Real Estate Information Archive

The Talent Code is full of stories and examples of success. These illustrations help prove the science behind building talent. It is a full circle, the more knowledgeable you are about something and the more understanding you have the more passion you will naturally have towards it. In the same way, you need to have an initial spark of interest to even get started in the deep practice. Finishing up the book, James shared how his life and career followed this structure without him even recognizing it. 

Reading this book got me thinking a lot about my career in real estate and how it has evolved over the past 12 years. It referenced taking 10,000 hours or 10 years to master a skill. This is because myelin is developed through repetition of firing those circuits in your brain. The more you do it the more myelin is developed and the easy that skill becomes. There are three phases to mastery of a certain skill 1. Deep Practice 2. Ignition 3. Master Coaching

Through the first 7 years of my real estate career, I spent a lot of time in deep practice. I was developing my skills to be a business owner and serve clients. I had some successes here and there that kept me going but I didn't hit the ignition phase until I got to RE/MAX and surrounded myself with many of the top producing agents in AZ. This opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities for my business, how to better serve my client's needs and enjoy it. Seeing other agents running successful businesses ignited a desire for me to follow their lead. This cycled me back into deep practice, but this time it had more meaning and purpose. I began to grow exponentially. Over the past couple years, I've begun working in the master coaching phase which has further sharpened my skills. Teaching your skills to others forces you to simply what you do in order for others to understand. This is a reminder of how important it is to stay focused on the fundamentals. 

After reading the talent code I look at my daily activities differently now. I understand that I need to make mistakes to develop new skills. I understand it will take some time to develop new skills and something along the way will ignite my desire to further improve. And finally, I understand the value in coaching others through this development process as it is a critical piece of my own mastery.

Feel free to share with us your story and how you see your life line up with these three phases. Next week we will kick off a brand new book. 

Master Coaching

 
This section was all about the people that have the ability to combine both deep practice and ignition for growth to develop talent in others. The coaches highlighted in this section were quiet and attentive. They gave targeted corrections and specialized their coaching to each person. Master coaches are farmers who put in the discipline to make each seed grow as tall as possible. 

John Wooden, the UCLA basketball coach, is one of the best coaches of all time. In a study, they found that his words were short and full of information. They consisted of 7 percent compliments, 7 percent displeasure but 75 percent pure information. It was consistent and constant learning. He would also teach the entire picture then break it down. Demonstrations he would model the correct form, then incorrect, then display how it should be done correctly again. Master coaches also help ignite passion in their students to make it rewarding.

4 Virtues of Master Coaches:

Matrix: It’s the years of task-specific knowledge that lets teachers respond to student effort. It allows them to make specific connections with each student to take them to where they want to go. 

Perceptiveness: Coaches understand each student is different and listen. They take the time to get to know each player to know the best plan to make the most out of them.

GPS Reflex: Speaking directly. Master coaches instruct like a GPS; do this, now that. They push them to the next level.

Theatrical Honesty: Sometimes overreacting to make a point and gain empathy. Master coaches are always searching for ways to make a connection to pull out greatness.

Everyone needs a mentor who is going to consistently push them. There is no blueprint or one way of coaching and forming the deep practice to turn into a talent hotbed. It takes the passion of studying and customizing the style for each individual. Pay attention to what they show interest in and praise them for effort. Your brain grows with practice. It is a talent to find the better understanding to push them to the next level. 

IGNITION

This is the second major section of The Talent Code. Deep practice is the first step but ignition is needed to get that deep practice going. It is the energy, motivation, and passion behind the practice. A lot of principles and practices from The Miracle Morning. Throughout these chapters came different practices in developing a talent hotbed and having an environment of success.

The multiple stories and studies in this section all point us to similar characteristics of success and talent. Greatness was grown and practiced. One of the first similarities recognized was the passion of learning. Passion came from the environment, from the outside and changed the attitude within. There was a study of practices with students who had different end goals. They were all asked ‘how long do you think you will play…?’. They were divided up to three different options: Short-term commitment, medium-term commitment, and long-term commitment. Those who had the mentality that this was a long-term commitment outperformed everyone and progressed the fastest. They grew even more than the students who practiced longer with a short-term commitment. They had a vision of their ideal future selves succeeding past the practice. They were doing the deep practice because they knew it would affect their future.

Isn't it interesting when you are running a race, if someone is in front of you, you automatically run faster compared to when you are the leader you push yourself just enough to get first place. These talent hotbeds have success surrounding them pushing them to reach the next level. There were several different examples of triggers that fueled the skill. It was the ignition of the deep practice.

There are multiple if/then responses and it is suggested that they should all have the same then answer… “Better get busy”  There was also the study that listed all the successful individuals who were orphans at young age. This gave the phrase “You are not safe.” The fastest runners tend to be the youngest kids in a family. The phrase, “You are behind - keep up!” All these signals, aware or not, ignite us to be motivated and to push forward.

Another illustration used was the Curacao baseball team and little leagues. Their ignition was sparked by the success of their own in the Yankee’s World Series. They were able to relate and had a connection which sparked them and kept them motivated. “Hey that could be you”  The little kids had someone to look up to and a role model that they strived to be.

Alongside vision was motivational language. There was a study of students, half praised for intelligence, while the other half were praised for their effort. The students praised for their effort stretched themselves and kept trying which ultimately made them grow and succeed greatly. The students who were praised for intelligence made the choice of an easier path, afraid to make mistakes, which cause them to question their intelligence, resulting in their scores going down.

Affirming the struggle and challenges along the way cause greater success. You don’t automatically learn how to walk, babies fall down and struggle for months. The same would be true in your business. You are not automatically going to become successful. It will take time and there might be a lot of struggles along the way. Trails can be a good sign. It means we are pushing the limits to improve. It’s about motivational language to keep fighting and struggling to learn and develop the skill. It is about pushing above the ceiling, not capping your ability. Effort-based language speaks to the experience of learning to improve.

The last chapter of the Ignition section shared the story of KIPP schooling. This school, although extreme, have great principles to succeed. Their entire slogan is “Work Hard - Be Nice” The students from a young age learn that everything is earned and that every single detail matters. Self-discipline was more accurate than IQ in predicting a student’s GPA. Attention to detail and focusing on the end goal were pillars of the school. They needed to see the vision to get there and motivation to keep the dream alive. The disciple was what held the students accountable.

What is your ignition for deep practice? What is your vision of your future and are you okay with struggling to get there? Reward effect and commit to the long-term dreams. Stay focused on the details, affirm the struggles, and keep the fuel to earn your end goal. Work hard and be nice. Better get busy.

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle is the book our team is reading for the month of November. This book dives into growing and developing yourself to create talent. From the beginning, he speaks about the science of talent by growing more myelin. The book is divided into three different elements of the talent code: deep practice, ignition, and master coaching. The principles can get lost in the neurological and scientific talk but the more you understand the process and the reasons for practice the principles become easier to apply.

Deep Practice

This is one of the first steps of the talent code. Practice needs to be effective and efficient. To develop and grow you have to take action. You need to think of building skills just like building muscles, it takes a time to develop. Practicing skills need to be highly targeted and error-focused to adjust and correct the skill fast instead of going through the motions. Practices without thinking or building are just a practice wasting time. Another great reminder is that you have to stretch yourself making mistakes and failing to reach the next level. You don't get better by just coasting through the process. You get better by failing and quickly correcting what you can.

Cycle:

1. Pick a target

2. Reach for it

3. Evaluate the gap between the target and the reach

4. Return to step one.

“Skill is myelin insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows according to certain signals.” The myelin wraps around nerve fibers and increases the strength, speed, and accuracy to make the skill process smoother. The argument and conclusion are practice make myelin, myelin makes perfect. The myelin is strengthen based on what you do and continues to wrap and build on one another. It is hard to teach an old dog a new trick, same is true with humans. Hitting around age fifty the myelin starts to peak and the ability to build more myelin is difficult. This is why most experts start at a younger age. It has been estimated that it takes about 10,000 hours or 10 years of deep practice to master a skill. You are training your brain to build skills.  

Rule One: CHUNK IT UP

Absorb the Whole Thing - Break it into Chunks - Slow it Down

Rule Two: REPEAT IT

Rule Three: LEARN TO FEEL IT

“To get good, it’s helpful to be willing or even enthusiastic, about being bad. Baby steps are the royal road to skill.”

The Miracle Morning has impacted our team and starts our daily routine. The purpose of this book is to transform your life to reach your ‘Level 10’ life. It starts with setting goals and creating habits to get there. Below are the areas of life broken up it create specific areas to create goals and habits.

GOALS/HABITS:

Friends & Family - Is it calling one person a day?

Personal Growth & Development - How about listening to podcasts while driving?

Health & Fitness - Go on a daily run? No fast food?

Finances - Start saving 10%?

Career/Business - What habits can you establish today?

Personal Environment - Redecorating?

Fun & Recreation - Favorite hobbies?

Significant Other/Romance - How can you attract or create your ‘Level 10’ relationship?

Contribution/Giving - Share volunteering?

Spirituality - Attend church consistently?

Our team is creating achievable goals to take it to the next level in 2017. What will some of your goals be? In conclusion of reading The Miracle Morning, our team has shared our takeaways and difference of what can happen when we apply it to our lives:

"TMM has been a game changer for me. My stress level and anxiety has greatly diminished. I find the meditation to be very effective. I do it M-F every week. Filling my mind w/ positive thoughts and activities is essential to do before opening my email or checking social media. When I follow this routine I feel I'm operating at a position of power the rest of the day... when I don't I go into reactive mode all day which leads to stress and anxiety." -James

"My take away from the Miracle Morning is that it doesn't take big changes to make a big impact on the quality of areas of my life that are so important to me." -Amy

"The Miracle Morning can look different for everyone. You have to better yourself and be refreshed if you want to even think about serving anyone else and achieving your dreams." -Kaylee

"It's amazing how you can create a positive habit after doing it for 30 days.  I have experience by reading Miracle Morning and repeating the Life S.A.V.E.R.S, that you can truly change your mornings and start your day feeling better and more positive and see the positive outcome it has on your life on a daily basis." -Janice