Have you ever thought about being intentionally happy? I’m willing to bet most people never even consider being intentional when it comes to their happiness, or many other things in their lives for that matter.
People usually just “are” and then allow themselves and their moods to be affected one way or another based on everything external in their lives. When bad things happen, they are in a bad mood. When good things happen, they are in a good mood.
Ever have one of those days when it’s just not going your way? Sure, everyone does from time to time. What’s important is how, and for how long, it affects you.
In our family, whenever someone is struggling through one these off days, we have something we call, “three things I love about you.”
If you’re not familiar with the term “micro commitments,” it is a very powerful persuasion technique based on Robert Cialidini’s commitment and consistency principle, which suggests people have a hard-wired desire to be consistent even after the original incentive or motivation is no longer present.
Essentially, instead of outright asking your prospect to make one big decision, you break it up in to smaller decisions to increase the likelihood you’ll get your main objective accomplished.
One of my favorite business quotes of all time comes from Jay Z, believe it or not. On the surface it may not sound very profound, rather like he’s bragging, but I believe it actually is very profound because it caused a mind shift in me when I first heard it many years ago.
He said,
To what distance would you travel to achieve your dreams? At what length would you go to get to where you want to be in life? If you’re anything like me, the answer to these questions is simple: there’s no distance too far and no length too great to get what you want.
In 2002, when I was just starting out in private real estate investing, one of the ways I would find potential deals would be to drive neighborhoods. In fact, it was my favorite way.
It was really so much fun for Amy and I – the adventure, the discovery, the exploration, the talking out of our dreams along the way…
