Adopting the mindset of a champion

If you have been in real estate for longer than a week, you know that there are moments in life where it feels like everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong. It is in those moments where adopting the mindset of a champion is imperative to not just help you overcome, but to actually be successful. 

From real estate success to a Super Bowl ring, adopting the mindset of a champion will lead you to where you want to go. 

How can Happy Grasshopper help you? 

Show Notes/Links

Take a tour of Happy Grasshopper - https://happygrasshopper.com/tour
The Magic of Instant Rapport Webinar - https://youtu.be/tdjbrMbQH4w
Conversations That Empower - https://happygrasshopper.com/wtsn/conversations-that-empower/
Happy Grasshopper's 41 Touch Program - https://happygrasshopper.com/meetchirp

Remember that homework Dan mentioned?  You can find the instructions here

Your Host

Dan Stewart, CEO and Founder of Happy Grasshopper

Show transcript

Dan Stewart (00:00): So hi. If you've ever found yourself stuck, hating your life, not sure where to go, not sure what the next best move is, struggling to win, feeling defeated, running into obstacle after obstacle, after obstacle, and you find yourself frustrated with that, and you'd like to get past it literally forever, you are in the right place today.
Dan Stewart (00:37): We are going to talk about adopting the mindset of a champion. I've done a bunch of research, I've pulled together some really great information, and I happened to know some actual champions. So that's been pretty helpful in putting this together for you today. My name is Dan Stewart. If you don't know me, I'm the founder of Happy Grasshopper. I am a real dude. My email address is [email protected]. You're welcome to find me on the web at danstewart.com. Follow me on social. Get to know me, reach out, chat. Let's say hi. My highest value is helping other people and that's why we're putting this webinar together today, because I can tell you in my personal journey there have been many days where I felt entirely defeated, where I felt like I just don't want to get out of bed or like I'm terrified to check the email.
Dan Stewart (01:32): Oh, I got a voicemail. What does it say? Like, there are moments in life where it feels like everything that can possibly go wrong, goes wrong. And it's in those moments when adopting what you're about to learn today can be really helpful, right? Because there's an old saying about champions, it's not how many times they get knocked down, it's how many times they get up. And as cliche as that is, as simple as that sounds, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. So you may say yeah, I can do that. I know that part. I've heard those words. And yet, until you're in that moment, it's hard to know whether or not you're actually going to have the internal fortitude, the metal to get up and face those challenges. And that's why we as members of society, as human beings, love champions.
Dan Stewart (02:29): We love to know that there are people for whom the obstacles we stumble over, they can soar. It's delightful for us to watch and observe and cheer on and root for people who have success at levels we can only imagine. We all like to believe that those levels of success are attainable for anyone, and yet it's a very small percentage of the population that actually gets to do things like play in the Super Bowl. And we got one of those coming up here in Tampa Bay, just saying, that might even be this Sunday, so that's kind of cool. So quick question, who's going to watch the football game this weekend? Go ahead and give me a yes in the chat. I'm serious, if you're not going to watch it, I want to see a, no. Okay. Me, me, yes. MM says, no. Paige says yes. Susan says no. Okay. This is interesting.
Dan Stewart (03:24): I'm actually surprised to see as many “no”s as I'm seeing here. Laelani, of course, got to watch the GOAT, greatest of all time. Love it. Michelle says, sure. Gina says, no. Barbara says, no. Donna says, no. Okay. This is cool. Juan's watching. Gregory's watching. Peggy's watching. Okay. So I'm going to be really, really honest and transparent with you guys. I'm not a huge sports fan. I do not spend a huge amount of my life thinking about the local sports teams, and yet I'm kind of stoked that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hosting and playing in the Super Bowl this year. Right? And if you don't know, I live in Tampa Bay, so that's kind of a cool thing to have this event here and to have this focus here and it really got me thinking about what it is that lets some people rise to this level where they get to be playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.
Dan Stewart (04:26): And we look at just the quarterbacks from these two fantastic teams. We've got Tom Brady and then we've got Patrick Mahomes. So Patrick is off to this just amazing career, he's the reigning Super Bowl champion. He's got a manner about him that inspires other people to follow him. He seems to win with ease. Like he works hard, but does he struggle? It never really seems to show up. Where, I observe Tom Brady and I think about someone who's really thinking, like someone who understands the game completely, knows exactly what his strengths are and is designing everything to really capitalize on them. Okay? And the reality is that both of those mindsets are available to all of us. Like we can tap into that. We have some strengths and we have some weaknesses, if we choose to really focus our time and attention on our weaknesses, we shouldn't expect to get to play in the Super Bowl, it just doesn't really add up.
Dan Stewart (05:32): We only get there by really focusing on where our natural strengths are. So, that's the plan here, right? That's the plan, is let's leave this session today with a clear idea of where each of us can focus individually. Like regardless of what anyone else thinks or says, regardless of what conditions may exist in the world for us, if we're certain internally about what our core strengths are, we have power that we would not otherwise have. Okay? If you agree with that, say yes, I want to see a yes in the chat. Here they come. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, that's good. All right. So without further ado, I'm going to share my screen and we're going to dig right in. So this will take me just a moment to get shared over here.
Dan Stewart (06:27): Okay. And I'm going to pull the chat box back up right now, so we see these yeses flying in. That's awesome. So here's what we're doing, I have these slides in front of me. I'm looking at the camera. I have the chat box right here in front of my face. These sessions are always more effective for everyone. If there's lots of engagement, lots of interaction. So throughout the entire session, if you have a question, I want to hear it. There will be times when I ask you for feedback and just as we've demonstrated so far, I really like and appreciate the engagement. So do me that favor, really dig in. And in return, when you do that work, I'm going to make some promises to you, right? You will leave this session with a clear idea of your singular personal champion vision.
Dan Stewart (07:31): That's a lot different than adopting someone else's, that's gaining a power over you that none of us really think about on the regular, as startling as that sounds, most of us live our lives doing things that other people expect us to do instead of doing the things that really make us happy. So champions occasionally do that, occasionally and yet to get to the level where you're competing at the very pinnacle, it requires an absolute certainty and focus, and it's really hard to fake that. You can almost never rise to that level if your entire focus is fulfilling other people's goals rather than your own. Okay? So this vision is where we start. This is very important and it's so important because once you have that vision, it makes it really easy to know what you should do and also what you shouldn't do.
Dan Stewart (08:31): And that's more than half the battle, knowing what you shouldn't do. We live in an age where we're constantly bombarded with things we could do. Almost 24 hours a day there are people who would love to have our attention and they would love for us to do the things that help them reach their goals. And yet, we'll almost always succeed below our potential if we spend more focused on achieving other people's goals rather than our own. So again, we will be watching the chat throughout the session. I have a few Happy Grasshoppers here with me in the background. So if anyone needs any help or has any questions you can reach out. I will encourage you to take notes. This session is designed to be participatory. You are going to want to take notes and if you're here because, oh my gosh, I heard Happy Grasshopper is awesome, I want to learn more and use it. That's great. And yet that's not what this session is.
Dan Stewart (09:27): So please just call us, the number is on the screen. You can also go to this URL, https://happygrasshopper.com/tour and you can book a tour there where either myself or a member of my staff will give you a one-on-one tour around everything we do and make sure it's a really good fit for you. So let's dive in. We're going to dig in to one of my favorite topics, because, like one of my early mentors, they taught me that there's really no help, but self-help. Think about that. No help, but self-help. When I first heard that I was really kind of stumped by it because on the surface it didn't seem really true to me. And then I thought from the perspective of, we have to ask for help, like we have to be willing to receive help. And in that manner we make it our own.
Dan Stewart (10:27): It's one thing to have the medicine, it's another thing to take the medicine. So I just want to congratulate each and every one of you for choosing to be here today, there are a lot of other things you could do and yet you're here because you suspect that you're capable of performing at a level beyond your current reality, and that's admirable. You deserve congratulations for that, far too many people don't have the guts to say, you know what? I think I'm capable of more. So today is about more and here's how we're going to do it. First thing we've got to do is define what the heck a champion mindset is. We've got to really understand that, we've got to get a grasp around it. So I want you to think about what being a champion really means to you. And I want you to comment in the chat. What are some characteristics of being a champion? Let me see your thoughts here.
Dan Stewart (11:29): Jim, you're cracking me up, my brother. Is this really live or recorded? Thank you. A, for thinking that this could be recorded, but no, absolutely, it's live my man. Come on Jim. So when I say champion mindset, Kathy says loving every day. I like that. That's a good definition of being a champion. And yet there's probably a lot of work that goes into it too. Like Gregory, his comment is discipline. Emily says confident, capable, never quit, totally focused, fail fast, fail forward. Confidence, success, champion mindset, not being intimidated, Robin, that's interesting, not being intimidated. Donna says, the best you can be operating at peak performance. Barbara says, motivated, being a giver. David says, focused. Flora, be ahead of the game.
Dan Stewart (12:30): Joe says, getting up when you fall down and move forward. Lots of good thoughts here. Lots of good thoughts. Emily, you've made a couple of comments here. Less self doubt, that's something we need to talk about, because do you think either one of these quarterbacks on Sunday is really filled with self doubt? It doesn't seem like they are, it doesn't seem like they are. And yet many of us struggle with this sense of self doubt and there's something going on in my life right now that has taught me this, very firsthand. I'll tell you a little story. My daughter, Emily, she's 12 years old. She is an amazing gymnast. She's ranked as one of the top 100 gymnast in the United States. Like, Oh my God, believe it or not, there may be a collegiate gymnastics life ahead for her, she may even go to the Olympics. Like wow, these things are possible.
Dan Stewart (13:30): And yet right now where she is at this particular moment of her life, she's doubting herself for the first time. Like she's reached a level of competition where it's risky. If you're doing a double back handspring on a four inch wide beam and you miss, it hurts. Fear is a huge part of what causes us to behave the way that we do and our ability to co-exist in the presence of fear, to embrace it and to allow it not to stop us, but to heighten our senses and our ability to perform under pressure, that's an amazingly powerful thing. So champions are not free from that, they've simply learned to cope with it. They've learned to cope with it. And the way that that happens is really straight forward. Like being a champion is not about winning the super bowl, like long before you do that, you must win the moment. You have to win the moment. You have to get up when your body says, no. You have to not press news again.
Dan Stewart (14:49): You have to read that book. You have to study, you have to do what other people are willing to do so you can get to do the things that other people don't get to do. And the interesting thing about these moments, just like my daughter is experiencing right now. Like there's nobody else on that beam with her, she's there by herself. So winning the moment, really means winning the moment against yourself. Like think about that. And anybody played golf here? I've played some golf, I know what it's like to stand over a putt to win the round. It's a three-foot putt you've made thousands of times and the pressure feels different. Like it affects the way you move in that moment. I guess, sales professionals, have we not felt that moment where we go, oh my gosh, really need a sale and desperation creeps in.
Dan Stewart (15:52): And as soon as desperation is there, it totally impacts the quality of your ability to serve. So let's acknowledge that right here from the start to adopt the mindset of a champion, we have to really tune up our sensory acuity. We have to sense this feeling of fear and self-doubt that rise, and then we need to banish it. Okay? So there's a technique for this. And please take notes here. This will change your life if you apply it. Okay? The moment you feel that sense of fear and self-doubt approaching, just acknowledge it. Oh, okay, I know what that feeling is. I felt this way before, and then I want you to write down whatever it is that is causing that fear and then write three reasons that it's not true. It's amazing how quickly you can take control of your thinking.
Dan Stewart (16:52): It's amazing how quickly you can take that inner voice that can sometimes be such a demon and turn it into, not just an ally, but a huge advocate. How amazing would it be for you if that sense of self doubt was replaced by a sense of, oh, come on, you've got this. Like whoa! How powerful would that be? I'll jump back to football. The last playoff game, the Kansas City Chiefs, I don't follow sports enough to know the player's name, but he received a punt or a kickoff and he fumbled it and it allowed the other team to score. So what does he do? He's physically defeated. Oh, you can see the grief, the stress, the turmoil is just completely washed over him. He goes to the sideline, he sits on the bench and he covers his head with his coat.
Dan Stewart (17:43): Like the pain of what he just did is hurting him so badly, he can't even face the fact that he's in a championship football. He's got to like hide away from it. And that's where Patrick Mahomes walks over to him and does some really amazing things. Just what a demonstration of leadership. He pulls that off. He goes, "Hey man, you got this. You're going to make plays this game. You're going to make plays." Wow! There's no like berating him. There's no grief. There's no, oh, come on, it's going to be fine. There's simply like a hammer right into his chest, you got this, you're going to make plays and we need you. Like that sense of leadership is just amazing. And Rita, absolutely, you can do that. She's asking, she missed the first part and she wants the recording. So yes, we do record all of these. We'll send that out afterwards.
Dan Stewart (18:39): So let's keep moving here. Winning the moment against yourself is important. And yet that's not the only circumstance that we need to rise above. Anybody who's watched any professional sports be played, has seen a situation where the wrong team won. And they won because the referee came and there was a bad call. So in business we have this sort of thing happen all the time, when no one's following us around, throwing yellow flags at us. And yet, a closing that was supposed to happen gets delayed. A buyer who was committed backs out, like there are situations that prevent us from achieving that level of success when we're so close to getting it. And that's why we've got to perform at a level that takes the refs out of the game. Right? That's a critical thing.
Dan Stewart (19:38): So if your goal is here, you need to conduct yourself in such a way that you can perform here. There must be a margin where things can go wrong and yet you still win. You can do that. And all of this, all of this, all of this has to live inside you to actually occur. And the way we do that is first, we make it real by creating our vision. Okay? Make it real by creating your vision. And I touched base on this before, your vision, not anyone else's vision. We've all probably had people in our lives that love us, whom we respect and we cherish. For a lot of us, these were our parents, relatives, teachers, coworkers, bosses, people for whom we feel so good because they make us feel good about ourselves. And if we spend our lives chasing their vision of what we can be, ultimately we find ourselves unfulfilled.
Dan Stewart (20:50): Champions don't live that way. True success is being truly happy, so that's what we're going to work on here together. So let's start the project of creating our vision. This is a big thing that we get to do together today. So when we're building our vision, we have to recognize that if we have a lack of trust, belief and faith, it's a really hard thing to do. I talk to agents in one-on-one conversations all the time and maybe one conversation is with a newer agent whose first goal is to get to one transaction a month. And it seems like a monumental goal. And maybe the next stage, and I talk to, their goal is to get to a hundred transactions a year. The goals are different and yet the thing that's often preventing both of them from achieving it is not that they don't have the capacity to do it, it's that they don't really believe that they can. They don't.
Dan Stewart (22:01): If you don't have a real sense of trust and belief and faith that you can succeed, that's something that has to change. And it can change when you do the work to build a really, truly unshakable level of trust with yourself. So I'll give you a small example of this. I have a friend named Darren Jaclyn, he's on the board at EXP, marvelous human being, tremendous level of energy and massive commitment to give back to other people. He recently asked me to speak to a boys club that he sponsors and I got to speak to about 60 "At risk youth." And being able to share my story and help these kids in this situation, sincerely, it's been one of the most tremendous experiences I've had in the past year. It was an absolute, lovely experience to get to do that. And one of the boys asked me a question. He asked for advice on how he can build a better sense of trust with himself. And I said, "It's got to start with one small thing."
Dan Stewart (23:23): Like for him, his rooms a mess, his personal hygiene isn't great. And to set a huge goal feels completely unattainable, so we need to start much smaller, set a small goal. And so I encouraged him to say, you know what? Tonight I will not go to sleep with dirty laundry on the floor. Like if I have laundry on my floor, I'm going to pick it up, I'm going to put it in the hamper. And then I know for sure I'm the kind of person who does what I say I will do. The way we build that sense of unshakeable trust with ourselves is by setting a series of very small things where we know with certainty, we will do them. And gosh, I can imagine right now, some people are going, okay, Dan, this seems pretty basic and simple. And yet it's monumentally important, just because it's simple does not mean it's easy.
Dan Stewart (24:18): Like how many times have you been on a call with someone? Have you had an appointment where you said, "Oh yeah, I'll look into this and I'll follow up with you." And you take a note and you mean to do it, and then you don't get back and do it. It's a human thing. We all do that sort of thing from time to time. Champions do not. I want you and I aspire personally to have that level of unshakable trust with myself where I know for sure that my word is my bond. If I say I'm going to do something, I know for sure that I'm going to do it. And when you get to that point of certainty with yourself, wow, everything is possible. Because you shift from someone who's easily swayed by other people's opinions to someone who knows that no matter what, in every situation you've got a person you can rely on and that person is truly you. So start small.
Dan Stewart (25:22): And by the way, I've been a student of personal development and success for fully 30 years. I didn't learn this until two years ago and it's absolutely changed my life. So I know that it can change yours. So this vision that we have, it's great, we're creating, we're pulling out of the ether, we're making it our own. And yet to really make sure it's sustainable, we can't keep it a secret. We need to include other people by sharing this vision, we have to do that. So now I'm going to invite you to share your vision with me, share with the people who are here on this call with you today, what sort of vision can you imagine for yourself? Where do you think you're going to be? How do you imagine your life is going to be? I want to hear it in the chat.
Dan Stewart (26:23): Oh, and Emily, I love your comment here. She says, seems simple, but sometimes you just need to hear someone else tell you. Like, that's one of the greatest gifts of being human, we're so much stronger together than we are alone. I truly believe that whatever level of success we intend to achieve, the path there is always much easier and much more fun when we walk it with other people. So, all right, now we've got some comments coming in. I love it. Scott says, leading a team of happy people. Yeah, that's cool. I like the cultural element there. Happy people, not just people, happy people, love it. So as we think about our vision, there's all sorts of things that could come to mind here. Like M you're saying, find an accountability partner. It's not just for the gym, as you say. That's a great point.
Dan Stewart (27:26): And we should have a chat about accountability partners because I'm going to get really personal again here, I can't help it. I have just left something called Board of Advisors. So once a quarter I go to this group called Board of Advisors and like, I'm going to show you some of their stuff here, BA. I sit in a conference room with business owners from around the world for three days and we basically get naked with each other. We go into this space where we say, here are the things that I'm stuck with. Here's the things I really need help with. And here are the things I'm really good at, and the idea is that we all want to be open and honest with each other so that not only do we get the help we need, but we're given the gift of being able to offer people the help that we can give. So it's a huge, huge part of this.
Dan Stewart (28:32): Let's see. So several more of these have come in, let's take a look here. Donna says, having clients happy so they refer and return to help me build a successful business and comfortable retirement. Yeah. I mean that, Donna, what you're touching on here is so important and this reflects on the work that I do at Happy Grasshopper, because if you think about it in most markets in the US and Canada, it's not really difficult to get a license. There's a low barrier to entry there. And one of the things that I look for before we engage in creating custom content for members is that they have the ability to create really happy clients who refer business their way. That's like a minimum barrier to entry, because if they're not capable of creating that on their own, there's almost no amount of great work we can do that's really going to help them. Like that's a core, core thing that's important to have.
Dan Stewart (29:35): Let's see here. Emily says, making the leap from admin to successful real estate sales rep. Being financially and mentally successful and being able to take my family on vacations, that is awesome. And a word about vacations. I turned 50 this past year. I have not been great about taking vacations, and I can tell you every single one that we did and in detail, what we experienced and the memories I created with my children on those vacations. Like the older I get, the more priceless those moments are. I would much rather have another vacation than a nicer car, just a personal thought there. So I'll share that. Let's see, to manage the money and time well enough to travel to a hundred countries and share truths I know. Yeah, that's interesting, Kathy. That's interesting. I wonder if there's a way, oh, and you've been to 55 countries already. That's amazing. I wonder if there's a way you could turn that passion into a business. It makes me curious. Mia, convert your fear to faith. Interesting. Paul says, be present in the current moment. All right. Lots of great comments coming in here.
Dan Stewart (31:02): I see some questions about the chat. Paul, and let's see, Ann, I don't know that you can see the comments that I'm seeing, that's why I want to read them through. I want to create an environment where everybody can get that, even if you're not able to see each other's comments. So this process of creating a vision, some of you have a sense here of what it is, and there's no right or wrong vision. Like you can love chocolate, I can love vanilla. It's a very, very subjective thing. And yet there are some things that you can do to improve your vision, to make it more real. And one of those is sharing it with people. So thank you to those of you who've shared yours here with me today. That's a meaningful step. Whatever your vision is, you're much more likely to achieve it if you share it with others.
Dan Stewart (31:58): And once you've got this vision, once you've shared it with other people, you've given yourself a tremendously powerful tool because that vision can now guide you through the activities that allow you to achieve your goals. So in step three, we really want to let that vision become our guide and we do that by aligning our actions with our intentions. Okay? I know there's some language here, we need to talk about this. I can say I'm going to try to do a good job and the way my brain interprets that, which is identical to the way yours does, is that I'm probably not actually going to do it. Because we try to do a lot of things that we don't do. I much prefer the word intentions. When we say I intend to make this webinar today, really, really powerful for everyone who attends like, oh, it makes a better impact in my brain. It allows me to do a better job, to be more present.
Dan Stewart (33:06): So aligning your actions with your intentions is a critical step. And along that path, like we're walking a path together today, this allows us to say yes to the things that will move us closer to our goals while saying no to everything that won't. This is really, really simple and yet not something that most people think about for even a moment in their lives. There are people on this call right now who have achieved incredible things in their career, apart from having a real clear vision. Imagine what that same person would be capable of. Imagine the levels of prosperity and contentment and true happiness they could achieve if they knew for sure that every single day they were walking their own path, that is an incredibly powerful thing to have.
Dan Stewart (34:05): And as I said earlier, this path is always lit by other people. It always is. Like you may have an experience in life that you consider to be incredibly negative. I was raised by parents with issues. My mother literally drank herself to death, like horribly afflicted by alcoholism. Just could never let that thing go. And so that gives me a choice. I can be a victim of that, or I can become empowered by that experience. I can allow her to have taught me that that's something I never personally want to have in my life. So whatever it is that you're experiencing, you ultimately get to decide whether that thing empowers you or prevents you. And this is an empowerment session, obviously, so light recap here. We know that to really capture that champions mindset, we must create our own vision. We must share that vision with others. And then we have to measure our actions against our vision.
Dan Stewart (35:17): If you're invited to do something, and you know that that is a distraction from your vision, it's almost instantly less attractive. If you've got a real clear vision for yourself and you're committed to achieving it, it's really easy to say no to things that get in the way, that prevent you from achieving that. So Emily, for example, if you don't mind, I'll use your comments as an example. You want to become a real estate sales professional. You want to earn the kind of money that will allow you to take your family on vacation, so that's beautiful. That's a beautiful thing. Real estate has created so much prosperity for people, there's absolutely no reason that you shouldn't expect to create that for yourself.
Dan Stewart (36:04): The first thing is deciding that is what I want. And when you decide to do something, you're literally cutting yourself off from all other possibilities. The word decide, like decision, similar to incision. It means to cut away from. So when you decide to do something, you're literally cutting yourself off from all other possibilities. So pick out that place you want to take your family on vacation, say, you know what? I don't want just one vacation, I want two vacations every year. I personally, I want a one a quarter four day weekend with my wife. That's literally something in my life and having that vision is so, so important. So kudos to you for being brave enough to share it. We've just now shared it with everyone who's watching and everyone who will see this on recorded and you can do it, Emily. You absolutely can.
Dan Stewart (37:03): So the way that we get there, the way we go from having an idea, prosperity might be nice to adopting this mindset of a champion, really creating that vision for yourself, using it to strip away the things you know you shouldn't do and allow you to do more of the things you know you should, we need to get in the gym now. We talked about accountability partners. We're going to do the reps together, okay? And to do these reps, we literally have to create a fitness plan for our careers. Think about that. Like if you want to lose weight, you know what you need to do, eat less, move more. That's pretty simple. And yet when it comes to growing our careers, woo, it seems like there's an infinite number of things we could do. And we've got to decide, well, gosh, what should we do? What really should be in that?
Dan Stewart (38:02): So we've got a group of professionals, business owners, salespeople, real estate professionals, all here today. What are the sort of things that you think you should do on a regular basis to grow your career? I want to hear them in the chat. I love the all caps there, Scott. He writes, follow up, all caps. That's perfect. Kimberly says, phone calls with a frowny face. Yes, more coffee, definitely. Definitely more coffee. Mia says, communicate, better time management, daily intention. Yeah, those are good things. There'll be more that come in here, so communicate. Like that is such a simple word to write and that's where there's so much confusion. What do I say? Who do I say it to? How often do I say it? How long do I keep saying it for? There's so much that can go into that.
Dan Stewart (39:17): Tom says, use my energy more focused towards my goals. That's good. Emily says, time blocking, organization, self encouragement, habit building. Barbara, love this, face to face. Like, ooh, if you think about it, like our ability to influence other people is directly impacted by proximity. Okay? So let's think of a lead that just comes in. Maybe they're getting an email, a text, a voicemail drop. We don't have a relationship yet. They are as far away from me as they can be. I have the smallest amount of influence over them. And over time through sending more messages, maybe I get to talk to them once. I've actually spoken to them on the phone, now we have some sort of real relationship, it's different than just a lead that's getting messages. We're one step closer.
Dan Stewart (40:12): And then maybe we're in the midst of transacting, so they're closer still. Ultimately they're a past client. They're in our sphere of influence. They're someone we physically spend time with. We have exponentially more influence over people face-to-face than we do through zoom. It's true. Like I'm reading your comments and yet I'm not seeing them on your faces, there's a huge difference there. And I know Scott is coming as, what's face-to-face? I know, it's all 2021 up in here. It's so strange to be as removed from face-to-face as we are. I cannot wait until the whole world's vaccinated and we can give each other hugs and high fives at conferences. I cannot wait to get back to that sort of normal. So thank you for sharing your thoughts here about what should be in your fitness plan. Like my sense is that each of you are calling these things out. You're kind of looking in the mirror a little bit and you're going, I could use to work on this or that or the other thing.
Dan Stewart (41:21): And there's some beauty here. You don't need someone else to tell you, you have a sense. And it's true that there's no one way to be successful, although there probably is one way for you to be successful that's a lot easier than others. So whoever it was who wrote phone calls with the frowny face, that was Kim, Kimberly, like gosh, if you don't want to make cold calls, if that's really painful for you, you need a plan for success that doesn't include you making tons of phone calls, it's just straight up simple. So think about this, like really think about the things you need to focus on based on your weaknesses. Because ultimately you're the person who's going to fulfill your vision and you know where you need to get stronger in order to be able to do that. And that's what this next section is all about. When opportunity arises, you need to show up ready.
Dan Stewart (42:28): On game day it's not time to do your first sit up, you need to be fit when it's time to start the game, like you got to be ready. So I'll tell you something we do at Happy Grasshopper, every morning, 8:30 AM, every single day, my entire sales team gets together and we role play. We warm up on each other because you're too important for us to warm up on you. How do we know that the next person we speak to isn't going to be the largest, most amazing client we ever have? Probably not the client we want to be like coughing on our first cup of coffee over. So we practice so we can be ready to absolutely crush it on game day. So there are some co components here that go into to showing up ready. First is being absolutely certain of what your outcomes are.
Dan Stewart (43:26): And this doesn't mean, my outcome, oh, my outcome is to win, I want to win the game. I want to make the sale. Like you could go so much deeper, you can make it so much more real. Like think about the very next meeting you have, after this is over today, whatever it is that you're going to do next, I don't know, think about it. Who am I going to be with? What kind of impact do I want to make on that person? Like how could that meeting happen, how could that appointment happen such that it fills me with joy and moves me towards the achievement of my vision. Like those are more powerful questions, they allow you to tap into this incredible resource between your ears and really allow your brain to do a higher level job for you than you're asking it to do most of the time.
Dan Stewart (44:22): So being really, really clear of what your outcomes are prior to the start of the meeting is clear. It makes everything so much easier. So next we're going to talk about a little thing called a playbook. So like I'll give you an example. Can you say yes for me in the chat if most of your business comes from past clients and referrals, give me a yes if most of your business comes from past clients and referrals. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I see so many yeses flying in. That's awesome. I don't see a single, no yet. We're like solid yeses here. So this is kind of fun. If this were a normal year and I was live on stage speaking in a real estate conference, I almost always ask the audience to raise their hand for me if most of their business comes from past clients and sphere. And you know what? 60 to 70% of the audience, every single time raises their hands.
Dan Stewart (45:29): That should tell you something, that should tell you something hugely positive. Even though there are millions of ways you can spend your money on generating leads, it's almost always the relationships that bring the business back to the agent. So if you really focus on a playbook where you're buying lots of leads and hoping to convert them, you're going to have a lot of frustration where if you focus more on that group of people that already knows you, likes you and trusts you, and you're communicating with them regularly, if your playbook is to touch each of those people 41 times per year such that you get to have lots conversations with them, it's far more likely you're going to generate more business with that than you will from converting crazy leads that come in from who knows where on the internet.
Dan Stewart (46:21): So my favorite playbook in real estate is generating new opportunities from people who already know you. So these are the first couple of components here from showing up ready. The next, we're going to circle back to winning that moment against yourself, because it's 2:47, in 13 minutes this session is going to be over. You're going to be on your own. It's going to be your turn to get out there and either do the thing or do not do the thing that moves you closer to achieving your vision. So you've got to expect that there are going to be these moments that you must win against yourself. And you can do this. You absolutely can, start as small as possible if you need to. Say, you know what? I will not go to sleep with a dirty dish in the sink. That's a small thing.
Dan Stewart (47:14): And when you build that muscle of knowing for sure that you'll do what you say you will do, you get incredibly strong. Okay? So putting all this together helps you build this path. And I'm going to illustrate this path for you now. I really need you to see how this is all connected. It's very, very important. So our vision, like we'll set that all the way up here in the top corner of the screen, this is our big vision, our massive goal for ourselves. This is Emily crushing in her sales career and take her family on vacations whenever she wants and not worrying about the budget. Enjoying every moment that she gets to be with her family doing that. Well, what proceeds that, what must happen before that vision is achieved? Because of what we do for a living, it's sales, like that has to happen.
Dan Stewart (48:10): Well, where does sales come from? Some people will say leads. I'm going to say opportunities, like a lead, it doesn't really feel compelling. It's kind of like the word try in my brain, but an opportunity, oh, that's more interesting. Oh, here's someone who's just entered my world and I have an opportunity to serve them. I have an opportunity to help them discover their next home. Like that's pretty cool way to think about it internally so you can break up that rut, that rut of lead fatigue that can be so easy to fall into. So where do the best opportunities come from now? I saw this, Emily, you said this in the chat a little while ago. They come from relationships. That's where the very, very best opportunities come from.
Dan Stewart (49:07): Now, here's a challenging question, where do relationships live? Where do relationships live? I want you to tell me in the chat. In my heart, wanting to connect with new people. Relationships live in the connections we make and keep with others. Connections. Lots of good answers here. I want to challenge your thinking here. Relationships live in one place, it's a magical place. It's a place that is so easy to take for granted and yet is absolutely critical to our success and our happiness. And that place is called a conversation. If you are not in conversation, you are not in relationship. It's that simple. Like anyone who's raised a child knows like if you're not down on their level engaging with your child, like they need that so badly. Right? They need that relationship.
Dan Stewart (50:33): I have three children, I know this firsthand, I've been married for 25 years. These things don't happen without real attention being paid to the quality of conversations that we get to have. I really would like you to think about what you can do to have better quality conversations with people. And by the way, not for nothing, I have taught courses on this. Can you say yes if you would like to get my series on having better conversations. Let's go ahead and call that out in the chat and I'll send it to you. So all right, Gina, it's yours. I will send it your way. Kimberly, Randy. Absolutely, I'll send it your way. All these yeses, all the chats, everything here, it's all being recorded. So I'll be able to go back through and send that.
Dan Stewart (51:26): I'll give you a hint, being a great conversationalist is about being a great listener. So I'll teach you all about active listening. I'll teach you about validation and we will make you a more powerful conversationalist for sure. So let's talk about this path. We've got our big vision, our big goal. We know it's proceeded by sales. We know that sales come from opportunities. We know the best opportunities come from relationships, and we know that relationships live inside conversations. So if we've got a really big vision, a really big goal, we can simply go all the way to the bottom of this ladder and recognize that the first wrong, if we need to have conversations, how does that happen? It happens by asking questions. So this is your staircase. This is where you climb from where you are now to wherever that monumental goal you'd like to achieve is. Conversation leads to contracts, period. It absolutely does. So we simply need to figure out the number of conversations you need to have in order to achieve that goal that you've set for yourself.
Dan Stewart (52:43): So Ruth and everyone else who's said, you would like that, awesome, I'll make sure that we send that out for you. And step six is what's next, and that is your expectation. You must expect to win. Do you think Tom Brady doesn't expect to win on Sunday? He expects to win. Absolutely does. As does the good Mr. Mahomes. Champions expect to win. They go into every single meeting they have, every listing appointment, every buyer's meeting and they expect to win. I want you to go into that with that level of confidence for yourself. So here's how you do it, the first win is to win the intention. Like you know when that ball is snapped for the first time, both of those teams are expecting to win the game. They intend to play at the highest level to get the highest possible result. And of course, to win the intention, you have to win the moment. That's absolutely critical. And as you've won that moment, these things stack up and they allow you to ultimately win your vision. That's absolutely true.
Dan Stewart (53:59): So I'd like to, I'm going to go ahead and stop the screen share here for a moment, guys. I'm going to turn off the slideshow. I want you to really see my face here. I want to make sure that I'm anchoring this for you, because at the end of the day what I view as successful isn't important to anyone but me. You've got to take that time. Really sincerely. If you want to be happy, you must take the time to sit down and ask yourself, what is my vision? And I'm going to leave you with an exercise here that's going to help you do that. This is going to be harder than you think it will be, harder than you think it will be and it will force your brain to grow. So here's the exercise, it's super simple.
Dan Stewart (54:50): I want you to find a place you can be quiet and uninterrupted and comfortable. If it helps to have a warm cup of something to drink nearby, do that. Snuggled up by a fire, that's great. I want you to do this alone. This is a singular activity. I want you to write down 100 things that you want with no judgment. If it's another guitar, write it down. This new golf clubs, write it down. If it's carpet, write it down. It does not matter what it is. I want you to do the work of writing that list of a hundred things. And then one more list. Now I want you to write down a hundred things you want to experience and who you want to experience them with. That process is going to help you really get a sense.
Dan Stewart (55:46): And as you're writing these things down, there will be things that pop up for you and you'll feel your brain start to influence some doubt, some negativity. Like maybe you want something that you consider expensive or maybe you'll be judged. Like you don't want to be judged by your friends or your family or your neighbors, write it down anyway. Okay? Take a moment to do that. Really work on that exercise. I think you'll be really, really pleased with the things that come out of it. You will have a whole list of things that you can look at when you're done, and there will be several of those that really stand out and allow you to say, ah, that's where, that, there's a theme developing here. I see where I really need to focus. This is the path to clarity that allows us to ultimately achieve our goals.
Dan Stewart (56:41): So thank you very much for allowing me to share this with you today. Now, it is 2:57, technically we have three minutes left. I am happy to spend these three minutes answering any questions that may pop up. If you attended today's segment because you want Happy Grasshopper info, thank you. I love you. Please just go to happygrasshopper.com/tour and schedule a tour. Let one of our professionals guide you in the right direction. So, well thank you Kathy, that's sweet. She says, thank you so much, I love Happy Grasshopper. Aw, I love that too. It's fun. Yes. Thank you for posting that, happygrasshopper.com/tour, that's where you go to schedule a tour.
Dan Stewart (57:31): Now, if you're here because you've heard about our new product chirp, which is that amazing 41 touch per year program, just go to happygrasshopper.com/meetchirp. Okay? You can learn about it there. You can purchase it there. You can go ahead and get started. And if you need a tour, just definitely jump on there. Okay, Flora, thank you. She's saying, so you stopped on asking questions, meaning to get the sales we have to ask questions. Well, you have to ask questions to start the conversation so that you can build the relationships that lead to the opportunities, that lead to the sales, that lead to the achievement of the goal. So there are so many strategies for this, and I've taught that. I've got great webinar content on how to ask questions, both to build rapport and to build relationships.
Dan Stewart (58:34): So for anyone who would like that content, and clearly this is a crowd that would, so I'm going to send out a thank you along with the recording and links to, I'm trying to remember the webinar title right now. I can't, but I will find it and I will share those links. So thank you all for attending today. I really appreciate it. And if you'd like to have any personal conversations with me about this, I would invite those. Just reach out to me via email, [email protected]. Just send me an email, I'm here to serve. And that said, I have an appointment in one minute at 3:00, so I'm going to jump off with you all and head off to that appointment. So hope you love what I shared today, can't wait till the next session. Talk soon, bye.