Gary Woltal's Blog

It never ceases to amaze me how life is actually very neutral to all of us. You can have a bad day or a good day. It can be a bad day in the early portion of the day and a wonderful day toward sunset.

I also observe how life can be fair and you feel blessed at times, and at other times the black cloud lingers over your head and you feel snake bit or cursed.

A recent trip as a Realtor to the local run down self serve spray Car Wash showed sometimes how life is unfair. It was the bill changer this time. I usually don't carry all the coins for these places so inserted a dollar bill expecting what? Four quarters to operate the machine. I was returned two quarters. My conclusions? I want to own a car wash. That is a 100% return on the owner's investment giving out 50 cents and making $1.00. All in all, that is life. Some people have crutches, some are Hugh Hefner. Some live lives of struggle, others live lives of ease. But we all I am convinced get our share of glory and struggle along the way.

The key in all our situations in life is how we "react" to everything. Which I will leave you with a Texas local weather favorite. This one comes from Sandridge Energy, south of Ft. Stockton in west Texas.

When the lightning flashes, this is NOT what you want to see. Remember, in general LIFE IS GOOD!!

Spinning that dial on one of those older combo locks on a house I was showing recently made me think of the old game of Scrabble where you had to make words from a handful of letters.

I immediately thought of four letter words. First, the expletive deleted words used by so many in frustrating situations, having a subprime loan reset to a higher interest rate, losing a sale, a Stager who doesn't get the deal, the last minute shot to win the game in basketball "doesn't" go in, missing the putt on the green, or hitting your thumb with the hammer. We've all been there. Hopefully profanity is not a mainstay of your vocabulary and you have a peaceful heart despite turbulent times.

But what if we were to look at other four letter words we could come up with.

I know for many women

              SALE

might be the four letter word that comes to mind, and conjures up a place to enjoy some time.

For some who entirely work too many hours, maybe the key word here would be

REST

Other interesting four letter words might be

WORK

DIRT

GOLF

CAKE

KISS

FREE

Another twist on this little game would be four word sentences rather than just four letter words. When someone is having a hard day pick them up and uplift them with this pair of four words

   I BELIEVE IN YOU.

           and

    YOU CAN DO IT.

And then there are some of the greatest four letter words

BEST

NICE

GOOD

KIND

LIFE

and my favorite...

    HEARD ANY GOOD FOUR LETTER WORDS LATELY ?

Many you will find that are indeed hard working individuals in the real estate community will either complain about long hours, or working weekends, or that they can't find time to do all the other things they need to do in life. It's interesting though, the longer veterans of 20 years or so seem to have thottled back on the accelerator a bit with systems, and established teams and do seem to have found time again. I think this is what is really true in real estate or in other careers with the work / life balance:

             YOU'VE GOT ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD YOU NEED.

You have to take a deep breath now and then and just THINK. Do some planning. Isn't it really about managing priorities AND most importantly I think doing what you want to do. What do you want to do? Don't give that question too little of your time.

Sure we get stuck with others taking our time or demands by customers. We just have to manage or delegate that somehow, or say a firm "No", I'm not going to attend to that right now.

Think if a child or spouse or parent or close friend was in serious need, wouldn't you drop everything and BE THERE? Of course you would.

We really do have all the time we ever need if we just focus very clearly in our hearts on what we want to do with our lives. Keep tweaking on that little project each day. It most definitely is a work in progress. Life is short. Make each day count with your stamp of approval on it.

I am amazed when people in all walks of life come up to me in my real estate world and say that sometimes a "perfect stranger" said the nicest thing to them or made their day. I say maybe that was why they were perfect for you. Maybe it is more than just coincidence. Maybe it was fate.

Why do friends have to be someone you've known for ten years? Think about it. A stranger is only a stranger until that first conversation.

A friend does not have to be complicated to make. They are just another person that has crossed our path.

Be open to what happens. Life will definitely surprise you at times.

Why are there rules for what a friend is supposed to be? Can't we have serious friends, funny friends, nerdy friends, loud friends, friends that are quiet and hang out in libraries? Drinking buddies, church friends, basketball and gym friends, pen pals, blogger friends, dog lover friends?

Maybe life is like a big tool box where we need all of them to help us figure out our way.

All I know is I'm shooting for a big 64 crayon Crayola box of friends. Cause let me tell you what I think about the ones I have found in life and here in this forum, as far as I am concerned,

They can hang the moon. They are ALL very SPECIAL.

We can learn a lot from young children and the elderly a few breaths away from the end of life. I talk with each ALL the time. If there were ever gurus on top of mountaintops these two sets of people have the answers.

Too many hard working full time and part time Realtors and career-minded professionals I think have a deathgrip on perfection. Why do they have to lather themself up so much in getting everything down so perfect? Work 14 hour days. Ignore family. Work harder and harder to be

            PERFECT !!!

Stop it. You don't see this among the very young or very old.

They know that in all of life doing your best is good enough. You were not meant to be perfect. Set your sights on excellence. The greatest batters in baseball are out two out of three times at bat. In basketball even Micheal Jordan was missing 50% of his shots in the field. You think Tiger Woods is perfect? Tiger Woods is EXCELLENT.

The amount of incremental energy it takes to go from an attempt at perfection from excellent is exhausting and darn near impossible. So take the wisdom given to us by the little kids and the aged, and let go of this perfection mentality. You can use me as a translator from their minds to yours. You are good enough right where you are. Have faith in yourself. Be confident that you were meant to be as you are. We don't need a pinnacle of you, we just need the best of you. Who wants to be a pointy head anyway? No frowny faces allowed.

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal. I know that doesn't relate to many of you whose breakfast consists of a cup of coffee as you run out the door. But growing up I used to love those variety pack breakfast cereals where you could pick and choose from all those "flavors of the day." What a little joy that was for me.

With For Sale By Owners, and others who try to sell their house on their own with a limited service, I think they miss the fact that REALTORS come packaged as their own little variety packs.

What I mean by that, is that they are integrated with tremendous skill sets and resources that can come to bear in selling or buying a home. Skills such as knowledge of contracts, insider information market facts, negotiating skills, legal facts such as mineral rights and seller disclosure, and lender loan limits. They have tons of resources like mortgage professionals, Inspectors, Appraisers, title companies, roofers, painters, Stagers, on and on and on.

This sense of an "integrated" Realtor is vastly underestimated by some when they discard the idea of needing a buyers agent or looking for someone to get the job done in selling their house. A good Realtor is invaluable in putting it all together. Our profession just needs to do a better job of educating the public on this and have more worthy individuals of this caliber among us.

It amazes me in real estate how much we are "counted" on for the other things to make things happen. As a client and professional team up in a trusting relationship, clients want to know about other services like cleaning people, pool service, inspectors, Home Warranty, etc.

You have in essence become their

                                    WING MAN.

In Air Force or Navy flying terms those are the ones that cover you, that have your back when flying in a tight formation. This is a very comforting feeling, that we are in this together, and is the essence of team. When you find these people in life, make note of them.

In my life I have found many a Wing Man. Some even here on this forum that I know I can trust. In my more close proximity, some may be family like brother or sister, spouse, parent, colleague from a past job or the rarest of the rare, a true friend. You may have heard that Nigerian proverb related to true friends:

                                                                                                                                     Hold on to a true friend with both hands.

Depending on how old you are, and the levels of adversity you have aleady experienced in your life, it is very eye opening when times get tough and the false, smiling friends fade away. But like shining jewels the true friends are still there with you at your side. I have seen this many times, and sometimes I am amazed which ones are like the glue for you, ALWAYS THERE, no matter what.

Now look out that cockpit window. So who is your Wing Man (or Woman)? Have they come through for you time and time again? Who are you a Wing Man for? Hopefully you are contributing to someone's formation as well and keeping them flying strong and high. These people are pretty special in your life, remember that! Know who they are.

                     FIND OUT WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE

There is an ancient story in Greek mythology  about a king called Sisyphus who was punished. He was to push a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back on him when it neared the top and this happened over and over for eternity.

Don't let the boulder brains of the world do this to you.  And you, don't be a boulder brain.

In real estate, and in customer service in general - these are the people who don't show up, or lie to you, or don't do the job, view you as an inconvenience, leave you on hold for extended periods of time, do not communicate well, or can't be reached or do not return phone calls or emails.

Can you spell

                             FRUSTRATION ??

We've all been there with shoddy service. Obviously, more than a bad day. It's a bad attitude and bad job fit. Do I have the wondrous magic wand to fix this situation? I don't think there is always one. Other than the bad referral and take your business elsewhere. Just like the market doesn't lie on what buyers will pay for a house, the market has to punish poor service with doing less business with the bad referral. And lest you yourself go down this path and give poor service, there is an emotional connection. People will tell 20 times more people about a bad service experience than a good one.

You be the one that is the shining star out there. Polite, courteous, returns phone calls, follows up, smiles, has a good attitude each day the best you can, takes care of people. I swear it is getting to be a rarity these days. Just doing the basics now makes you a superstar. Make life easy for your customers. Afterall, you are the one making the difference by treating people the way you would want to be treated. Has kind of a Golden ring to it doesn't it? : ) 

I know a strange title for this one. But you're dealing with a strange writer / REALTOR who sees the world in rainbow bands of color while many are living lives in shades of gray. Bear with my offbeat self. First off a few quotes for reference sake:

Money will not buy you happiness, but it will let you be unhappy in nice places, or comfortable while you're being miserable.

I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better.

And a favorite of mine along this theme from Woody Allen, "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." 

After inspections on homes for sale, there are the requested home repairs. I have noticed with people with money, getting these repairs attended to is no problem, whereas those with financial difficulties or those under water in home loans resist doing complete repairs or negotiate only to do what is necessary to satisfy a buyer.

It seems like the observation I see is

          MONEY MAKES LIFE EASIER. IT BUYS FREEDOM.

What does this have to do with nursing homes? They have something in common with home repairs.

One of the most evident examples in life of the power of money that I have ever seen is with the care of our most vulnerable in society, those in nursing homes. With lots of financial resources family can get great nursing home care or even 24 hour care at home. On the opposite side with no family nearby to care or limited money, elderly patients suffer greatly, and can feel the sting of being unloved and uncared for, not to mention neglect in a nursing home. It is very real and very sad.

Money can clear away many problems in an instant is what I've seen similar between the two situations. Along with what we bring to the world with our love and tenderness, never underestimate the power of money to ease suffering and make some problems vanish.

Which brings me to my final quote for those who aspire to success in terms of acquiring money. Remember we are stewards of such riches and it is a blessing to us. The quote comes from a very wealthy woman herself, Oprah Winfrey.

               WEALTH IS A GREAT THING TO HAVE AND A GREAT THING TO SHARE.

If our lives take us down the road where we are blessed to accumulate much financial resources, one would hope we would live lives of benevolence and charity and share what we have. After all, to whom much has been given, much  will be demanded from them.

We are in this together. We all need to have someone who will love us and share with us. That person may just be YOU. If it is, look in the mirror, and know that you are making a difference in the world.

There it was again. I saw it once more today in my travels around as a REALTOR. The difference in the adult and children worlds. Serious folks and those that know how to play.

Frowny faces from adults at the gas pump with another ten cent per gallon increase IN A WEEK. And then kids laughing, riding bikes through the neighborhood and enjoying themselves at the playground.

I don't deny as adults we can live stressful lives and have responsibility.

My reminder is to not be stressed out the whole day. Time block your stress if that makes sense, but then time block your fun. Entirely too many adults I think forgot what fun is or even how to have fun. You know you've lost this ability when you are on vacation and all you can think about is what is going on back at work.

Know what fun is to you whether it's a hobby, playing with kids, some kind of sport, traveling, volunteering, writing, playing or listening to music, or maybe socializing. I can have fun at almost anything except paperwork!

When you tune into your fun side weekly, all the stresses and strains of the real world just wash away, at least for a moment in time.

Try it with baby steps. You might just remember how much fun, fun is !!!