Midsummer’s Night Dream or Am I On Track to Meet My Goals?

It’s August, and there are technically five more months to this year. In Real Estate, however, there are, in actuality, only three more months to generate revenue for your business in this calendar year.  Real estate contracts written in November and December will typically close at the beginning of the new year. In addition, these last two months are used in part to set a plan for the first quarter of the next year. 

While I was on vacation at the beach, I had a great opportunity to reflect on what went right and what went wrong this year.  How is our team measuring up and how am I, as a leader? This is where the mid-year review comes in. So, get out your pen and paper and let’s honestly and critically look at how we did. 

How to Make the Most of Mid-Year Reviews 

STEP ONE:

The first step is to get your goals for the year and look at them again. Some people have their goals visible all the time and look at them daily as a reminder of where they want to go. Others “set it and forget it.” Whichever you are, measure yourself and your team by the numbers. Are you where you want to be? If you are on track, good for you! If you aren’t, what are you going to do differently in the third quarter to set yourself up for success over the remainder of the year? As my coach reminds me, “Production Fixes Everything!” Write down what you are committing to do for the rest of the year to change your trajectory. Put accountability partners in your life to help you stay on track, whether it’s hiring a coach or weekly meetings with your Broker.  

Peter Chatel, my husband, and John Maxwell, the ONE THING coach, just shared the following with his coaching clients and has given me permission to reuse here. 

Seven habits for effective halftime evaluation and adjustment: 

1. Set aside time for reflection. What we value, we create time for = the leader’s edge. 
2. Prepare your materials.  Each morning, have your toolbox refilled for the day; notebook, computer, power cords, extra battery packs, pencils, blue pens and highlighters.  
3. Write down all of your observations. Review your calendar and note observations. Take 5 minutes at the end of each day to summarize the highlights of the day. 
4. Reflect on all of your findings. Ask yourself powerful questions, what should I do more of, less of? Who should I share this with? (Who can help you the most?) What will I do to improve this? What do I feel? What do I know? What do I think? 
5. Make crucial discoveries. Deal with yesterday to best discover tomorrow — touch the past to create a better tomorrow. Reflection turns experience into insight. Inspection is the foundation for expectation. 
6. Plan the second half. Learn from the first half and plan for a better second half. What must be fueled in the second half? What do I need? 
7. Schedule the things you want to accomplish. The second half will only be as good as the changes you make based on the learning of the first half. Knowledge doesn’t change anything. Only acting on the game plan will change your outcome. 

STEP TWO:

Beyond the numbers, how are you doing in terms of your mission, vision, values, beliefs and perspectives?  This is a good time to reassess how you and your team have done expressing that mission and vision. A written self-review can be insightful. Answer the following questions as honestly as you can, without being too critical of yourself: 

• On a scale of 1-10, how did I do with regard to handling difficult clients? 
• What were the biggest learning opportunities thus far in 2022? 
• What am I most proud of? What were my achievements? 
• Did I take additional CE that was particularly valuable and why? 
• On a scale of 1-10, how am I doing as an employee, agent, team leader, broker? 
• Am I positively impacting the lives of others for good? Write one example. 

Clarifying Your Work Values Leads to Job Satisfaction 

If you are into extreme accountability, take this assessment to your broker, team leader, husband, wife and ask them to assess you answering these same questions. You’ll probably be surprised at how much better they think you are doing than you do. We are all much harder on ourselves than others are, generally speaking. 

STEP THREE:

And finally, what immediate changes can you make to adjust your trajectory?  

If you are off track for your goals this year, there is still time to make small and large changes that will affect the 3rd and 4th quarters and Q1 of the next year.  

Here are some things our team is concentrating on now: 

1. How many past clients will we contact this week? Day? Week? Month? 
2. How many out of state referral partners will we call?  Day? Week? Month?  
3. Set up a bi-weekly mastermind with top producing agents from other brokerages for lunch and learn and sharing of best practices. “Iron sharpens iron.” 
4. Write out affirmations supporting the intention of obtaining your goals.  
5. Read your affirmations aloud everyday as if they have already happened with an attitude of gratitude. 
6. “Do It Now!” As Michael Maher, one of my mentors and author of 7L – Seven Levels of Communication, says.  Take action every. Single. day.  

This is not the time to focus on past failures. The past is the past, as they say, and we can’t change that. Today and tomorrow are ours to mold. That is why doing the half year review is important. What did we learn and what are we going to repeat or eliminate in our actions for the rest of the year. “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” Napoleon Hill