Relentless – From Good to Great to Unstoppable
This book goes far beyond motivation.
If you are a reader of this site you know that I believe motivation is a bonus to disciplined action.
If you take to heart the lessons of this book, though, you’ll be setting yourself up for a completely different shift in mindset.
It is almost scary.
Relentless gives you a world view that is much more animalistic, driven, and focused on the results you want. I loved it.
The author Tim S. Grover has created something that I will pick up and read once a year to remind myself to keep strengthening my mind.
The strong mind gets results. The mentally dominant become real world unstoppable.
This book focuses on overcoming overthinking and going out to gain results like the professional you should be.
Be the one that shows up, does the work, and makes it happen. If you want to remove all limitations here are my biggest takeaways and how to apply them to your real estate investing business.
Lesson 1: The Only Competition is You
In real estate we always talk about the market.
- Is it a buyer’s market?
- Is it a seller’s market?
- Is it oversaturated with investors
- Are there no deals?
None of that matters.
If you have motivated sellers, if you have the skills to find deals, if you have a strategy, and if you work hard to execute, you can make money in any market.
There is enough for everyone because everyone won’t do enough to execute.
Investing in real estate is simple but not easy, so most people won’t do it. For the ones who do, you can either see as your allies, competition, or neither.
Tim believes that you should be so good that you make others play your game because winners focus on winning. Everyone else focuses on the winner.
What that takes is an unrelenting drive to be successful. To do that takes work, and the kind of work it takes is more than most would do.
To be successful means that you are going to ask more of yourself than others could ask of you.
It means never being satisfied. It means working for the goal for more hours and with greater tenacity than could be expected of others.
Show up every day. Do the work every day.
The SEALs, the US Navy’s elite special operations force, have a motto, “Earn your trident every day”. The trident is their insignia, proof and reminder of who they are.To earn it every day is to put in the work to show that you are worthy of it.
If that mentality is good enough for the special forces, it is good enough for us. We can and should do the same with our business.
- Challenge yourself daily
- Sacrifice what is unnecessary to get to the goal
- Be uncomfortable and push your boundaries
That is how you grow your business. That is how you improve your skill sets. That is how you compete with your former self.
Lesson 2: Turn a Blind Eye to Failure
You are going to fail at many things in the real estate business.
Many people will tell you “no”. Many things will go wrong.
- Your projects will exceed the original timeline
- You’ll go over budget
- Deals will fall apart at the closing table
Know all of this now ahead of time and accept these are possibilities, maybe even probabilities.
Know also, that you will be ok.
That is what true confidence is. Confidence is knowing that failure is only failure when things are over. You decide when it is over, if it is over, and how it ends.
At the same time don’t be afraid to pivot. Intelligent investors know when to switch strategy, shift focus, and stop doing what is ineffective. Blind adherence to the plan doesn’t make it a good plan.
Make a mistake, learn from it, improve the process, and execute.
Trust in yourself and figure it out. That is how you learn the most.
Mistakes are not failure, they are data points.
Don’t take this to mean you can do anything and shrug if off. Be smart with your preparation, do things legally and ethically, and when you have a misstep take full responsibility.
Own it. No deflections, no excuses, extreme ownership. Then fix it.
I am guilty of this myself. I am the classic analysis paralysis over thinker. I always thought: one more seminar, one more book, one more online course, one more guru.
Instead of doing that, I should have been learning just enough to understand then executing, making the mistakes, and shifting to course correct. Don’t make my mistake.
Taking action is better than over planning.
Fear goes away.
When I first started talking to sellers it was hard. First of all, I didn’t like giving away my number. It is hard to get people to call you if you don’t do that!
I was uncomfortable with the fact that people could just… call me. When I did get a call I would get flustered. There would be stuttering and scrambling to find my script and embarrassment if any of the other agents were around. I be wondering what they would think of my conversation.
Would the judge me? Was I saying the right things? All this noise.
Trust me, you’ll get better at it. Whatever that “it” is.
- Dealing with contractors
- Screening tenants
- Answering phone calls
- Handling service requests
- Solving problems
Repetitions create competence, competence creates courage. Even if the fear never goes away, the important thing is to start doing it and never stop.
“Success and failure are 100%mental” – Tim S. Grover
Lesson 3: Maintain the Hunger
More. Always more. Never be satisfied.
This is your singular life and it is your responsibility to achieve everything you can.
Now is not the time to take it easy. As a matter of fact, it is rarely ever the time to do so.
You can make real estate investing work by bringing different skill sets to the table. It is completely, 100% mental.
It doesn’t matter if you dislike the process. Look at the big picture and get to the goal.
As investors we are always looking and calculating for the ARV (After Repair Value). That is how you should also think about your entire business.
I guarantee there is something that makes you uncomfortable, bores you, overwhelms you, or fills you with dread.
- Maybe you hate talking to sellers, or buyers
- Maybe you hate tracking your expenses and filing your taxes
- Maybe you hate the stacks of paperwork, and there is always another form to fill out for a loan, the government, or your lawyer
It doesn’t matter. Close the deal. Execute your strategy. Repeat.
“Decide. Commit. Act. Succeed.Repeat,” – Tim S. Grover
Your goals, go for them. Your decisions, own them. Your mistakes, fix them.
We take seminar after seminar, read book after book, and browse article after article on Bigger Pockets. We hunger for more knowledge. Just one more idea, thought, singular holy grail piece of information.
Keep learning but more importantly, take massive action.
“There are no secrets, there are no tricks… there are no short cuts” – Tim S. Grover
It is all hard work. It is dedication to the results. Real estate is simple but it isn’t easy. If it was easy then everyone would do it. And many people do try. They start. But that is it.Everyone can start something.
Winners, closers, the real investors finish. Then they do it again.
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