WS1618: Taking Action to Achieve Goals | Whitney Sewell

Episode 1618 

[INTRODUCTION]

Whitney Sewell WS: I had to be willing to step out. I don’t know if I’d ever spoken into a microphone more than twice in my life before starting a podcast, right? And now, you know, I’ve spoken on many large stages often. And so you got to be willing to step through some fear, right? You have to be willing to take some risks, right? If you want a big reward, you gotta be willing to take some risks. 

[START OF EPISODE]

WS:  This is your Daily Real Estate Syndication Show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell, and I have something burning that I want to express to the listeners. I came back from a conference this past week, and it was the best ever conference, if you have not been, I encourage you to go next year. It’s probably one of the bigger and better conferences for operators, lots of great operators are there every year that I know that grows every year. Best ever real estate investing conference, obviously, the best ever brand, but Joe Fairless, just a good friend of mine, he’s been a longtime mentor of mine as well, but too great to be on that stage numerous times this year while I was there, and even on the DLP stage as well, another amazing group that I’ve gotten to know over this past year. 

WS:  But one thing I just wanted to share with the listeners that I go to these conferences. I’ve been to so many like this, as many of you know many of you have been to these conferences. I’ve seen you there. We’ve got to shake hands. If not, and I encourage you to go check them out, right? You gotta get out there and shake hands and meet people and make things happen, right? Ask questions and keep stepping forward. 

WS:  And my wife and I over the years I’ve traveled so much and been to so many conferences, oftentimes I would not know, hey, is this going to be worthwhile? Am I going to meet somebody that’s going to be helpful? Or can I, am I going to be able to help people while I’m there? I’ve been to so many. And my wife would just continually remind me that we’re just stepping out in faith, right? We’re just stepping out and we’re trusting the Lord and knowing that, hey, these are going to open doors through these relationships and whatnot. And I can look back, and even at some key relationships that I have today, that came from relationships that started like five years ago, as specific conferences like this, okay, I didn’t know then what was going to happen, right?

WS:  But even looking forward, now I see partnerships that, you know, we’re probably going to have with other operators, or other people in the industry that started four or five years ago at conferences just like this. So I just say, you gotta keep going, you gotta get out there and put your foot forward and make some decisions. So take some action, right? And you’ve heard me talk about it so many times. But something that just spurred this on a little bit. I was just doing another interview with somebody else. And they were talking about how they actually were both doctors, Victor Leite. And you’re going to hear that interview.

WS: You may have already heard it at this point, but you’re going to hear how he and his wife, both doctors both living the quote American dream, right? Both working 60, 70 plus hours a week. And you know, they go for like a little break right together. And they finally ask themselves that question, right? Is this working? Is this what we really were wanting in that American dream? And it reminded me of my story, right? My wife and I walked on the beach, I was a federal agent and I also trained horses full-time. So it was more than two full time jobs. I was in the arena most nights until midnight. But it was a passion of mine. Ilove doing it. But I was missing all that time with my wife and my kids. And sure enough, we went to the beach. And I don’t think we planned it this way. But I was reading at that time, reading a lot. And I was reading a Tim Ferriss book, actually, it was maybe I went through The 4-Hour Workweek but it was also his mentor book to the Titans. I can’t remember the name of it. But I was going through that book. But then I was also reading some other things. 

WS: My wife and I were just praying and walking on the beach and we finally asked ourselves that question, you know, is what we’re doing right now gonna get us where we want to go five years from now, the obvious answer was no, you’ve heard me talk about this. And we came home this September timeframe and sold the farm like we put it, we knew that we had to take action and make decisions that nobody else knew. Anyway, at that time, we’re not willing to make. Okay. So I mean, it was just obvious at that point. And so, it took that break, though, that, you know, to get away to think through those things together, right? And we came back and took massive action. I mean, it was a really big step for us. 

WS: We were called crazy by lots of people that love us, care about us, and they meant well, I respect them. Love them for reaching out even inside hey, what’s going on at the soul household, there’s something happening there. And they’re right, there was something happening, we were trying to change our future in a big way, right? It worked. I mean, the Lord worked through that and let us and it’s still leading us Wow. But we had to take action and we sold everything related to that the divorce-rating business and obviously started a daily podcast and all those things. We started a syndication podcast before it ever syndicated a deal, folks. So like, you got to step out there. 

WS: And just rant about this a little bit, because I see so many people at these conferences, and then I’m gonna come back to a couple things to help you like think through those. But at these conferences, I’ve seen the same people there for five years, right, or more five or six years now how long it’s been going on. And so many of them have not taken any action. And there’s this fear that keeps them from taking action, right, or they blame it on something else. They say I, you know, I don’t have enough information yet, or I don’t know about this thing, or, you know, whatever. Man, you know, if you’re going to look for excuses, you’re always going to find one, you’re always gonna find one. And I’m guilty of that as well. I’ve done that at different parts of time, and a lot of times in my life, and, and I still do it, but I’ve grown in that. 

WS: And but I had to, I had to be willing to step out. I don’t know if I’d ever spoken into a microphone more than twice in my life before starting a podcast, right? And now, you know, I’ve spoken on many large stages often, and so you got to be willing to step through some fear, right, you have to be willing to take some risks, right? If you want a big reward, you gotta be willing to take some risks. I didn’t know if the podcast would be successful. I didn’t know if our real estate business would be successful. And we sold the farm. That was a massive risk for us. My wife and I were just crying when we were pulling out of that driveway. I really couldn’t believe that we did it. I still can’t believe it when I look back. 

WS: But that question, you know, we knew we had to take some action, do some big things right now to change the trajectory of our lives moving forward. And we did just that, we hired a mentor. I now have numerous mentors, different mentors in different aspects of my life that I’m always like, seeking wisdom and guidance from, right, and talking to them often. And hey, what’s, you know, how did they do this trying to get into different rooms, different event masterminds, things like that? If people are way ahead of me, that has helped me so much. Have you done that? Right? Have you asked yourself, you know, is what I’m doing right now gonna get me where I want to go five years from now, even a year from now or 10 years from now? Right? Is it? You know, and have you talked to your spouse about that? 

WS: One thing I liked about the interview too, with Victor, he talked about, you know, he and his wife, David created this little roadmap, right? And they asked themselves, where they want to be down the road, whether it was five years a year, I don’t remember exactly. But then they just reverse-engineered it, right? And he just made it so simple. We just sat at the kitchen table, we talked through these things. Well, there you go, right? And often it comes from that conversation with you and your spouse, I hope if you are married, that your spouse is on board with this. Our business would not have worked if my spouse, my wife was not completely on board And behind our mission, right? You’ve heard me talk about that often. 

WS: And I would also highlight that my business partner, Sam, I mean, an amazing guy, amazing family, we need his wife to be on board as well, right? And she was, you know, we met. That was something we talked about, or we talked as couples and talked through all that. But she was on board as well. And we couldn’t have done it. If our spouses we’re not together on this, you know, road with us, right and supporting us at home. And, you know, going to this conference, seeing all these people that I’ve seen for many years, who have not taken action, they’re still living in fear. They’re afraid to take that big step. What are you waiting on?

WS: Right? What are you waiting on? Yeah, anyway, I’ve said enough about that. I wanted to highlight a book that I have gone to many times, and I actually just pulled it out this morning, because I wanted to and I’m just gonna actually just talk through a couple of things that I underlined in, just like this is just the introduction of this book. And I think that’s is all I’m gonna talk about. It’s just a few things I highlighted in just the introduction, not even getting into the book, but I’ve talked about it before. It’s called The Power of Self-Discipline, and No Excuses. It says it’s by Brian Tracy, I give him all the credit for this book. And, man, I enjoyed it a lot. And it’s something I should go back through probably annually, but it’s been a little bit and so I just opened it and looked at some of the things that are underlined in just the introduction, that alone much less the rest of the book, and maybe I’ll highlight some more that if you’d like to hear more of what I underlined in this book are some more thoughts from the rest of this book that I think would be helpful. I’d love to hear from you. 

WS: You can always reach out or email us at info at LifeBridgeCapital.com We’d love to hear from your or guests that you would like to hear on the show are things you have questions about, would you email us and let us know I would love to hear from you and know what’s gonna help you the most if you’re passive or active investor, either one, I’d love to hear from you and what you would like to hear.

WS: But okay, so in his book he talks about this wonderful fantasy place that most people think of that’s called the Someday Isle. Like someday, I’ll do this thing, right?  Someday, I’ll do that thing. Someday, I’ll set those goals. Someday, I’ll take action.  Someday, I’ll talk to my spouse about those goals and you know, ask them about their goals or whatever. Whatever it may be, but sometimes someday, right? I’ll get to that thing. Well, man, when is that we say that someday,, I’ll read that book. Someday I’ll start that exercise program Sunday, I’ll upgrade my skills and earn more money. I love how he lays so much of this out. I’m not going to read all that. 

WS: But I’m just gonna highlight a few more things that I underlined here because it just stood out. And remember this just an introduction. He also says losers make excuses. Winners make progress. I was just talking to my boys last night before bed, and it’s like trying to help them to say, hey, if you’re looking for an excuse, you’re gonna find one, you’re gonna find it, right? Everybody does. Everybody does. And unfortunately, more people than not find a lot more excuses than they make progress, right? Then the decisions made to make progress. And so and then he says, is there anyone else who has my same excuse? Who is successful anyway? I don’t know. Maybe you should ask yourself that right? When you have any excuse. 

WS: Is there anybody else as an excuse that’s been successful? But winners make progress. And winners I don’t feel are whiners. That’s my own thing right there. Winners are not whiners. And so my boys, I mean, even you know, they get a hard math problem in school, and they want to whine about it, right? And I’m like, come on now, you know, are you facing you know this and saying, hey, I’m in here, and I’m gonna learn? Are you looking for an excuse and hoping somebody will feel sorry for you by whining about it, right? That’s not helpful, not to them, not to anybody else. 

WS: As we become adults, we still tend to whine about things, right? And it just looks a little different. Hopefully, it looks different. Maybe not for all of us. But either way, it looks different. Most of us, but we still won. And that’s another thing. As I’ve grown, I’ve talked about mentors, I need people, even Sam, my business partner, and numerous other mentors, people in my life that are holding me accountable, right? So when I do make an excuse, when I am whining about something, they can question me about it, right? They didn’t call me out and say, hey, is that right? Is that you know, here’s whining there? 

WS: So let’s talk about self-discipline, and how that relates to this a little bit. But the development of self-discipline, he says, changed my life, and it will change yours as well. By continually demanding more from myself, I became successful in sales and then in management. That’s Brian Tracy, of course. But self-discipline also changed my life. I mean, personally, in a massive way. It’s when I you know, something is simple, is when I started getting up early in the morning and reading consistently, that changed things for me, right? It changed my life. That’s also when I start drinking bulletproof coffee, by the way, but that’s a different subject. But it changed everything for me. And I just encourage you, hey, you know, have you worked on self-discipline? Are you improving personally? Or are you taking in things from people that are further ahead than you are? Right? Are you reading books from people that you want to be like that are motivating you that are taking you to another place in your life? Or are you just surrounding yourself with the same people doing the same things, right? Making the same excuses? 

WS: Oh, I’ll, you know, I’ll do that thing. Maybe after I watch the game, right, Sunday afternoon, or after I watch the game Friday night or after I get together again with my buddies this weekend, I’ll start exercising, or I’ll read that book maybe next week. What excuses are you making? Right? And you know, are the other people that you’re with while making those excuses? Are they having success? Or they should ask themselves, “I discovered that you can achieve almost any goal you set for yourself if you have the discipline to pay the price, to do what you need to do and to never give up.” Achieve almost any goal you set for yourself, if you have the discipline to pay the price. So, what is the price that you’re going to have to pay to achieve that goal that you’re setting for yourself? Right? Do you know what the goal is? If not, you should start there. Maybe start with your spouse as well? What is that goal? Where are you trying to go? So you can reverse engineers? So then you can think through the price that’s gonna have to be paid? 

WS: What does that look like for us? It meant selling the farm. And it meant moving into a small house and not the greatest part of town, and then also living in the basement for almost three years in the office. You know, while just getting the business started, it was quite madness. And then there were many other sacrifices along the way the Lord sustained my wife and I thankfully through all of that, but man, we just had to keep going and never give up. Like he says right there. And he says, you know, perhaps the most important insight of all with regard to success is that to achieve greatly, you must become a different person. Think about that. It is not the material things that you accomplish or acquire that matters so much as it is the quality of the person you must become to accomplish well above the average. 

WS: The development of self-discipline is the high road that makes everything possible for you. So I love that little paragraph. There’s just a few sentences but he really lays it out there. Right? He puts it out there. It is not the material things you accomplish or acquire that matters so much as it is the quality of the person you must become to accomplish well above the average. And so, that sentence right there, can go back to this conference this past weekend, right? Man, the quality of person you must become? What are you doing to improve the quality of person that you are? Are you reading? Are you exercising? Are you doing things that are difficult or like that other people are not willing to do? Because if you’re just going with a crowd, guess what you’re gonna go exactly where they’re going. Right? I mean, it’s it’s not rocket science folks, that most are not willing to do something different than what the crowd is doing or to stand out in any way. 

WS: Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it. Whenever,  whether you feel like it or not. It’s Brian Tracy, love that. Are you able to get out of bed on time? I struggle with that some of the time just changed, actually. And  it’s kind of kicked my tail a little bit the last couple mornings, and I’ve got to get back on it, but we lost an hour. It’s crazy how that throws me off a little bit, but there are a lot. But man, you know, I think about you know, if I expect somebody to hand me 1200, 50,000, to invest in a deal with us, I should be able to get my behind in our bed. Right? Like, think about it like that, if I really expect somebody to do that today and investor to trust, trust me, our team, you know, with their hard-earned capital, you know, they kind of expect me to get out of bed, right? They don’t, they shouldn’t have to worry about that. 

WS: But that, it takes me getting out of bed so I can get my routine going. So I can have that self-discipline, first thing to read those books to study, to do all those things to get my day going, make sure I’m prepared for the day. But instead of the day just hitting me in the face, right? That’s just one example. self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Most people do what is expected not or what is fun and easy, rather than what is necessary for success. self-discipline requires delayed gratification, the ability to put off satisfaction in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long-term. So that’s what we did by selling the farm, it would have been so great to stay in that house and in that place, and I could have just continued to be a federal agent that was comfortable, right? That was what most people thought that we should do. They had a great job, great benefits, you know, decent money, right?

WS: We were living the American dream, right? But we see you know what, we’re going to delay this gratification, we’re going to sell the farm, we’re going to put that satisfaction off right now for greater rewards down the road. For the long-term. That’s what we did. That’s what we knew we had to do at the time, to be able to be able to we were actually in another adoption process. And we knew we needed the money for that. There’s another 40 to 60 grand, also knew that I needed to hire a mentor, right, I knew that was crucial for our success in real estate and moving quickly. And you know, just having somebody right on my team that’s been there done that are on my side. 

WS: And so there was a lot of money there that we were going to have to come up with and really on my salary, my income at the time was going to be very difficult. And so we knew we had to sell the farm. And so we were willing to want another farm, right? But that was a goal of ours, right that we had set, we didn’t know how long that was going to take. But we were willing to delay that gratification for long-term, larger results, right, or greater reward as he says it. So in other words, the most successful people are long-term thinkers, they look into the future as far as they can to determine the kind of people they want to become, and the goals they want to achieve. They then come back to the present and determine the things that they will have to do or not do to achieve their desired futures.

WS: So you’re thinking long-term, right? You need to be a long-term thinker. I’ve experienced this personally, and my family and see it all the time. You know, people want to make that million right now. And of course, we all want to get there as fast as we can. But man, if you can think long-term, I mean, really, if you could make a million dollars, you know, let’s say your fifth year, but you’re not gonna make anything until then. But that year, you’re going to make a million dollars if you knew that, could you keep going, could you push that long? Because it’s very doable, it is very doable. It’s very doable, okay, and most likely, you’re gonna make money before that, right? But that is very doable, but you have to be willing to pay the price, right? Like we just talked about what is that price, what you know, you gotta be able to term and you know, what is the price you’re gonna have to pay to get that reward. That long-term reward when you’re thinking long-term right down the road. Successful people make sure that everything they do in the short term is consistent with where they want to end up in the long term.

WS:  They practice self-discipline at all times. Then say sometimes says at all times, they’re practicing self-discipline. Remember, they’re confirming that the short-term stuff they’re doing, it’s pushing them towards long-term goals, right? We, I’ve talked about meetings that we have internally, I’ve talked about rocks and LTN. And all these alignment meetings, you’ve heard me talk about those that we do with our team, all that is pushing towards a bigger goal, like for the entire company, right, or, you know, as a whole. All these things that are consistent that we’re consistently doing, that are looking forward towards a bigger goal, long-term reward. 

WS:  All right, every practice of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline. Unfortunately, every weakness in discipline weakens your other disciplines as well. So think about that, how it compounds. I mean, it’s incredible how true that every practice of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline, but the ones that are you’re weakened, will weaken the others as well. So I hope that that helps you to think through this. I’m not going to go through any more in this book at this moment. But ultimately, I was just spurred on by being at this conference this past week. 

WS: And I’m seeing people who I saw there five years ago, right, and they’re in almost the same place now that they were then, they’ve not taken action. They’re letting fear hold them back. They’re not willing to move forward because of excuses, right? They’re making excuses. And I care about these people, I want to see them succeed. I’m not calling anybody out personally, but I just, I just want to push them, right, I want to push them to be willing to step out there and go make it happen. You have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone, I have to be willing to get out of my comfort zone. And I’m continually looking for places for me to do that and to push myself for other people to hold me accountable to that, right? 

WS: It’s not easy. It’s not easy for me either. But I’ve had to do it. And I see other people are especially early on, it’s like I see other people are like Joe Fairless, that daily podcast. Well, I saw what success that brought him and I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought honestly. And thankfully, you know, it’s just like, okay, if that’s what worked for him, and it works, let’s go make it happen. Let’s go figure it out, right? That did come with a lot of challenges, to say the least, it did, but it pushed me to grow in ways that I never imagined that one thing that one decision much less and many other decisions since then that have been made in our business and grow in our growth, but you have to be willing to do things that other people are not willing to do. 

WS: Anyway, I hope that this show today has been motivational to you. I hope that it’s challenging you. And again, I would love to hear from you. You can always email us [email protected]. 

WS: I would love to hear your questions. I’d love to hear where you’re struggling right now. What questions as a passive investor do you have? What questions does an active operator have? I would love to know them. Never forget to connect online, go to LifeBridgeCapital.com. We would love to hear from you. 

[END OF EPISODE]

[OUTRO]

WS: Thank you for being with us again today. I hope that you have learned a lot from the show. Don’t forget to like and subscribe. I hope you’re telling your friends about the Real Estate Syndication Show and how they can also build wealth in real estate. You can also go to LifeBridgeCapital.com and start investing today.

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