Here is/was my 3rd week March 2019 slice of life:
Taught in the morning, 9-12 in Latham…”How to Make and Receive Offers” to 7 students…always a new crop of real estate recruits entering the fold, and it creates adrenalin exchange just talking about the nuts and bolts and anecdotes of this business…
Then got to practice what I preach by sending off a certain signed $3XXK offer to another KW agent via email once received from my buyer…the fun part of each r.e. transaction, when you start to see potential results.
Office computer work till 5, then 6/7 blocks over to the westside of town, where I signed a counteroffer on a listing with some cool clients at their place.
Talked for an hour afterwards, mostly with the husband, concerning: his work with Trout Unlimited… relative to preserving, monitoring, and improving the Kayderosseras Creek & the Battenkill fishing streams, and his stunning photography of certain grungy locales…similar to my buddy Scavone’s fascination with graffiti in abandoned buildings and derelict streetscapes. When my turn to monologue came I gave him my first take and early research on local Iroquois history; then told the comic version of my first job in Saratoga at the late Charlie Dehn’s Florist shop, which was nearby, then went into a real estate litany of 2-family trends in Saratoga Springs over the past 2 decades…pertinent to their next plans, perhaps. I was pumped and inspired after this great repartee with a talented, knowledgeable guy and his wife, whom I’d not spoken to freely before this episode, aside from business basics.
Drove back to the Broadway office, scanned off signed contracts to attorneys, then drove back to my apartment, with my thoughts focused & marching in rhythmic commands, which is better than my more normal scattered flares of ADD cognition, blurry around the edges. The good portion of my mind was just cutting to the chase, stripping down the verbiage. It was telling me things like this, to plan ahead, to tomorrow at least:
Skip socializing
Ignore Hoop
Secure deals
Make calls
Don’t drink
Crash early
Sleep deeply
Wake six-ish
Thank Yr Bed ( a la Louise Hay, lol)
Make Bed Immediately
Drink ice-water
Pee freely
Take note of streaming thoughts, lol
Jot notes to jab those fish-tailing fish-tale thoughts before they trail off….
Make espresso
Sip more spring water
Note Music playing (kudos to ‘EQX)
Look up lyrics as needed (e.g. “I’m at a crossroads with myself,” Band of Horses: LOREDO
Finish that long-stalled blog on Jeff & the crew… and how they keep radio alive & help me thrive
Wash dishes
Clear kitchen counter
Create chapter lists in yr mind
Decide to sit at desk and anctually start, instead of just thinking about it
Decide (thereby) to Skip Office Celebration later in Latham: (just this once, sorry)
Resist Your Own Resistance, in other words
Thank Steven Pressfield for that
Type Maniacally
Scribble plentifully
Sort it later
Ignore phone till you do yr time
Keep typing till 9, 10, 11 a.m…
Make a bowl, oatmeal & flax
Eat slowly
More water
Back to writing table
Pace floor as needed
Do stairs down and up, when more cardio is in order
Take supplements, more water
Keep going
As long as you can.
Take a long walk late in the day when done.
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Postscript:
Real life always intrudes. And Real Estate, when you are up to your hips in the business, and trying to wedge in some creative slices, does too. Therefore I hardly ever get a piece done in one sitting, and sometimes I start 20 new pieces before I finish any. But without solitude and discipline it doesn’t happen at all, or as often as it should. This is why Steven Pressfield has provided me with “A vital gem…a kick in the ass...” as Esquire described his book The War of Art.
Instead of dreading this solitary sector of life during my down time from my business, I’ve come to embrace the notion that this is my time to process what I’ve gleaned and seen…more than 40 years of the Saratoga scene.
When a musician is practicing, you can hear hear it– piano, bass, horn of some sort, drums of course, whatever.
But when a painter is painting, a writer is writing, or a clay artist whirrs their wheel, not much sound is heard, so no one knows. I kind of miss my old monster ROYAL typewriter, when you pounded that thing, people knew you were working.
Take care, there’ll be more to come
wp in Saratoga