People often times ask me what will it take for the real restate investment market to get back to where it was from 1999 to 2006? I would say most real estate cycles are 15 to 20 years. More importantly we have to get to the point where all the banks forget what happened once  real estate values started declining. I say this because fortunes are made or lost based on the availability of capital(money). If there is an abundance of capital out there chasing around deals, the value of real estate will go up. It’s that simple. believe it or not real estate values are not based on the inherent value of the real estate but more on the emotions of people wanting to invest money.

This has got to be one of my favorite clips. I wish I could get people to run more. Its kind of funny when they do. They start out like ” I think I can take this guy, then after about 400 meters it does not appear to be a good idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZanoioW8cYQ&feature=player_embedded#!

I have had a lot of time to reflect lately and here are some random thoughts on my mind.

1. Madison Ave is out to destroy the values of America.  If you have an IPad do you really need the IPad2. Apparently a lot of people think they do(for sure Apple does).  I challenge you to go 2 weeks without watching any TV, reading some random website, or listening to the radio.  Buy a good book to read at home(on your Ipad2) and a book on tape to listen to in the car instead.  Do you really need a Nook and a Kindle and an ipod and an iphone? I have found amazing results from disconnecting myself from advertising. I even gave up my WSJ and now I am knocking out two books a month.

2. There is so much pressure to NOT eat healthy in America.  Its no wonder we have an obesity epidemic. What would it be like where there were a couple of dozen good healthy choices on the menu, corporate America says they want you to be healthy but how many bread sticks do you need to stuff yourself with before it becomes a bad idea, the whole problem is the incentives are all wrong, health care cost do not directly correlate with what we eat(again blame Madison Ave).  On top of that the remarks you get from friends and family when you are trying to eat healthy are not exactly what I would call “loving”.  They all ask ”are you dieting?” I have to bite my tongue on what I want say.  I think America deserve what its gets when it struggles with spiraling health care costs.

3. Kids coming out of college want to do everything possible to avoid risk.  They all want to work for a company with 20 weeks of paid vacation where can spend all day working on their status updates on Face book. They want a job where no real work is done. Little do they know 10 years from now that company is going to lay them off and they are going to have hard time finding a job making what corporate America paid. And they do not have the traits valuable to small companies   They will ultimately come to the realization that they should work for themselves. Except now it is hard because they have three kids and a $3000 house payment and two SUV’s sitting in the garage  What America really needs is kids that want to take a lot of risk and are confident in themselves.

4. Nothing happens till someone sells something.  I have been spent a lot of time prospecting for new clients lately.  I am amazed by the positive reception I get from people. I even go as far to say” This is a cold call, do you have a few minutes to talk about XYZ problem.”  I read someplace that businesses lose 20% of their customers every ever. This means in 5 years your business will be dead if you do nothing.

5. We have been taking a lot about that it takes for a company to be successful. I really think it comes down to one thing. The ability for the leaders in an organization to develop the people around them. I read someplace that your employees are your most valuable asset so long as you invest in them.

6.  Dwight Eisenhower once said “I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle.”If you read this blog often, you know I am an avid athlete. I have done virtually every distance of triathlon including Louisville Ironman in 12:34. I really love all sports, one of the sports that I have developed a passion for is Ultimate Frisbee,  I have noticed that my performance changes based on what I think of how good of a player I am. The games where I envision myself as an amazing athlete is where I think some of the footage of me should be on wide world of sports. The exact opposite is true on the days that I have a poor attitude.  I cannot encourage you enough to have a positive attitude about yourself and your performance, no matter if it is for work or for sport.

7. How many bad habits have you created?  I just finished a nutrition challenge at my gym where we challenged one another to eat healthy, eat balanced meals, get enough sleep, and drink enough water. During this challenge I realized how many bad habits I have developed. Think about your performance in what is important to you.  What things are you doing that are preventing your from achieving your goals.

8. I don’t think any of us including me takes what is written in the Bible serious enough. We have been working on this project in church where we read the entire bible in a year and in Genesis the bible talks about we will all have to give an account of everything we ever did to GOD. EVERYTHING? If we really believed that we would all(including me) act a little differently.

A Gun? NO

Marital arts Training? NO

Move to a better Neighborhood? NO

Security system? NO

DVR enabled security cameras? NOPE

Tall fence? NO

ON site security? NO

The DOD, OPD and the FBI have all told me to simply get a dog. I of course take this to extreme, I get really big dogs. As you know I am a huge lover of Bull Mastiff’s, my wife and I are the Nebraska and Eastern Iowa coordinators for the Bulls Mastiff Resume Association. I have had a total of 4 Bull mastiffs in my life. I first was introduced to the bred by one of my tenants. I have a 155 lb male, the is simply intimidating to be in the same room with. Last night we picked up a 13lb 8 week old female Bull Mastiff name Bella. This breed is notorious for protecting the families they live with. My advice to you is to get a dog, not only are they great security, they are also great companions for the family.

It is that time of year to set your goals for 2012. Make sure your goals are measurable, attainable specific, realistic and time bound. I got the following list from my Sandler training systems training manual.  My sales coach at Sandler Training systems is  Karl Shaphorst

Your Goals
Force you to define your value system
Force you to set priorities
Identify a track for your to follow
Help you manage behavior
Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Improve self esteem
Motivate you

I have the following types of goals
Spiritual
Family-I even break it down by family member
Physical
Career
Financial
Educational
Personal

For the last 10 years I review the previous years goals when  setting the current years goals. Normally my goals are several pages long.

For example last year my goal was to do a sub 14 hr Ironman.  Under that goal I put how I was going to accomplish it. For example, I put that I wanted to find and follow a training plan. I also put that I wanted to swim three times a week. Another thing was to read as many articles as I could find on Iron man Distance triathlon training and race execution. The end result was a 12:34 Ironman. Next years goal is to do a sub 12 hr Ironman.  Under this goal will be things such as find a personal swim coach,  etc

This year, in addition to the list that I put together. Karl Shaphorst had us prepare a presentation of our goals in a visual way. Karl set out about two dozen magazines we then cut out pictures and headlines from the magazines which represented each one of our goals. We then glued these on a piece of heavy stock paper and we presented these to the class.

To make it more interesting, I did this with my family and my kids absolutely loved it. We spend 90 minutes cut and gluing and then each one of us presented our goals to the whole family

I encourage all of you to do this, it is a great family activity and its good for goal setting for the up coming year.

You then keep the board of goals in a place that you can review throughout the year.

This is an amazing video, you have got to check this out. It talks about the fact that the founding fathers of the American government set it up as a republic and not a democracy.  It simply amazing.  Click here to check it out.

One of the great things about working for Landmark is the Landmark Group Endurance Team. This is the companies way of promoting a healthy active lifestyle. We do this through a variety of venues. We play a lot of ultimate Frisbee together as well as any other kind of sport. The biggest things we do together is the Omaha Corporate cup, This year we had over 50 people participate.   Two upcoming trips are: in March will will go to Summit County Colorado to ski and snowboard, and in April we are going to climb Mt Elbert. This will be an overnight winter assent. Mt Elbert is the 2nd highest peak in the lower 48 states.  In April we will also be doing an ultra endurance ride on the Katy Trial. This will be April 28th and 29. This weekend three teammates James Connelley, Jamie Landau and Dale Clymens will be climbing Mt Orizaba. Please  pray for them, this mountain is a volcano covered by glaciers.  This will definitely be an epic trip. In 2012 we already have three team members signed up for the Ironman AZ.   It cost nothing to join the team just go to the team website and  enter your information.  Once you sign up,  you will start getting emails on the latest trips we are planning.