Archive for the ‘goals’ Category

Monday Morning MOJO

By Intero Real Estate | March 22nd, 2009 0 Comments

Our goals are our destination and our schedule is our directions

Good Morning MOJO,

If we want to know how successful we are going to be at accomplishing our goals at anything in life, all we need to do is look at our schedule.  Often in my job I work with people on helping them accomplish their goals.  After discussing their dreams and what it is they want to accomplish, I always ask to see their schedule.  It is amazing how many times I am working with someone who has big sexy dreams, but has been struggling to accomplish them…then I look at their schedule and it’s blank.  It’s pretty obvious why it’s not happening!!!!  Bottom line is, if it is not in your schedule it is not going to happen, no matter how bad you want it.

We can’t just have it in our heads…our minds are meant for creating ideas not storing them  We need to take the time to create our success plan, whatever it is…outline the things we need to do to accomplish it…then put those things in our schedule and stick with it day in day out forever.  Now, that is not to say we cannot make some adjustments along the way and modify our schedules to become more efficient, but we have to follow our directions/road map to success…and that road map is our schedule.  Way too many people spend the majority of their day thinking about what they need to do instead of doing what they need to do.  I know it sounds so simple and like common sense, but it is amazing how most people don’t have a detailed schedule with all of the things in it they need to do to accomplish their goals.

Look at your goals as your destination on trip half way around the world to a beautiful and remote place you have never been to before…and look at your schedule as your map/directions to get there.  Could you imagine traveling half way around the world to a place you have never been and doing it without detailed directions and a plan?  Of course not…we know we would get lost and never make it.  Well the same thing applies with our goals and our schedule.  We have never been where our goals are before…we better have a detailed plan /schedule how to get there and the discipline to follow it everyday or we will never make it.

Make it a POWERFUL week!!!!!


Monday Morning MOJO

By Intero Real Estate | November 2nd, 2008 0 Comments

Have I lost my mind? What have I done? What was I thinking? My God, I could lose everything…how am I ever gonna make this happen?”

Good Morning MOJO,

He’d done it…finally gone for his dreams and it was working!  Slowly, surely, the puzzle pieces of his new life were falling into place as he called the shots, did what he knew had to be done, and made his new life happen one step at a time…and that’s, of course, when it happened.  There, in the midst of his growing success…that’s when the old thinking that had held him back all his life came roaring back, determined to take control and slam him back into that life he’d escaped from not all that long ago.  I knew that’s what was happening because he kept asking himself the same questions we all ask ourselves after we’ve made a big change in our lives for the better…where we’ve got to choose, once again, whether we’ll stay committed to our dreams, or give up and crawl back in our hole…our comfort zone.

Been asking yourself…"Have I lost my mind? What have I done? What was I thinking? My God, I could lose everything…how am I ever gonna make this happen?"  Good…that’s a pretty sure sign you’re making progress!  Yes, you’ll be scared and confused, and yes, it’ll get hard because you are stepping out on the edge.  Out to a place you have never been before….and you’re taking very real risks and overcoming very real fears that keep most everyone else hiding in their old life forever…as you choose, instead, to do what it takes to make your life worth living!

Remember that the next time the old you struggles to make a comeback and turn your life into Sucksville. Tell it to take a flying leap!!!!  You’ve got better things to do…you’ve got a new life to live!

Make it a GREAT week!!!!!

"Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful" Warren Buffett

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 408.863.3000
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Intero Story Video: Intero Story

Intero Foundation Video: Intero Foundation

Intero Resorts Video: Intero Resorts 

Intero Boot Camp Video: Boot Camp

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Monday Morning MOJO Blog: MOJO


Monday Morning MOJO

By Intero Real Estate | September 28th, 2008 0 Comments

Those who “give?? get and those who “take?? get taken away.

Good Morning MOJO,

There are two types of people in the world.  There are the “Givers”…those people who are always going out of their way to help others…lend a hand…give a positive comment…make you feel good…encourage you.  Then there are the “Takers”…those people always trying to work the angles to benefit themselves…are in it for Numero Uno…have their hand out looking for someone to give them something…giving a sarcastic comment…tearing you down…sucking the energy from you.  Which one are you?

Here is the interesting thing.  Those who “give” get and those who “take” get taken away.  It is a universal law of life that we all need to understand if we ever want to accomplish our goals personally or professionally.  On the surface it is so hard to get our heads around and comprehend.  It is like saying if you want to go faster, take your foot off the gas.  However, everything in life works that way.  If we want to accomplish our goals, we have to help others accomplish theirs, but don’t do it for selfish reasons…don’t do it because it is going to help us accomplish our goals.  We have to be genuinely connected with them and their goal and helping them accomplish it.  If you want to get fit and healthy, help others get fit and healthy…if you want to become closer to God, help others get closer to God…if you want to make more money, help other make more money…you want to improve your business, help others improve their business. 

So, why is that?  I think it subconsciously helps us have integrity and accountability with what we need to do to accomplish our goals.  We can’t genuinely advise and help someone to do one thing, then do something completely different.  The best way to help someone is to show them how, not tell them…that’s called Leadership…it is called Servant Leadership.  Someone once told me that if you want to know what your kids are going to be like when they grow up, it is not going to be what you say…look in the mirror and stare into the eyes of the person you see.  That is what your kids are going to be like.  You can’t ask someone whether it is your kids, your friends, your colleagues, etc. to get up early…workout…eat right…spend quality time with your family…invest…be focused, accountable and discipline at work.  Then go about your day getting up late…never working out…eat like crap, never spending quality time with your family…spend every penny you make and be a lazy ass at work. 

It is like writing Monday Morning MOJO.  People are always telling me how much they love getting it every Monday morning.  I have thousands of people signed up from coast to coast who receive it every Monday morning…and by the time it gets forwarded on to other peoples distribution lists, who knows it may be reaching ten of thousands.  The interesting thing is that the person who gets the most out of MOJO is me…because I have to take the time and write it…it burns it into me.  Then I have to have integrity with what I write.  I can’t say go for it and have a great life, then sit on my ass and watch life pass me by. 

Make it a week of MOJO!!!!!


Monday Morning MOJO

By Intero Real Estate | July 6th, 2008 0 Comments

Remember it is the journey, not the destination, which is the prize…don’t take it for granted.

Good Morning MOJO,

We look forward to it for weeks or months.  Lying on the beach…drinking a Mai Tai…listening the waves crash.  Oh, just the sound of it as I am writing this sounds amazing…refreshing…relaxing.  Then it’s over and the let down begins.

You ever notice when you go on vacation one of the best parts is the build up?  It’s like that for almost everything we do in life…it’s the building that is actually the best part.  Unfortunately, most of people don’t realize it until they finally reach the destination, the let down begins and it is too late.  Then we look back and the best part has past us by.  We look back and realize it was the process of getting there…the build up or building of the outcome which was the best part.   Hell…that’s what life is all about.  Ask anyone who is on their death bed. 

All too often we think reaching the goal will make us feel better…we think things will get better when we finally reach our destination of success.  However, if you ever listen to the true champions…the true success stories, they are present during the process and enjoy the process of growing…the process of getting better…the process of reaching the goal itself.   It is the rush of the building that fires them up…it is the competition…it is the small battles along the way which they live for.  The outcome is simply the result of what they love doing.  To accomplish all of your goals, love what you do and love the process of doing it.  Even if you don’t reach your ultimate goal, you will be a winner and a success.

Remember it is the journey, not the destination, which is the prize…don’t take it for granted. 

Make it a great week!!!!

"Life is an occasion…rise to it!!!"  

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 408.863.3000
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Intero Story Video: Intero Story

Intero Foundation Video: Intero Foundation

Intero Resorts Video: Intero Resorts 

Intero Boot Camp Video: Boot Camp

Intero Locations: Intero Offices

Monday Morning MOJO Blog: MOJO


Monday Morning MOJO

By Intero Real Estate | June 9th, 2008 0 Comments

To have a quantum leap at almost anything in life and really have a significant impact, it is not going to be the result of trying to do everything. It is going to be the compounded result of doing only the most important activities over and over again…

Good Morning MOJO,

Is what you are doing today building on what you did yesterday or are you starting from scratch…again? So often we are jumping from one thing to another, to another, to another but never getting any significant results….never getting ahead. Why? Because we are spreading ourselves to thin.

To have a quantum leap at almost anything in life and really have a significant impact, it is not going to be the result of trying to do everything. It is going to be the compounded result of doing only the most important activities over and over again…we need to do fewer activities more frequently. If we do those few, most important activities consistently over and over again, at some point we reach the tipping point…we will explode into a quantum leap. It’s all about K.I.S.S.

Why is it so hard? Because we have to do it over and over and over again for long periods of time with what appears to be little or no results. But if we have the discipline to stick with it, all of a sudden out of no where, one day we will have a radical breakthrough. The hard part is not to quit when we feel like we are running into a brick wall with no results…not quitting when we are having a breakdown. Because when the wall comes down, it won’t come down one brick at a time, but the accumulation affect of hitting it over and over again will bring it tumbling down all at once. It will happen when we are exhausted and beyond wanting to quit. We will hit it again and BANG!!!!

Think about this: All the individual activities we do in our life to accomplish our goals represent one piece of paper. What most of us do is have a bunch of different activities going on trying to stack each of them (piece of paper) on top of each other to create a quantum leap. Unfortunately, the Quantum leap never happens…why? Because there is no accumulation affect…no compounding. Lets say we are working your ass off 10, 12, 15 hours a day, 7 days a week…doing all of those different activities. In the end, even if we are doing 50 different activities (50 pieces of paper), that stack of paper is only going to end up ¼ of an inch high. Consider this….figure out which activities are the most important and stop doing the rest. Spend all of our time doing just those few important activities. When we do this, we are compounding our activities…folding the piece of paper instead of stacking individual pieces. Check this out…as I said 50 individual pieces of paper (individual activities) is ¼ of an inch high. Instead, take 1 piece of paper (one activity) and do it over and over again 50 times (folding it 50 times). How thick do you think your stack will be? 5 inches…a foot…20 feet…1000 feet…a mile…100 miles…1000 miles…100,000 miles…1,000,000 miles? It will actually be tall enough to touch the sun…89,000,000 miles. Now that is a Quantum Leap.

Do the important, not the urgent activities and make it a great week!!!!!

– Keep It Simple Stupid. Getting what we want in life is not complicated, but it is difficult…it involves doing the important activities, not the urgent ones. The difficult part is being disciplined enough to do those important, not the urgent activities consistently…and doing them over and over again until we have a Quantum Leap…a Breakthrough.


Setting Your Goals for Growth and Success

By Intero Real Estate | June 18th, 2007 0 Comments

Be healthy, wealthy and wise in 2007Gino BlefariMark Twain, once wrote, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can somehow become great.”

I like this quote because it is, in essence, what we try to do at Intero and what I’ve worked to do personally for the last 21 years I’ve spent in real estate. I found that if you want to succeed in this business, you need to first surround yourself with people who will encourage you to strive for the very best and second, make sure they have the wherewithal to help you get there. Never underestimate the power of influence. The book that I’m currently reading, The Slight Edge, says your average income tends to equal the income of your five closest friends and your attitude and health tends to equal those same friends.

My success has come, very simply, through dedication, hard work and focus. Each November and December, I take a moment to reflect on my accomplishments for the year past and think about what I hope to achieve in the year ahead. I think about what I want for family and myself. I think about what I’d like to accomplish personally and professionally. I set goals. I come up with a theme. And, I write it all down as my life plan.

This is something I encourage everyone to do. It’s easy as a realtor to find yourself adrift, not quite knowing what direction to take. (This is especially important when the market is slowing, such as it is today.) By considering your goals and where you want to go at the beginning of the year, you’re essentially creating a road map for yourself. My life plans have become a sort of progress report by which I can gauge my accomplishments and take stock of where I’m heading.

When we started Intero, I began doing this for the company as well. These themes have helped to coalesce the many different components of this company into a more coherent strategy for the year. Here’s a quick rundown of the themes of years past:

  • 2002: Genesis,
  • 2003: Building the Dream
  • 2004: Realizing the Dream
  • 2005: Provizio (Aspiring to Greatness)
  • 2006: The Heart of a Team
  • 2007: Salute, Ricco, Saggio (Healthy, Wealthy and Wise)

This year, with Intero continuing to grow, I’ve designated 2007’s theme as “Be Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.” This speaks to the heart of our values—that to be successful, it’s important to balance both your professional and personal life. Don’t make the mistake of compromising your health and wellbeing by focusing only the commissions you make. You’ll be a better real estate professional; you’ll be more successful, if you are healthy and taking care of yourself and your family. This is one of our core values at Intero. Myself, I started the year by heading to the gym and being smarter about how I eat.

Even before I started down this path, my days began at 4:50 a.m., and so you can imagine that it hasn’t always been easy to fit a workout into my day. By making my health a goal for the year, I put it at the top of my priority list and ensure that I make time for it. As a result, I’ve lost weight and feel healthier and better than I have in a long while and that translates to me being able to do more for Intero.

This year marked another big milestone for me. Our executive team recently completed the purchase of Intero Real Estate Services from Mercury Companies. We are very grateful for Mercury in providing the capital to help get Intero started, but it has always been our philosophy to own and operate our offices on a local level. With this leap forward, we are now able to do that. This, too, was part of my life plan.

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to take some time, sit down for a few moments and review your own goals. If you haven’t established goals for the year, think about doing so as soon as possible. Some you will accomplish, others you will not. The importance is not in achieving the goal, but in the person you will have to become to achieve it.

We offer excellent professional guidance for realtors through Provizio, our agent training, education and ongoing professional development program. Learn more about it by contacting Mia Park, our Director of Education and Career Development at mpark@interorealestate.com or 408.541.4307.

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