Happy New Year Everyone,

It’s been awhile since the last time I’ve written to you all and I’m extremely sorry about that. Over the last few months, we’ve been working extremely hard putting together our new website and blog which we plan on educating all of you about real estate investing and keeping you informed about the real estate market. We hope you like the changes to our website and would love to get your feedback.

As we kick start the New Year, I always find it to be a great time to reflect on my successes from the previous year but more importantly what do I plan to achieve in this coming year. Many people set New Years resolutions for themselves at the beginning of the year and after a couple of weeks, their old routine tends to sneak back up on them. Has this happened to you?

Well to help you become more successful with your objectives this year, I want to share some tips that can help you become more focus and successful in reaching your goals. Enjoy!

5 Tips & Tricks to Overcome Distractions & Stay Laser Focused on Your Goals

1) Develop a Weekly “Roadmap” to Follow

What works for me is a template I have developed that I call my “Weekly Performance and Accountability Progress Sheet”. In a nutshell, I break up all the areas of my Real Estate Business, and put down 1-4 tasks that I want to accomplish in each area for the week.

2) Develop a “Mini Roadmap”

Each day I develop a simple and easy to follow checklist of the 5-10 tasks that are most important for me to get done that day. I draft this up in an e-mail and set a dedicated time slot for each of these tasks and email it to my IPhone which I always carry with me. I review it often, and check off a task when I complete it.

3) Stay FLEXIBLE and ADJUST as you go

You have to realize that we live in an imperfect world, and you are going to have to work around that. If you don’t complete some tasks for that day, carry them over to the next day. Also realize that sometimes your priorities will change and you might just take something off the list as a more important task (higher income producing) comes along.

4) Guard Yourself Against “TIME VAMPIRES!”

Let’s face it, as you go through a typical day you are going to get into situations where you can feel yourself getting sucked into a task, or talking to someone and you get that feeling you are starting to drift off target!

That is where you need to ask yourself “Is what I’m doing right now, the best use of my time, and getting me closer to my goals?”

Be honest with yourself, and if the answer is NOT EVEN CLOSE, stop doing it immediately. If you’re in a conversation, politely look at your watch and tell that person, “I’m sorry, but I really have to run, I have a few things I still need to get done today”.

5) Keep a Daily Journal of Your Progress Towards Your Goals

Keeping a daily journal about your successes of the day is a great motivator and it makes you want to achieve more the following day. Keep it positive, review your accomplishments and look for better ways to be more efficient with your time to help you achieve your objectives.

You’re probably thinking … “Man this guy sure likes to write a lot, I’m never going to find the time to do that much writing, I’m way too busy!” Here is my answer to that, MAKE TIME! This will help motivate you to write down your goals:

In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that :

=> 84% had no specific goals at all

=> 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper

=> 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them

In 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. You can guess the results:

=> The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all.

=> Even more staggering – the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

(Source: “What They Don’t Teach You in The Harvard Business School”, by Mark McCormack)

Pretty darn cool!

Ok, I have to run! I have a few more tasks I want to get done before I wrap up my day!

Michael Ponte