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20 Habits of the Smart Investor

What good habits will you find common among the most successful real estate investors?

 

  1. Goal Setting

 

Setting goals is critical to get where you want to go. Everyone you know who has achieved great things has set clear goals.  Think about applying SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound.

 

  1. Ongoing Education

 

Going deep into debt for a college degree is only part of your education. Much of what you learn is self-taught by life experience. Being a lifelong learner is a sign of true intelligence.

 

  1. Focus on Your Process

 

Having goals and a good investment strategy is the start. The real success comes in focusing on the right process and improving on it. Process and protocol can simplify how you operate and give you a clear roadmap that you can gather data with. 

 

  1. Compete with Yourself

 

Real leaders focus on getting better and improving themselves and their results year over year. Don’t spend all your time worrying about competition, compete with yourself.

 

  1. Eliminate Time Wasters

 

Identify the time drains in your day and put a plan in place to remove them. Look at how often you answer your email, look at social media, take unnecessary phone calls and shuffle paper. This applies to both people and activities which are a waste of your time.

 

  1. Adapt

 

If one thing is for sure, it is that things are constantly changing. Those best at adapting have the best chance to stay ahead. Remember the only constant in life is change.

 

  1. Be Persistent

 

Persistence is the difference between the successful and the rest of society. Remember the story of Thomas Edison? “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

 

  1. Focus on the Positive

 

You manifest what you think about. Stay positive and get positive results. This is a daily choice. You can’t control everything that happens, only how you look at it and react.

 

  1. Good Health Habits

 

Good health habits help your mind work optimally and gives you the ability to stay positive. This increases your energy levels and stamina. You don’t have to become a bodybuilder, just practice healthy habits daily.

 

  1. Morning Rituals

 

Smart investors have good morning rituals. They might include stretching, a cold shower, a meditation or quiet time or simply breakfast! These help them focus on their goals, stay positive, and stay healthy.

 

  1. Planning Ahead for the Day

 

Create your own schedule, or you’ll always have your life and results controlled by others. Elite entrepreneurs like Elon Musk schedule their time down to segments of just a few minutes.

 

  1. Visualize Success

 

Setting goals aren’t enough. The real change happens when you apply visualization. This engages emotion and positive thinking and puts your goals into action.

 

  1. Practice Thankfulness

 

Intentionally contemplating thankfulness daily makes a big difference in our mindset. Operating from a mindset of gratitude will change your outlook, reactions, and can really help when it comes to building relationships.

 

  1. Get Enough Sleep

 

Sleep is underrated. It affects our metabolism, how we feel, and our ability to think well. Getting enough sleep is actually more critical than the amount of time you put into your waking hours.

 

  1. Nurture Positive Relationships

 

Who you hang out with matters, a lot. Make sure you are spending time with positive people who will lift you up. Work on building real relationships and connections.

 

  1. Generate Multiple Streams of Income

 

No matter how smart you are markets and individual investments can take some wild turns. If all your eggs are in one basket that can be a problem if the market corrects. If you have multiple streams of income you are setting yourself up for a better outcome.

 

  1. Work Smarter

 

Work efficiently, and know when you are at your peak effectiveness. The question of putting in 12 hour days when your peak ends at 8 hours is something you need to gauge. Learn how to make the most of those 8 hours instead. That’s when you’ll get the best ROI on your time.

 

  1. Master Self-Reliance

 

If you want good things to happen, it’s on you. It comes down to you to solve problems and take action. Take ownership of this fact, and look for ways to be self-sustaining to cover yourself financially.

 

  1. Make Time to Play

 

Along with sleep, and hustling hard during your active hours, taking the time to play and actively de-stress is critical. Why work so hard on everything else on this list if you aren’t going to take the time to enjoy the journey too?

 

  1. Give

 

The pinnacle of success isn’t really just amassing a fortune and hitting ‘your number’. The most successful go on to give big, pay it forward, donate, and volunteer. You don’t have to wait either. Make this a part of your process now.

 

You may not be able to implement all of these at once.  Take one at a time and focus on mastery and then move to the next. Each goal that is achieved and reward reaped gives you the motivation to push forward toward success in not just real estate investing but in your everyday life!

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TJ Lokboj

TJ Lokboj is an entrepreneur with a passion for adding value to the real estate investing industry through adopting digital transformation. Some of TJs companies have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Morningstar, Benzinga, and many other publications.

TJ is the managing partner of Holdfolio, a real estate investment firm that leverages a premier crowdfunding platform.

He is also a member of the Forbes real estate council and co-founded SyndicationPro, which is the #1 syndication management SaaS solution in the market today.

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Ready to invest in real estate?

We make real estate investing simpler, more transparent, and accessible to individual investors.