Find your invincible summer...

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” (Albert Camus) from the Jack’s Winning Words Blog. What a great quote for this time of year, although it was meant in a much more figurative way, I’m sure. Having seen Invictus over the Holidays I can relate it to Nelson Mandella’s unwavering resolve to remain the captain of his soul while he was imprisoned.

We have certainly been living through the depths of a long real estate winter, one that claimed many victims in our business. For most this has been a character building experience and for some a journey of self-discovery. I recalled as I sat to write about this that I once wrote a report on John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath in which I opined that Steinbeck wasn’t just writing about the times, but was trying to show the ability of man to endure any hardships and keep going. There was within the Joad family some invincible summer that refused to be buried by the depths of winter in those times.

So here we are, quite literally in the depths of winter; enduring what for some is the longest and deepest cold snap in better than a decade and in the midst of one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. Perhaps we are near the end of both, but all of us need to let our invincible summer come through in times like these.

I’m fortunate, as I’ve mentioned many time here before, that I’m married to a Pollyanna and work for Little Mary Sunshine, so I always have someone to turn to whenever I need a recharge of that summer spirit. When I let myself get down my wife calls me out as being like Eeyore and my manager asks what wrong with Mr. Grumpy. Obviously I can’t stay down in the face of such an onslaught of happiness and perkiness.

Life and career success coach Tony Roberts teaches a method for success based upon finding successful people and modeling what they do. The same approach works for happiness in life. Find some generally happy people and hang out with them and figure out how to model some of their upbeat behaviors. If nothing else, you’ll probably find that you can draw enough happiness from being around these people to help pull you out of the doldrums.

Sure these are tough, cold times; however, to the extent that you can keep letting your invincible summer shine through you will become a welcome beacon for people and maybe some of them will turn out to be customers. I know that few, if any are looking to deal with Mr. Grumpy; so I need to make sure that he and my Eeyore side stay firmly out of sight. Say hello to Mr. Happy, your friendly neighborhood Realtor!

I won’t share my Pollyanna with you (she’s my wife); however, you can get a daily fix of happiness and high spirits from Little Mary Sunshine by joining our office in Milford. We’re always looking for good, upbeat people who want to be successful Realtors.