I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna use sports quotes

• You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne Gretzky

I first heard that slice of wisdom from my daughter's church league basketball coach nearly 20 years ago. He put it on hand-written signs for every girl to post in her room. I thought then that it was a basketball quote, but also I know it's a life philosophy. Today, while trying to find the author's name, I discovered that hockey great Wayne Gretzky is responsible for those wise words.

Turns out, Gretzky quotes apply to real estate decisions and even to a real estate career.

• I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. ~Wayne Gretzky

Don't you know lots of buyers and investors who wish they had known in 2007 where the puck was going to be just one year later? A whole new crop of investors is now trying to discern the future. The market is going to turn, that's for sure. When and where?

• The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it. ~Wayne Gretzky

As agents are faced with paying dues for 2012, I'm betting that REALTORs whose reputations meet that standard will be the ones who go forth into the new year.

• A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. ~Wayne Gretzky

I know that this quote is much like an earlier one, but I like the distinction it makes betweeen good and great. I need to know what marketing tools WILL work, not merely what is working now or what has worked in the past. I'm good right now. I'm working on great!

• I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. ~Michael Jordan

We have to learn to learn from failure, get back up, and get back in the game. Now if only the market will learn its lessons as well as Michael Jordan!