My level of consults has increased dramatically as things have gotten harder and sadly most people are not in trouble or desperate, they simply are finding it so hard to combat the huge negativity in the media and in the market generally.

We are wired as I have said before for continual input but negative input really knocks us around. People who have been doing well, getting good results seem to find that a constant diet of the Herald and the Six o’clock news can be enough to totally side swipe them. I met a lovely man today who couldn’t even think of what he really enjoyed about property, event though he had done so well, because all he had in his head was what a bad time it was for property in NZ.

After an hour or so with me most people usually leave with new rules and goals and hopefully feel inspired and positive to look at the opportunities the market is providing in NZ and in Australia, and an understanding that this is the time to take action.

This pattern has become so common in recent weeks that I have decided to run a “Good Property News” road show throughout the country in May to counter the negative nonsense and encourage people to get going here and over the ditch. It’ll be fun and FREE

You know you need to counter the negativity with positive input as I have alluded to often in my blogs. So if you’re feeling down about property or wanting to keep “movin on up”, join me at a town near you in May. We’ll have dates finalised tomorrow but I’ll be everywhere from Invercargill, NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE. all the way to Auckland.

Stay Safe Dean Letfus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz (AKA Dean Leftus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz)

PS: Conquering OZ is coming to Wellington and Christchurch next month. Booking and info HERE

PPS: Did you know you can receive email notifications whenever I post a new blog?? Tick the email notification HERE

PPPS: For those of you who don’t get my newsletters you can subscribe HERE

Today’s video is about the state of Fiji’s roads, (please excuse the sound quality when you listen to them), and they remind me of how much our life is affected by “potholes”.

In Fiji virtually every car has bits that are loose or rattly or fallen off, even if they are quite new, because they get such a pounding on the roads.

Well for most of us we have bits that are loose or fallen off because the potholes of life have given us such a pounding.

You see we tend to come with baggage, most of us have things that need to change. HOWEVER when life keeps throwing us rough roads we tend to go into survival mode don’t we?? We aren’t thinking about the finer details we are just trying to survive. Now the problem with that is we become like a Fijian car. We lose control over what gets shaken loose and what falls off. We hand over control of our vehicle to….. THE ROAD!!

And that is a big problem. We are designed to grow and mature by choosing what bits come loose and fall off. By exercising our wills we can decide to work on an area in our lives and make changes that develop us. But when we are fighting for survival our whole mindset changes and we make what are often dumb decisions, or at least potentially dumb ones, because the road is dictating our condition.

I can’t stress enough how damaging this is. My vehicle in Fiji is good by Fijian standards but if I was in NZ it would be straight in for repairs and servicing as so many small things don’t work properly. But in Fiji I have no choice but to let the road dictate things as I cannot get off the road.

But in our lives we can choose to get off the damaged road and start to take control of what we are letting go. Your damaged road may be hatred, unforgiveness, unbearable pain, a destructive addiction like pornography or gambling.

Or it may be more subtle where you have simply become timid or totally gun shy through a bad experience in investing or relationships.

Whatever road is controlling you will be shaking things off you, that is without doubt. The problem is that usually GOOD things are being shaken off and the bad things that need to go get more entrenched.

The first step in understanding this in your own life and doing something about it is to take stock of the road. As you watch the video think about the state of your road. Are your potholes drivable around, or do you drive into them without any certainty of getting up the other side?? Start to think about what your “road of life” is really like and the decide if you are brave enough to call in “Highway Stabilizers” and start to change the quality of your road.

Stay Safe Dean Letfus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz (AKA Dean Leftus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz)

PS: Conquering OZ is coming to Wellington and Christchurch next month. Booking and info HERE

PPS: Did you know you can receive email notifications whenever I post a new blog?? Tick the email notification HERE

PPPS: For those of you who don’t get my newsletters you can subscribe HERE

I know I talk about death a bit, however when someone you know dies it can’t help but make you realise how precious and temporary life is.

A lovely lady at our church passed away on Saturday after battling health issues for some time.

In fact she was “meant” to die 24 years ago but God miraculously healed her then.
In her case she was undoubtedly looking forward to going to be with her Lord, although she will obviously miss her husband and family that is left behind.

So as I thought about Mary it made me think of some questions we all need to ask ourselves while we can.

1. Are you doing what you love doing? Are you enjoying your life now, regardless of how rich/poor/sick etc. you may be. Mary wasn’t well for some time but she lived her life to the full regardless

2. Are you dealing with regret?? There could be nothing sadder than to get to the end of your life and be filled with regret over all the things you didn’t say, didn’t do, didn’t put right. Mary’s only regret is that she left her husband behind. What regrets would you have if you died tomorrow.

3. Do you know where you’re going?? Both now in this life and after you die, do you know what your future is?? I do, Mary did. In fact those who were with her as she died said she was full of joy till the end because she KNEW where she was going.

Don’t let your life be any less than Mary’s. Enjoy it, love it and have genuine purpose in it.

Stay Safe Dean Letfus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz (AKA Dean Leftus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz)

PS: Conquering OZ is coming to Wellington and Christchurch next month. Booking and info HERE

PPS: Did you know you can receive email notifications whenever I post a new blog?? Tick the email notification HERE

PPPS: For those of you who don’t get my newsletters you can subscribe HERE

I am fortunate to have a natural propensity toward being forgiving and patient. My dad was like that to some degree so I guess I inherited some of it.

However these traits can be developed and they get developed through having them tested as I talk about in the video below. You may not face the extreme examples I find in Fiji, however the question is the same for all of us; are we willing to embrace the challenges we face as an opportunity to become a better person or will be react, rant and refuse to grow or change.

I was reminded today of an advert on TV a few years ago for an advertising agency that featured a song with the following chorus:

Accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Look out for Mr in between.

I thought of it after meeting with a friend of mine today who commented that he often found himself unable to take action because he would make a decision to commit to something but then his parents or close friends would speak negatively about property investing so he would “stall” and end up doing nothing.

I know how he feels having been through this myself when I started investing.

The difficulty is that you don’t want to blindly rush into something casting your brains and reason the ground behind you, but at the same time if you spend enough time analysing something or seeking advice you will eventually find a good reason to do nothing.

I think the solution is to make sure you have some people you trust who think what you are contemplating is good BUT make sure they are people who have a clue and they are doing something themselves. Then you can go and cast a wider net for advice and bring the negativity to people who can counter it, explain it away or tell you why in this case they are right.

I can tell you first hand it can be difficult to find those positive informed people, finding the negative ones is a piece of cake.

I have found in business and in property I have had to seek out people to talk to. And they can be rare. I have found as a Christian that it has been very difficult to find successful business people who share my values and ethics, so often I have to make decisions alone because the advice I have received has been “legal” but not something that I can live with morally.

Similarly in property people whom I respect like my solicitor are fundamentally negative and wanting to protect me to a point where if I listened to Mike all the time I would never do anything.

Recently I have found a successful investor and businessman whom I can trust and who shares my faith and values. It’s fantastic to be able to bounce ideas and plans around with a “common spirit” without having to filter everything through a “can I live with this” mindset.

So understand that you need to pursue people like that in your life, the machete wielding jealous negativity brigade will beat a path to your door, the supportive helpful wise friends you have to hunt down and pursue until you find where they are hiding.

Stay Safe Dean Letfus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz (AKA Dean Leftus @ www.massiveaction.co.nz)

PS: Conquering OZ is coming to Wellington and Christchurch next month. Booking and info HERE

PPS: Did you know you can receive email notifications whenever I post a new blog?? Tick the email notification HERE

PPPS: For those of you who don’t get my newsletters you can subscribe HERE

I had dinner tonight with one of my partners and another new full time property trader friend.

It’s funny how there’s something “similar” about successful traders. I don’t even know quite what it is but all 3 of us just talked and thought the same. I was pondering this driving home and I don’t think it has much to do with a particular personality type or anything. I concluded that we all had decided we would pay the price to succeed. We all talked of our wives putting up with us and the fear they feel. We all understood that this game is not always fun or easy, but the rewards make it worth pursuing.

So I guess if you boil that down it is really what I teach every student I have ever had. Set decent goals, decide that failure is not an option and do whatever it takes to succeed.

My goals revolve around God and Fiji primarily so on my trip there last week I captured a few video snippets to give you a bit more of a feel for the land I love and the issues they face.

I’ll upload them as part of my blogs over the next week or so

I have been thinking a lot lately about many of my former (and current) students and clients and kind of cataloguing them in my mind based on what I know they are up to now.

They cover the spectrum from those who are now full time property investors who have totally and permanently changed their lives, right through to people who have never done a thing with what they have learned.

The group that caused me the most “concern” within myself are those who had a bad experience early on who have never recovered.

I worked very hard in my mentoring programmes to try and find a way to get more than the industry average of 4% of people to get a good result. I achieved this but I was always frustrated that I couldn’t get more people to take consistent action.

But the people who seemed to be the biggest casualties are those who take action and find it doesn’t go according to plan. My experience has been that in most cases they become paralysed and usually never try anything ever again.

I treat setbacks or negative experiences as education and try to learn from my mistakes. It never occurs to me to stop, just to get better at it.

As I go through my first flat/slump phase for example I have learned untold stuff that will change how I invest in the future. I understand the more conservative old school investors a lot more because they don’t want to experience what they experienced in their first slump again.

But what is it that allows some of us to get up and try again and others to curl up and die??

Well there are many correct answers, however I believe that one of the critical issues is low self esteem.

When I get something wrong I look at the situation and look at how to not go there again. I am even more motivated than before the error as I have to make that loss up to get back to where I was.

But many of us face a failure and start an internal conversation that progresses a bit like this:
” It was stupid of me to do that”
” Only an idiot would have done that, therefore I am an idiot”
” I was a fool to ever think that this would go well”
” I deserve what is happening to me”
” I am destined to fail”
” I will never try again, then I will fail less, because if I try I know I will fail”

I’m sure you never think like this but you may have a friend who does.

We need to combat these lies, and lies they are, with truth!!

” It was stupid of me to do that”
Well it wasn’t clever but what did I actually do wrong?? What rules can I put in place to protect myself from this in the future.

” Only an idiot would have done that, therefore I am an idiot”
Many, many successful people have failed dramatically several times in their lives. The fact I was willing to try actually makes me better than most people.

” I was a fool to ever think that this would go well”
Life throws us curve balls but I know that what I am trying can and does work. I may need more education or assistance but I am not going to beat myself up over a mistake. I would have to be a robot to be perfect.

” I deserve what is happening to me”
I deserve to be the best me I can be. I will not allow circumstances to dictate what I deserve or get.

” I am destined to fail”
I am destined to win. I am created to be an overcomer, a conqueror, a powerful contributor to my family and my community. I’m a winner before I even get out of bed.

” I will never try again, then I will fail less, because if I try I know I will fail”
I will emulate Thomas Edison who said of his light bulb experiments, ” I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that don’t work”.
I will get up when I am knocked down until I succeed, I owe it to my family my God and myself. Failure is an experience, not a person.