“We don’t need to keep score, let’s just have fun today.” That is exactly what my wife, Cheryl, said when we went golfing recently.
She always has fun putt-putt golfing, but neither of us wanted to carry that score card and sharp pencil around for 18 holes, so we decided not to keep score. What happened? Neither of us played well.
I missed the shots I’d normally nail, and so did she. Routine putts where we could hit nothing but the bottom of the hole–we missed! The game ended up taking a lot longer than it should have. Okay, she did have fun like she always does, but I’m way too competitive not to keep score. In the future, I will gladly carry that sharp pencil for 18 holes, just so I can keep score.
Last night, she wanted to play a game of scrabble, and she did it again. “We don’t need to keep score,” are the words she spoke. Needless to say, I told her I would gladly keep score.
Why You Need to Keep Score When Investing in Real Estate
1. Focus: How can you focus on a game or an investment without having a clue about what the score is?
How can you focus on your game if you’re not keeping score?
The ability to focus transcends just being competitive in nature. When building your investment, you need to focus on the end result or you can easily get distracted. Do you have plenty of time for things like Facebook and Twitter, but no time to focus on the actual exit strategy of the house you’re buying or on building a strong team?
You see my point. Just stay focused, and keeping score will help you keep everything on track. Never buy a house without knowing your exact exit strategy.
2. Bad Decisions: When I was playing golf and not keeping score, I found that I didn’t think at all about what I was doing. That resulted in some bad decisions along the way.
In your real estate investments, if you make a few too many bad decisions, you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt in a record time. You need to know the score, so you can make great decisions on your overall strategies.
Write down your goals and specific strategy and regularly monitor your course along the way, and you’ll find yourself achieving your desired results.
3. Win: If you don’t keep score, you won’t know if you are heading the right direction or if you’re wining or losing.
I live in Richmond, VA. If I wanted to drive to Chicago, I wouldn’t just jump in my car and head west until I finally ran into a sign that points to Chicago. That would be a bad decision and would have no focus–both wrapped into one bad strategy. It would be better to map out the course from Richmond to Chicago and plan the route.
Investing works the same way. Chart your course, starting with an intense focus on what you are working to accomplish. Map out your strategy and take the map that gets you to your end goal. If you don’t know what the end result of all your efforts is, then you never know if you’ve won or lost.
Do you know what your number one goal is? Maybe it’s your overall net worth, or maybe it’s a monthly residual cash flow. Do you have the scorecard in place that provides you with a snapshot of the score on a regular basis? Your scorecard could be financial reports, such as an income statement and a balance sheet or maybe a simple a spreadsheet that lists your assets and the rental income that they produce.
If winning isn’t everything, then why keep score? ~ Vince Lombardi
Be sure that you keep your focus on the end results you are working to achieve. Know the road map that will lead you and that you are focusing on the score of the most important metrics you must accomplish.