Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

–Dr. Seuss

My baby girl turned one yesterday. Kids grow up so fast – my son will be eight in a couple of weeks. While real estate has been a passion of mine for a long time, I only have this time with my kids once so I’m making sure I don’t overcommit to clients and relying on other great real estate agent partners to help out as well. My family is my inspiration and I’m very lucky to spend a lot of quality time with them.

Both of my kids like this video by Laurie Berkner – the baby can probably watch the entire Party Day video two or three times a day.

I’m a big fan of the FlyLady and her method of home organization. One of the first things she asks people to do is to shine their sink. Don’t worry about doing the dishes, cleaning the counter, just clear out the sink, clean it and shine it. It is all about just doing a small task, getting into routines and habits.

Another thing I like about FlyLady is that she often will say, “You are not behind! I don’t want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?” It is easier to create new habits when you break things down into small bite sized steps. Cleaning your sink won’t guarantee you have a clean house, but it is a place to start. So take a few minutes today and shine your sink, you may find it gives you motivation to accomplish something else on your to-do list.

“The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

- Abraham Lincoln

I’ve always had a fondness for Abraham Lincoln – we share a birthday. Since this is his birthday month and since he was my first hero he will be the feature for inspiration for the next few Fridays.

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

― Abraham Lincoln

In order to achieve our goals – we will fail more times than we succeed. Personally I know I will sometimes not act at all instead of attempting something that I do not know will be a success. One thing that can bring success is confronting what your fears are answering three questions:

1. How does this fear hold me back in life?

2. How does it help me or how has it helped me in the past?

3. What would be the payoff for elimiating this fear all together?

Learn more about how to conquer your fears and move forward with your life. Are your fears holding you back from your dreams? Are your fears holding you back from buying a great house?

Doing the steps in this video will only take a few minutes. Writing down your goals makes them more likely to happen. So take a few minutes to watch the video and another few minutes to write your goals and you will be well on your way to getting them acomplished.

No matter if your goals do not currently include buying or selling real estate – it is an immportant way to make things happen in your life instead of reacting blindly to the things that happen around you. Take five minutes to watch the video and take another five minutes to write down ten goals.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
― Zig Ziglar

I would expect that nearly everyone reading this post to have big goals. It hasn’t been easy in the past couple of years to buy or sell a house. It hasn’t been easy for real estate agents either. While many people spend time setting goals at the end of the year for the next, it is important not to wait to start working on achieving your goals. Don’t wait until January to start – all of a sudden January is over and before you know it half of the year has passed.

Here is some motivation for not waiting to start working on your goals. From the video, “you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

One last Zig Ziglar quote for the day: “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” If you are looking to buy a house, get educated on how to qualify for a loan and the entire home buying process. If you are thinking of selling your home – the same applies – learn as much as possible about the process. Most people only buy or sell a home a few times in their lives. It is not something to go into lightly. Buying or selling a house can be broken down into steps and all of a sudden becomes more realistic. I’m happy to help anyone achieve their home buying or home selling goals.

It has felt like a long week and I still have some work to do before the weekend. Since I have a baby my world is constantly filled with multi-tasking and sometimes I need to take a break and like zenhabits suggests – just focus on doing one thing. It’s hard when the baby is pulling at cords on the floor to focus on responding to an email or even just to randomly surf the internet One of my main goals to make this the best resource for real estate in Davis. I am not going to be happy until this is the most comprehensive resource for people looking to buy or sell in this area. My main distraction is pretty cute – sometimes, like now, she even sleeps.

Most all of us have so much to be thankful for, even if sometimes it feels like it is taking a while to achieve our goals – if you work hard you can achieve great things.