Category: Best Practices

The ONE Thing is a great book by Gary Keller. It got me thinking: what is the one thing you can execute over the next 7, 14, or 28 days?

Have you heard the story of Olympic ice skaters? It goes something like this… skaters training for the Olympics were monitored during routine practice sessions. On the ice without “supervision” athletes performed about 80 routines in 1 hour. Then, the coach came on the ice with a whiteboard, asked the athletes to document their routines, and monitored the session… routines increased from 80 to 100 in the same amount of time.

I’m often asked why I prefer group fitness classes over working out on my own… well the answer is above. Who’s going to push you more, yourself or your trainer?

In business, do you resist tracking and measuring your numbers? When performance is tracked and measured, performance improves… when performance is tracked, measured, and reported to someone, it EXPONENTIALLY improves.

So what’s the ONE thing? Increase your level of accountability.

PS: Consider these two choices:

1. Do it NOW (take action)
2. Regret it later

Is The Sky Falling?

Adam Smith, some 233 years ago, nailed it with the concept of supply and demand. Unfortunately, he is not here now to experience “clickbait!” If you are reading a headline like “Home Prices Are Falling,” be skeptical.

Why? In general – in most markets – it’s just not the case.  Across the US, home prices are up 2.4% to a median of $425,000 compared to last year. Are there exceptions – yes, in a few segments in a few markets – reach out to me for details, or use my Altos link to look at your specific market.

Despite significant mortgage rate increases and affordability challenges, a resilient economy combined with demographic forces of demand, there simply are not enough homes for the number of qualified buyers.

Demand did drop in 2023, yet so did supply. And Adam Smith nailed it – supply and demand forces worked. To place this in perspective, at this time in 2019, there were 822,000 homes for sale nationally: today? 546,000.

Just like Wall Street, consumers love stability and predictability. As mortgage rates stabilize and normalize, we are seeing slightly more immediate sales vs. last year. This is a leading indicator that 2024 will be stronger than 2023 from a sales perspective.

Other leading indicators? For newly homes listed, Altos is reporting a few percentage points higher on the initial list price vs. the same time a year ago, and immediate sales of those homes are slightly ahead of last year.

Price cuts? Trended over time, we see about 33%; nationally, we are at 38%, so a few percentage points higher – more than normal. I suspect these relate more to affordability than other factors.

The team over at Altos reports and updates every Monday – it’s a leading indicator – much earlier than traditional channels. I’m a fan. Win The Day!

10 Ways To Take Responsibility In Business + What Is Parkinson’s Law

And Why Should You Care? 

The top 10 list for taking more responsibility in your business… starting with number 10:

Ten:  Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, words and actions.  

Nine: Blame less. 

Eight: Complain less.  

Seven: Refuse to take anything personally. 

Six: Make yourself happy. 

Abraham Lincoln said this more than 150 years ago, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Five: Live more in the present moment. 

Four: Use the power of intention. 

Three: Work expands to the time allocated (Parkinson’s Law)

Two: Start with and assume positive intent.

One: What would #1  be for you?  

What would #1 be? How about: “Don’t place your monkey on my back?”  

What is Parkinson’s Law?

Parkinson’s Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955. He shares the story of a woman whose only task in a day is to send a postcard – a task which would take a busy person approximately three minutes. But the woman spends an hour finding the card, another half hour looking for her glasses, 90 minutes writing the card, 20 minutes deciding whether or not to take an umbrella along on her walk to the mailbox … and on and on until her day is filled.

Read his original article here.

Why should you care?

Deadlines can cause procrastination or even prompt people to fill their time with trivial matters.

Implication?

One: Assign a “time limit” to everything. Example: in the next hour, I will complete ____. If you say, it will take 30 minutes to get your shipping done or 90 minutes, both are right. The work will expand to the time given. Allocate your time!

Two: Putting projects into the context of larger goals and creating timelines in days rather than weeks are two strategies to help overcome Parkinson’s Law.