Mar 11
10
There are really two ways to motivate yourself into action. The first is to get yourself excited about the rewards you’ll enjoy when you take action. The second is to make yourself really afraid of what will happen if you don’t take action.
Personally, I prefer the first choice but sometimes the second is far more powerful. For example, in two weeks I am going to be on stage at the Investor Forum in Toronto. It’s the biggest stage I’ve been on in terms of the calibre of other speakers and possibly the number of bright shiny faces that will be staring at me. I’m nervous, scared and excited. I could lie and tell you the rewards of delivering a fabulous presentation are motivating me to prepare and practice but it’s actually the fear of freezing up, screwing up or boring people to sleep that has me working hard on this sucker!!
Unfortunately, instead of using fear to their advantage, a lot of people let fear keep them stationary. Trust me – my fear wanted to stop me from accepting the invitation to speak in Toronto!! I could have done what a lot of people do – and that is make a bunch of totally crappy excuses about why they are doing what they they are doing (or NOT doing what they should be doing). But I didn’t. And I don’t want you to miss out on great opportunities because of fear either!
That’s why I have this guest blog post for you today. She’s a Canadian real estate investor that has been through quite an incredible past … and she could have made EVERY excuse to not achieve success and had a lot more power behind her excuses than most of the people I hear from. Yet she hasn’t made excuses. She’s used her past and her fear to propel her to great things.
I think you’re going to enjoy meeting Shanna McFarlane … and in today’s post she is going to share some powerful thoughts on leveraging fear for real estate investing success.
Leveraging Fear for Real Estate Investing Success
‘FEAR’ is the number one reason most people never make an attempt to do something different or something new. More often than not we let fear limit our potential & our pocketbook.
For many years, I lived a very limited life because of my fear of failure, fear of other people’s opinions & even fear of success; for many years I settled for a life of mediocrity.
Not too long ago, I found myself living on my own at the tender age of 16; at the time my home was not one that I had hoped for or would wish for any young adult. I was making due until the transit in the community where I lived went on strike and I lost my job and my only means of financial support.
Within weeks everything started falling apart; my landlord needed her rent and I couldn’t afford to pay her, so I was evicted; from there I went to seek refuge at a local shelter, however less than a week later when I chose not to comply with their requirements to accept social assistance, I was also evicted from the shelter. (When it rains, it sure pours!)
That was my rock bottom – things were bad! On several occasions, I stood outside a grocery store and asked patrons for $1; at the time, $1 was able to buy me a loaf of bread & a 90g margarine. I would make this last a whole week; if it didn’t, I would not eat for the rest of the week.
During those moments, I didn’t have the strength or energy to cry. In order to get through each day, I had to change my perception of things. I chose not to look at how I was living, not to wallow in self-pity, not to confine myself with the mentally of a victim, not to see myself as I was at the time, but I chose to see myself as the person I wanted to be & the person I knew I could be.
Fear has played a major role in my success.
My FEAR of reliving those circumstances, my FEAR of being homeless again, my FEAR of being in such a vulnerable situation where I would be forced to beg a stranger for money so that I could have a meal; My FEAR of the humiliation I suffered in the process and my FEAR of not being strong enough to endure – being fearful of all these things MOTIVATED and EMPOWERED me to believe in myself, fight for my dreams & persevere no matter what and to build the life I want & truly deserved!
Fear has been the motivator behind every success story I’ve personally had and it’s the same for some of the world’s most successful figures; the secret lies in WHAT you spend your time fearing.
Fear can be broken down into 2 categories I’ll define each category for you.
1. Fear of the Essentials
2. Fear of the Non-Essentials
**The Essentials are defined as the things that are absolutely necessary
**The Non-Essentials are defined as the things having little or no importance; it’s not necessary
Based on the definitions above, you can easily identify which one would make better long-term sense. Anything that is absolutely necessary is worth fearing. It’s extremely easy to confuse the two and that is why most people become paralyzed by fear & adapted the philosophy that fear of everything is an essential.
Extraordinary minds or high-achievers spend time fearing the essentials as opposed to the non-essentials; they fear things like what their legacy would be if they spent time fearing the smaller things; Instead of fearing a non-essential for example – stepping out of their comfort zone to try or learn something new, they use their fear of the essentials, they are more afraid of remaining ‘stuck’ where they are and not achieving anything.
The fact is the non-essential fears can be eliminated or reduced by creating a plan, by doing your due-diligence, by conducting research along with many other things. The essential fears are the ones that have the long-term effect and impact on our lives.
A lot of the things that real estate investors fear fall under the category of the ‘non-essentials.’ (Surprised?) In real estate fear stops many individuals from purchasing an income/investment property. One of the most common fears that most individuals have when it comes to investing in real estate is getting calls from tenants in the middle of the night to fix something that is broken like a toilet! Yikes!
This scares a lot of individuals away from an investment vehicle that can be leveraged & used to create financial independence & long-term wealth.
This is a great example of a non-essential fear that can be easily fixed by enlisting the services of a property manager or even starting your own property management company and they will address the tenants’ issues on your behalf.
Whenever you fear something, go back to the fundamentals above and identify which category the fear you are feeling belongs to and ask yourself this question:
*Is this an essential or a non-essential fear?
If it’s a non-essential fear, do your due-diligence so that you can explore ways to reduce or eliminate this fear!
If your fear is an essential one, you can leverage and use it to your advantage, just like I did. Your fear of the opportunities you’ll miss, your uncertain financial future, the outcome of your life as a result of not trying, the legacy you’ll pass on – fearing the right things will provide you with enough MOTIVATION to do & complete the things that will attract & produce success!
Remember, fear exist whether we care to admit it or not and its existence is beyond our control, this summarizes that we MUST live with it. If we must live with it, why not have it work FOR YOU instead of against you!!
Change something, start by fearing the RIGHT things today – learn to Leverage your FEAR and Achieve the SUCCESS you deserve!!
To your Success!
Shanna
Shanna McFarlane is the founder & President of Shanna McFarlane International Corp. (SMIC). She is a well-known author, a highly respected & very successful real estate entrepreneur & visionary strategist; who is known for her well-sought after expertise in the areas of strategic entrepreneurship & investing in real estate as a business.
Shanna has several great e-books and tons of resources and support that you can find on her website at: http://www.shannamcfarlane.com/
