Crushed by the weight of my potential....

Growing up as a kid in So. Cal I can remember having so many talks with my Dad, usually sitting in his car driving somewhere. He knew that he had my attention because I wasn't going anywhere, at least physically I wasn't going, but mentally I usually drifted off to a place where there were no rules. He would say to me "son you have so much potential and you are just wasting your time and energy with all this stuff you do. Which was code for.."go to college, get a good job and make something of your self.

Potential? how did he know what my potential was? How does anybody know what your potential is? But apparently I had some becuase it seemed as though every adult in my life would say the same thing to me. Then one day I heard this friend of mine say that "he was being crushed by the weight of his potential" I love that saying because it was spot on true! I could hardly breathe....

Being a manger in the real estate business I find my self today saying the same things to recruits, new agents and seasoned agents. of course I don't say it out loud but inside my head I say "you have so much potential blah blah blah. What the hell does that mean, its as if my father is inside my head speaking.

I can say that hiring on potential is a mistake, it is the same as marrying for potential, you know " I thought I could change him/her". Brian Buffini says it best "when people show you who they are, believe them". As a manager my number one job is to retain agents and hopefully teach them some things about the business and life. Do I think that I can change them? No not really, I might be able to help them develop better habits and learn to run this like a business. But actually change them I don't think that is possible. Agents, especially now, have to want this more then anything else. They need to wake up every morning excited about what the day is bringing and to show that enthusiasm to their clients and other agents in the office. I am not saying that times are great, they are not great, but I have agents in this office who are doing a great job, enjoying life and doing what they can to achieve success.

This is not an easy Career path. I have been doing this for 11 years and it took me a few years to figure out that nobody is watching me, nobody really cares if you make it to the office and really if I want to make this my Career I better lift that weight of potential off of me and get moving. I love what I do, I love the agents in the office, I love living in Sellwood. But in the beginning of my career I thought this was all going to be easy, but in the end it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to have the life I have today. I guess my Dad was right because I don't feel crushed anymore....