The 4 Steps I Used to Reach My Real Estate and Financial Goals
I’ve been investing in real estate for 21 years, and thankfully, I’ve achieved most of my biggest financial goals.
So to my pleasant surprise, I recently discovered an oldy-but-goody book called The 4 Disciplines of Execution that basically describes the process I used to achieve my own real estate and financial goals.
The four steps in the book are:
- Focus on the Wildly Important
- Act on Lead Measures
- Keep a Compelling Scorecard
- Create a Cadence of Accountability
I’d like to briefly explain each one so that you can use them to start achieving your own real estate goals.
Step #1: Focus on the Wildly Important
There’s an old adage “chase two rabbits, catch none.”
It means that if you chase too many goals, you risk achieving NONE of them.
Instead, focus ONLY on one or two wildly important goals (aka W.I.G.s).
These are the goals that excite and fire you up! The ones that tap your deep motivation or your WHY.
With my real estate goals, this ultimate WHY was financial freedom.
I wanted to spend my most valuable asset – my time – doing what mattered, traveling with family, and pursuing passion projects.
And I learned from mentors like John Schaub that I could accomplish this with a small number of rental properties.
In my book The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor I showed how you could do this with as little as 10 properties.
Whatever your property goal is, write it down, because it’s a good example of a WIG for real estate investing.
Step #2: Act on Lead Measures
Financial freedom with 10 rentals (or your own unique number) may be an exciting goal.
But there’s a problem.
This goal is the END result.
You have to first take other key steps that LEAD to the ultimate goal.
The authors of the 4 Disciplines book call these steps lead measures or lead goals.
And they call end goals lag goals.
When I wanted the lag goal of financial freedom with rental properties, I had to focus on the lead goals of:
- Buying quality properties
- Financing them safely
- Managing them well over time
- And pruning our portfolio of excess properties and debt
And even these lead goals could be broken down into even smaller lead goals.
For example, to buy quality properties, I needed to:
- Generate leads from sellers
- Make offers
I could waste time measuring and acting on a lot of other things.
But if I wanted to buy properties and eventually achieve financial freedom, those two things were all that mattered at the time.
Step #3: Keep a Compelling Scorecard
I’ve often made the mistake of putting too much emphasis on measuring lag goals or the end results.
Yes, it is smart to occasionally measure lag goals, like tracking my net worth and cash flow, for example.
But when I actually wanted to achieve those goals, I found that obsessively measuring the LEAD GOALS led to better results.
For example, whenever I’m in real estate growth or acquisitions mode, I use a spreadsheet to track the number of:
- leads I generate for potential purchases
- offers I make buy a property
- and pitches I make to private or institutional lenders to ask for money
You can apply the same concept to any lag goal you want to accomplish.
Step #4: Create a Cadence of Accountability
The first three steps are very helpful. But like a rocket that steers off course, you could easily crash and burn without the final step of a cadence of accountability.
During my real estate journey, I had a business partner, and we kept each other accountable to our lead measures during regular conversations and informal meetings.
When we weren’t hitting our lead measures, we solved problems together to figure out what we needed to change.
I also hired coaches.
During one real estate growth period, I remember literally printing off my real estate scorecard and faxing it (yes, it was 2007!) to my coach every Friday.
When I made public commitments to someone I respected, like a coach, I was more likely to follow through.
This is also why I’ve always loved sports with teams and coaches. As an individual team member, I achieved much greater results together than I ever could on my own.
How Will You Apply the 4 Disciplines?
This approach worked for me. Maybe it will for you, too.
If you want to try it, here are the steps you can take:
- Start by setting one or two wildly important goals.
- Break the big goal into smaller lead goals you can measure each week.
- Keep a written scorecard of these lead goals.
- Regularly hold yourself accountable.
You can start this accountability by commenting below and telling me the lead measures you will focus on THIS WEEK to move yourself a little closer to your ultimate real estate goals.
The 4 Disciplines in Rental Property Mastery
And if you want help with any or all of the four steps, I’d love to help you as your coach.
These 4 steps are so critical that I’ve built them as the foundation of my new private coaching community, Rental Property Mastery.
When you become a member, I help you determine your wildly important real estate goals (lag measures) and your next actions (lead measures).
Then using a scorecard template, we’ll measure your progress regularly.
And you can voluntarily get accountability inside our small accountability groups (aka Action Teams). Every Friday you’ll submit your lead measures (online this time – no faxes!) and receive encouragement and feedback from your team and your coaches.
If you stick with the RPM process, I can promise you’ll get the desired goals of buying more properties, raising money, building management systems, and growing your wealth and cash flow.
And if you accomplish enough of THOSE goals, I can also promise you’ll achieve financial freedom and have plenty of time do what matters.
I’m cheering for you!