PERSONAL PERFORMANCE

Remember how excited you were to have the new millennium arrive? Were you one of the people that planned months in advance for your celebration? Did you make a set of New Year’s Resolutions? How many have you broken? The point is, the older we get, the faster time goes. We are now half way through the year 2000. It is time for another hard look at the commitment you have made to a successful career

Changes are occurring within the mortgage industry at light speed or faster. Those who will succeed in this environment will be those who maximize each possible opportunity during their day. If the minutes in a day were dollars you could deposit into a bank if you used them productively, how rich would you be today? Good question for all of us.

Now that technology has seemingly made our jobs easier, we are forced into change, whether we want to or not. The following Peak Performance tips are designed to be food for thought and your sales tip for the month. One of these is bound to strike a chord in someone.

#1 In the subconscious, there is only witness for the defense. If you are not achieving the production and income levels you would like, the first and foremost reaction is to make excuses. “I don’t have the pricing”. “My processors all used to work at the remedial reading center”…whatever. Before you make all the excuses, ask just one question: Is anyone else succeeding with the same product and support team

#2 Change is inevitable, progress is not. Be careful about saying “we never did it that way before”. That ‘way’ is over and the sooner you embrace change, the sooner you will begin looking at your circumstances from a different perspective.

#3 What is one hour of your time worth? It really is an easy computation, but it is dangerous to compute. 1999 personal income divided by total annual hours ( number of hours a week x 4 x 11.5 (assuming a two week vacation) = what one hour of your time is worth. After having computed this formula, you will allocate your time and energies in a different manner.

#4 What percent of the time do you spend originating and what percent do you spend keeping your loan files together? The average answer to this question across America has consistently been 25% originate, 75% keep together. This is not a good response. 75%-25% would be more appropriate, 80%-20% would be great. Take a hard look at your response and determine the steps you must take to turn your percentages around.

#5 How are you going to monitor and measure your performance? Too many loan originators and managers wait until the end of the year, and their W2’s to assess their performance for the year. I suggest you set quarterly goals and work like crazy to achieve them.

#6 Hold yourself accountable for so doing. Work on setting goals. My Rotary Club recently had a previous exchange student from Argentina return for a visit. During her brief stay she shared the following story: When she was 21 she wrote herself a letter. The letter consisted of all the things she wanted to accomplish by her 25th birthday. On her 25th birthday, she is planning on opening the letter and seeing how close she came to accomplishing what she had written down. Not many people in America do that, or the world, for that matter. But those who do, inevitably lead a more rewarding and productive life. How about you….OK, so you are not 21, who cares? You have a few more birthdays to go, get on it! “

#7 Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there” - Will Rogers

#8 There is no such thing as a “Roundto-it”, but many people refer to them daily. Look at it this way…if it ( whatever ‘it’ is) is a priority, you will make the time. If it is not a priority, you will find everything possible to do, but what you know you must do. “

#9 You should never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life”. Be careful about engrossed (obsessed) you become in your job. READ………anything and everything that can help you to grow as a human being and to grow within your job.

#10 Make it a habit to do things which failures habitually try to avoid. Winners see what they want and losers see what they want to avoid. Think about it the next time you tee up over a water hazard.

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