There is that old question, "How do you eat an elephant?" Answer: one bite at a time. In real estate deals, large projects, weight loss goals, oftentimes the whole thing at first looks overwhelming and insurmountable. This is when you need to turn it into smaller bite size pieces. You can't do it all in one day, or big gulp. We did not land on the moon from proclamation to footsteps there in one day.ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY.But the point is, lay out a plan, create a proposed timeline.THEN, get busy with you little bites. Keep moving forward. Overwhelming then becomes this "managed thing" and the sense of progress really feels good each day. You get closer to closing with a home, the weight loss pounds melt away week by week, the vision of your ultimate goal gets nearer and nearer as ... 07/27/2016

 ©Photo by Patricia at sunset on 7/26/16 in Flower Mound, Texas   07/26/2016

The craze around the world with the release of the mobile game Pokemon Go since July 6th has been amazing to watch. Soaring Nintendo stock value, players of all ages searching out characters to acquire. Comments that people are acting like zombies in public to meeting new friends at Starbucks. A whole new category of AR (augmented reality) taking off. Even extending it to picking up characters at Open Houses and posting about it on Facebook. The dangers of Pokemon Go. The wonders of it. All remains to be seen, and I will leave the "experts" out there to tell us all more. But whether walking to play the game, or riding a bike, I sometimes think DRIVING might be the fastest way to progress the furthest in the game. Don't Pokemon and drive though. Just drive to GET THERE. 07/20/2016

I love studying the lives of others and quotations they come up with to learn from them. One is from Gilda Radner, great comedienne from SNL, who went through ovarian cancer, with it being misdiagnosed, went into remission, and then came back.She had SO MUCH frustration inside her.BUT she taught us about AMBIGUITY. The fuzziness of life, the not knowing, the coming to acceptance when life's path goes sideways or takes unforeseen detours. I so laugh with mentors and seminars that say to get from point A to point B do this. The zig zag line they omit, or that you MAY NEVER get to point B. God laughs at our plans. We have to shoot for something but not have 100% expectations you will land there.Gilda especially poked fun at what could only be described as incompetent doctors who for 10 mon... 07/15/2016

If we think of artwork we like, great storytellers, screenplays we see well done in movies, great inventions that come along ALL involve superb "creativity." We all don't have to be genius level Leonardo DaVinci types, but we do have good imaginations to take us to new realms, solve problems we are stuck on business or personal "with creativity." It mainly is a think out of the box or NO BOX way of looking at life, even if people call us weird if we point out what we are up to. Some ideas to get your juices flowing better. Travel, Anywhere, local or distant. You will see new sights, talk with different people, it stimulates your brain, gives you complete new perspectives. Try something new all the time stretching your comfort zones. A dance class or anything completely different. I one ... 07/11/2016

One of my favorite holidays of the year, CELEBRATING freedom, and our American core values and way of life. May YOU have a very Happy Fourth of July time this year!!! 07/03/2016

They say an unexamined life is not worth living. From time to time a bit of reflection "looking back" on both our business and personal life is fine. Say for example writing a letter to your "younger self" what you would like to tell them if you could coach them today? I will jot down a few "lessons" that come to mind but feel free to add your own words of wisdom in the comments. We all can learn from each other. There will be heartbreak, failure, and times of empty pockets. You will get through those times and find out what your character is made of by how you deal with it. All that glitters is not gold. Sometimes the end of something takes a lot longer than you think. Doors close, but new ones open up sometimes even better than what you had before. You can never be too kind. ALWAYS be... 07/02/2016

In growing our professional business network outward in our career look for THIS specific trait in your colleagues:    SHARING.The art of cooperation amongst various parties goes a long way to getting deals done smoothly. Sharing ideas, time, dividing tasks to save energy, promoting helpful tips and short cuts. All good.Nothing worse than obstructionist partners.Often as a listing agent you may be STUCK with who comes along on the buyers side. But initiate cooperation on your part and most likely you will not be immediately seen as an adversary.Too often agents even in their OWN office view you as the competition but the pie really is big enough or the feeding tray wide enough for everyone to have his fill.Be a proactive share person of news, ideas, helpfulness and set a standard of fri... 06/30/2016

In today's fast paced internet world, we can get frustrated with our achievements that WE ARE NOT THERE NOW. We can look around, and many that perhaps started something earlier than us are already done with it. Or we set some kind of unrealistic time deadline for accomplishment. A fun fact you may not be aware of often things take LONGER than you think and even can COST more than you think at the outset.Our pace can be hampered by unforeseen circumstances, poor planning, even over confidence.The REAL thing to remember EACH DAY is this: Keep moving FORWARD. Sure some days seem like a snail pace , but it is YOUR PACE. Quit worrying about YOU. Other days maybe you will zoom zoom and surprise yourself with what progress you made.Advance STEADILY in the direction of your goals and you will g... 06/27/2016

As we proceed into summer, a seasonally high month of "vacations" for many people, I think there is a rhythm of life reminder for us to SCHEDULE relaxation on our calendar in smaller doses even, I say daily or weekly. We should not have to WAIT for a one week or two week block in July. An aphorism I have always liked,"Design a life you don't need a vacation from."I do know in the "employer" world that can seem unrealistic especially if people hate their jobs, but daily for a small amount of time, or one day out of seven in the week, PLAN something "playful" for you. Meditate, read, do your hobby, be with people, take a walk, KNOW what is fun to you, AND DO IT.Planned relaxation is renewal, rejuvenation of the soul and spirit, recharging, something invigorating. Some say turn off the ele... 06/26/2016

Father's Day as an observance I think gets a little more minor play in society than Mother's Day with its flowers given, taken out to breakfast, maybe more greeting cards, etc. My Dad passed away in August 2006 and like many of the meaningful dads all around us, brothers, our own dads, friend's dads, LOTS of them just go about being great to their kids supporting them along the way. All are not perfect of course and we honor them while alive and they have a special place in our heart when they are gone. My Dad had that belief in me, and gave me kindness, humor, and guidance. Some Dads from talking to others, a small minority, were not responsible, but as all humans, we have our flaws, so pull SOMETHING good out of them.I do think the day really should be called an UNSUNG HERO day cause ... 06/19/2016

We can all surmise that in today's one on one communication in business and in our personal lives, it is important to HOLD the other person's interest and attention, and minimize if not eliminate distraction. Surely being to the point and brief with our words assists in this area, but also there is a technique in effective verbal communication called 'hanger words'. These are phrases that pique the ears of the other party to closely see what you will say in your follow on. I have listed examples for you to practice and memorize, and incorporate into your speech.Pause ever so slightly between your phrase, and then what you explain. The question I always ask myself ... Here's the best part ... Let me ask you this ... Here's my suggestion ... The secret is ... Think of it this way ... Here... 06/18/2016

There is no question cybercrime is on the upswing. WHY these people who either try to hack our various accounts, steal our credit card or personal information, or install malware or spyware on our devices for nefarious purposes it is either deviousness or just robbery for money. Anyway make passwords ten characters or longer with numbers and symbols and capital letters, change them often, put them everywhere including your phone to avoid theft problems.But as an FYI here are nine internet scams to keep you top of mind of these people trying to irritate your daily life: Fake prizes, sweepstakes, gifts, lottery scams. There is no free pizza. Think if something is too good to be true, and you are not even a customer of the business or wanted to be on their email list, just hit delete. Phis... 06/15/2016

06/05/2016

From time to time I like to comment on various Social Media and how it is affecting our lives, just to make you think, and you make your own judgments and choices. In the early days of television it was called the vast wasteland and the boob tube. With seemingly 1,000 channels now on satellite and streaming video like Netflix and Hulu Plus, the wasteland seems endless now. But is Facebook the real new television?Crossing believe it or not now 1.65 billion users of a planet of 7 billion people, that is some reach. News feeds are now looked at more on Facebook than news sites like CNN.Much family and friends "check in" on you so often during the day and use the built in Messenger to contact you on the side beyond something traditional like phone texting or the WhatsApp app.The question fo... 05/30/2016

On this Memorial Day it is often hard than perhaps a passing acknowledgement, to actually FEEL the tremendous pain of a family member, a loved one in the military, LOST due to a conflict. But we can all relate to a close death. So in honoring the fallen on this day of remembrance MAYBE, just maybe, a few photos can reach inside our core, to pause if ever so briefly, sharing that deep, deep pain. To remember, there are among us once living, now passed, real live persons, that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Real life bravehearts.They are gone yes. BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN!!   05/29/2016

I learned of a very recent merging of Google Search to your iPhone keyboard that pops up all over the place with various other apps and functions like text messaging, email, Instagram, Facebook messaging are used, anywhere you have a keyboard need. I have installed it on an iPhone and it is very cool, and I would encourage you to download it from the App Store. You will have to go into General-Settings and enable the new keyboard under KEYBOARDS.Another agent said on her Android she found it and set it up, but I don't have Android so someone will have to check that out. Here is the promotional video from Google, Gboard it is called from merging Google and Keyboard. 05/24/2016

In lead generation for an agent's market YouTube video going forward is more cost effective than perhaps farming an area with direct mail post cards. Prospective clients need to find you ON THE INTERNET. Some helpful tips and information when using YouTube.1. Plan first. Do geofencing from where you live. Where do you sell real estate? Draw a circle around where you live and an outer circle around that with north, south, east and west points.The inner circle is your bounds for where you are "wanting" to travel, the outer circle is where you are "willing" to travel depending on price points. Focus on the wanting circle.2. From this geofencing exercise, note your ideal client, luxury, narrow price range, type of properties and identify city/neighborhood/subdivision. You want this to inclu... 05/18/2016

With sellers in real estate often they are waiting for the market to rise in price even more or the hassle of moving overwhelms them. With buyers they just can't seem to decide over many houses looked at. In LIFE, in general terms, we can feel MORE comfortable doing nothing, and not encountering CHANGE.You hear, you are not getting younger, aren't those pickets you are sitting on hurting, nothing ventured nothing gained.People need encouragement.If anything else, SOMETIMES people need a PUSH to make a decision NOW vs. sometime later. I liked this phrase. Let it sink in with them. It may make all the difference in the world concentrating on a truism that life is indeed SHORT. Believe it!! The longer you wait for the future the shorter it will be. 05/17/2016

In times of tragedy and much heartache that we either feel personally in our lives or read about in the news around the world, you can just get a heavy heart. Fred Rogers from TV used to say his Mom told him to not focus on the scary things that happened that he saw but see the helpers that followed making things better. While that is part one of that particular situation and thought, I am a big person on being mentally awake as a part two, not asleep at the switch, and PAY ATTENTION to what is going on around you in life.In our daily lives, NOT just from tragedies LOOK for the helpers. They are all around you. People who support you, people who give a lending hand, those that smile at you or contact you to lift your spirits, someone maybe even who emails you, writes a blog post, replie... 05/13/2016