that “necessity is the mother of invention.” What my parents were trying to teach me was right.
Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and take appropriate action. Millionaire Real Estate Agents understand this.
They have come to realize that while believing alone isn’t enough, not believing is enough to constitute complete and total sabotage before they ever get started. We hope you’ve seen the Tom Hanks film Cast Away. In it, Hanks plays Chuck, a FedEx employee marooned for years on a desolate island. Much was made of Chuck’s relationship with “Wilson,” a volleyball salvaged from the packages in the wreck. The loneliness and depression evident in Chuck’s relationship with his imaginary friend “Wilson” were poignant and, at times, humorous, and became emblematic of the film. But it was really the other package, the box painted with angel wings, that ultimately made the difference. Because Chuck refused to open the angel package until he was saved, it became an emblem of his eventual salvation. The screenwriter, William Broyles Jr., intentionally introduced the angel package to serve as a symbol of hope and possibilities.
Broyles did extensive research, read numerous first-person accounts of shipwreck and wilderness survival, and picked up on what many experts know to be true—often the difference between those who survive and those who perish is the ability to believe in the possibility of rescue. In Chuck’s case, the possibility of rescue was deeply tied to the package with angel wings. Ask yourself this question: “When presented with a challenge, do you first think of the ways you could succeed or the ways you could fail?” This is a test. To get to your highest level possible, you will always have to be answering the question “If I want it, what must happen for me to get it?” And then believe that through your efforts, even trial and error if need be, your goals are possible. Top real estate salespeople are deeply familiar with the saying “Act as though it were impossible to fail,” and they build their careers on such an approach. Possibility thinking, when combined with appropriate action, pushes you not only into the realm of possibilities but beyond into the ultimate achievement realm of probabilities.