“Your brain is for having ideas, not holding them.”
Peak performers write stuff down:
- Tasks
- Goals
- Worries
- Feelings
- Thoughts
Debrief After Everything
Write make-it-better notes after every:
- Listing appointment
- Buyer showing
- Open house
- Project completion
- Day or week
The idea comes from the Blue Angels, who debrief after every flight. Read more in Glad to Be Here: Lessons in High Performance from the Blue Angels.
A Five-Minute Debrief
- What was the goal?
- What actually happened?
- What worked?
- What would make it better next time?
Write the answers down. Over a month, your notes become your own training manual.
Turn Notes Into Action
Writing things down only helps if you come back to them. Once a week, take ten minutes to review your notes:
- Move open tasks onto next week’s calendar.
- Look for patterns in your debriefs. Are the same objections coming up? The same mistakes?
- Pick one improvement and write it at the top of next week’s page.
Over time, this becomes a playbook built from your own conversations, more useful than any script. For leaders, ask agents to bring one debrief note to their next coaching session. It turns a general check-in into a specific conversation about getting better.
Journal to Clear Your Head
Journaling is one of the fastest ways to dump stress and gain clarity. I use the High Performance Planner by Brendon Burchard.

Framework: This post is part of Action Produces Data, the coaching framework for consistent production: take the next right action, track it and let the results, not opinions, guide what you do next.
Want help applying this in your brokerage? Book a 30-minute conversation with Mark at calendly.com/mjsession.

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