Dreams are important. If you have a dream, but you’re not chasing it, what is that dream?
The reality is that if you are not working towards your dream, then your dream is purely fantasy. A dream that you are not going after is something that just floats around in your head.
In order to really chase your dreams, you have to put a plan in place about how to realize the dream, and then take the necessary steps to pursue the dream.
The nuance is that action is necessary to realize your dreams.
At this point, you may be asking yourself what actions are necessary to fulfill the dream.
What you really should do first is determine whether your dream actually aligns with your personal goals. If not, then that either means you need to change your dream or you need to change your goals.
The second thing that you should do once you determine that your dream is what you want to pursue and that is aligns with your goals is to set targets and SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, reachable, and time-based) goals. SMART goals became the foundation for the process that will aid you in achieving your dream.
The next, and biggest thing that you should do is to implement the tasks that you need to take to accomplish the tasks that help you realize your dreams. What I have done with my big goals and that I would recommend that you also implement is to break down the steps or actions necessary to accomplish your goal. I “chunk down” the steps that I plan to take on a monthly basis. And then I break those steps down further into weeks. And then I break the steps down further into days.
When chunking down your goals, you need to break these goals into specific tasks for the month, specific tasks for the weeks, and then specific tasks for the days. And then you fill your days with the activities that you need to do to start accomplishing those goals.
As I said, a dream without action is really nothing. It’s just pie in the sky. It’s not going to happen unless you get extremely lucky. Dreams take work. Dreams take setting goals and dreams take chunking those goals down into specific actions and tasks over a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. Once you do that, then you are chasing dreams. Even if things do not always go according to plan, then you can make changes along the way.
I like this approach, but I cannot take credit for it by any stretch of the imagination. The methodology actually came from Craig Ballantine who has created the Perfect Day Formula and the Perfect Week Formula. Interestingly, the Perfect Day Formula did not work well for me until I started doing the Perfect Week Formula. I will say that the Perfect Week Formula has been a game changer for me.
The system has really helped me visualize what I need my week to look like in order to accomplish the goals that I have for each month. While some weeks are better than others, most of the time, I’m very diligent in moving my goals forward. I have to be on top of things because I run a real estate investment banking business and also a real estate investment business.
But one of the things that Craig always says in the Perfect Week Formula is to ensure that you take care of the important stuff. Set your date nights, set your time with the kids, set your lunches and dinners, make time for your workouts, and any other leisure or development tasks your wish to accomplish. Those are the things that become non-negotiable activities. You then can figure out what time you have to work, so then you can plan your week around the time that you have.
When I break down my goals by month and arrange tasks first on a weekly basis followed by a daily basis, I then can be both strategic and tactical about how to move my big goals forward. I identify the big things that I have to accomplish, and then break down tasks like sending an investment banking proposal to 50 lenders, analyzing 10 investment deals per week, writing 2 number per articles, shooting 1 video per week, preparing a bi-weekly marketing campaign, planning a date night or family game night, studying language, reading, and carving out time each week day to run, bike, or do cardio. These are the tasks that help me reach the bigger goals that I have set such as:
- Close 12 financing deals with total volume greater than $100 million each year
- Close at least 4 direct real estate investments and 10 passive real estate investments each year
- Set up a real estate investment fund in the next 6 months to quickly take advantage of opportunities in the market
- Become a published author this year
- Exercise 5 days per week
- Spend quality time with my wife and kids both together and individually
- Become fluent in Spanish and intermediate level in Dutch by the end of the year
I have a number of other life dreams, but I have had to narrow them down to the ones that I want to accomplish most. And if I cannot accomplish the goal on my own, I also partner with like-minded people who I know, like, and trust. In fact, partnering with people has been a method of mine for my entire career. It has helped me be even more successful than I could have on my own.
If there’s anything that we can do to assist you in your journey with either your real estate investing goals or with your commercial real estate financing for your multifamily apartment complexes, office buildings, retail projects, industrial buildings, self-storage facilities, or other commercial real estate, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are happy to help!
Until next time, let’s continue growing our passive cash flow and net worth together.
-Robert