ATTENTION DECODED

6 reasons you should buy a home.  An improving economy and steady job market signals an improving housing market. One stimulates a rise in the others. This will remain virtually unchanged by the most recent rate increase in the foreseeable near future. If the average home price is 225k this would mean on a 30 year fixed rate loan the increase would reflect a predicted drift to $26 a month increase on buyers. Not enough to stop people from buying a home when home values are on the rise. Interest rates increasing is actually a sign that the economy has improved and showing no sign of slowing.  When the Federal Government raises interest rates the masses will always shudder.  Here is the reality: #1. Interest rates are still low even after this raise.  #2. Buying a home still makes sense in America. #3. The dollar is strong. #4. Buying property is still one of the safest ways to diversify your money. #5. We have both steady job and economic growth to support our housing...

Long Pitches.  Long pitches aren't the problem. The reason you are not converting prospects isn't the length of your sentences. The problem is connection. Prospects are not short for time. Time can be made if there is more perceived value going on in the current moment than the anticipated value in the next. An elevator pitch was originally designed to spit out the product/service as fast as possible. A fast delivery with the hope that you could speak within a prospects attention span.  A strategy designed so that prospects would be receptive rather than irritated with you. This strategy is all but dead. There are too many options for people to pick from. You won't compel them with the verbal equivalent to a tweet.  Selling today requires you to be compelling. To be compelling you have to hit an inner nerve. Then you have to serve them IMPACT. A "one thought wonder". A reason to dialogue further. This may take longer than an elevator ride... But time matters less ...

2nd gear.  Some people stay in first gear for the duration of their careers. Waiting for someone to tell them when to shift.  Waiting for someone to tell them it is their turn. The truth: You are the driver.  You control the speed.  Your future is under the hood just like the motor in a car. Capable.  Just waiting on the gas. Your ambition be your permission. Let that be your fuel. If you want more. Do more. Hit the gas... Go. #StrikeAmatch

Having a vision for where you want to take yourself is vital for your success today. 40-60 years ago this wasn't necessarily true. Vision then as compared to now meant following a previous path. Young people were to follow the same career path as their elders to ensure their own future and security. The economy supported that lifestyle. Production of revolutionary goods demanded workers for several generations and so there was no need to think outside the box. Now however, we are living in a much different economic system. The laws of how to be successful have changed faster than the masses of workers have been able to keep up with. For the most part people are still following an outdated path for obtaining career safety. Lots of people are discouraged with not reviving a guaranteed path from their employers. These are the employees that are stuck on depending on a system that no longer exists. Here is what has fundamentally changed about how our economy works: Companies used to...

W ithout action, what you believe in can not be seen, heard or physically felt.  Not by the outside world.  To make your mark...we will need to feel something from you. We need to feel that you believe in your work. We need to know by interacting with you that you live and breathe what you do. That it is more than a job. That is how your brand should feel to us. Us the consumer, and us the friend. What you believe in matters because it is a good indication of your future actions. Your beliefs and your morals are the filter through which all situations will pass. And with that filter in place… Your thought process is going to follow suit. The way you think acts like an assembly line machine for new ideas... Your actions are the physical product that are produced by this "thought" machine. In business, these thoughts about what you should do reflect in the actions you will eventually make. Those are the mechanics and the basis for every decis...

Gratitude is the foundation for all virtues. Those who lack true gratitude in their nature can never be loyal to anything other than their motives. By contrast, those who are grateful by nature display immense gratitude in their daily actions. They not only understand self sacrifice, they are often selfless to their own detriment. Electing to sacrifice themselves for others. Creating a space for people to feel safe. Selfish people are easy to spot when they are amongst the former. Understand this: Selflessness is a virtue that the selfish often  attempt to mimic. But like all imposters of virtue, they eventually show their true face. We all can decide to nurture gratitude within ourselves.  The reality is some of us will and some of us won't make it a point to become more grateful.  The nightmare individual is the person who claims they have genuine gratitude and are the antithesis of it. 

When a person feels a third party resource has been acquired by a colleague… Two emotions have the possibility of surfacing. One emotion, the more favorable emotion, is feeling happiness for someone else. Happiness that we have witness a colleague obtain a resource that they needed to continue down their path of success.   Happiness based on our knowledge of how good an accomplishment feels and our true desire for our colleague to experience joy. People who are able to feel happy for other people are at terms with their own capabilities. They do not play the blame game. They do not attribute their shortcomings on another persons good fortune. They know that their actions will yield their desired results if they stay proactive. They know that if we call ourselves professionals, we do not need others to fail in order to succeed. These are fully mature people of character. The opposite of feeling happy for someone else is feeling jealous about their accomplishments. Jealousy i...

It is the loss of faith in one's self. And it is a loss... People that feel they have lost their self esteem are fighting a battle. Often unseen, and always painful. When we see someone who is showing all the signs of struggling, sometimes it can be difficult to figure out how to help . If you are lucky enough to have made it through world events up until now with strong sense of self worth... If you find it sad to watch good people struggle with a poor self image... Do something. Fully listen to the person when they make self defeating comments. Ask them how they came to believe that story about themselves. Acknowledge that you have noticed. And when you acknowledge show empathy. Do not sympathize. Sympathizing means you know exactly how they feel and since no two people are the same, you don't know. Saying: "you are crazy, you know you are great" or "don't listen to those jerks" while smiling and laughing it off does not help a ...

There are three categories all answers will fall under... An answer that is known. An answer that is unknown. An answer that is unknowable. Known means we have the capacity to know and we do know. Unknown means we have the capacity to know, we just do not know yet. And unknowable are the answers that are not within our capacity to understand. Your value does not decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth. Your true worth is just unknown to them. Your value does not decrease based on what you think you are worth. Your worth may appear unknown to you during trying times, or when you are feeling unsure... Otherwise known as feeling human. Doubt is a human only quality. That is known. You are one of a kind. That is a known. There is no other person who can offer what you offer the world in the same way you can. That is a known. As to deeper issues... When you consider the answer to what your purpose is. You wont find it by sitting still and pondering. If...

The standard level of service we experience as consumers is not great. It also is not terrible. Most of the time it is acceptable. It is acceptable based on the few experiences we have had that represent both great and terrible service. The average of all our experiences as time marches on has defined what is acceptable. Our standards for what we will pay money for has been set by the world going on around us. It basically works like this in the consumer brain: "We don't know where else to get what we want, so we settle for what is available." It is in our nature. However, there is some good news about human nature amidst this conditioned surrender. Human nature wants more . The want is always there. Laying dormant. Waiting. We may not always have the time or energy to figure out how to get more... But when we see it. We recognize it. We want it. But there is the catch. If you want to be the provider of a new standard of good or service in ...

Microbody language. People can look at the smallest shift in the way your body moves and in microseconds get an impression of you. That is our human ability to draw conclusions and judge quickly based on previous situations we have been in. When it comes to deciphering body language it helps to think about what a “normal” response/approach would typically look like. But what about when body language is missing from a conversation? For example: If a person is claiming they care but their body language is totally relaxed, it sends us mixed messages. Understated body language can make a person look timid or unsure of their cause. Most of the time understated body language is our attempt at not looking nervous, but for the observer, our lax posture can feel like we do not care. 93% of your agenda is conveyed by your body. Solution: practice moving. Not because we are practicing to trick people but because we are wanting to be sure they know we care as m...