What would your real estate report card say?

Question

I think we can all remember the dreaded feeling of report card days from our childhood. The level of stress you felt typically depended on how well you thought you had done in your classes. Looking back on those moments I realize that the report card was a great way to report our progress toward the specific goal of gaining education. Our grades were many times never a reflection of our interest in a subject, but instead a reflection of the fear that our parents put into us if we did bad.

After the last year of our formal education we no longer recieve paper report cards. Instead we have the report card of life. If you are flunking in a subject life can make you miserable, broke, or at least make you switch subjects to something else of more understanding. The problem with the life type of report card is that we don't have any parents to answer to. We only answer to ourselves. I don't know about you but if I had only had to answer to myself in my early years report cards would have been alot different.

Suspend reality for a moment and picture yourself as the parent of you. Essentially that is what we need to become. What would the parent "you" think of the progress of the "child" you. How would your report card read?
would your real estate grade read something like this:

C+ Comments: Jonny (you) has a great understanding of the subject, but he could be applying himself more.

or maybe

D Comments: Jonny is easily distracted and tends to wander off in class.

or maybe the most common

F Comments: Jonny knows the material, but is having trouble applying it.

I would suggest trying this excercise with all aspects of your life. Finance, Communication, Phys Ed, and Home Economics. After you give yourself the grade. Think of how "you" would feel as the parent of you. Think of how much stress "you" would be under knowing that you had to report to your parents. If you have thoughts of getting to the mailbox before your mom and dad, perhaps you should rethink your way of doing things.

Eric Medemar

Frank Adams · Answer

OK, I'll try it. Introspection is something that a lot of us don't gain until it's too late to do us much good. After hearing A LOT in my adult life that "you're a little hard to get along with", I realized that others may have a (small) point.

1. Plays well with others. Teacher's comments; He is friendly and outgoing, however his constant need for attention is offputting to the other children.

2. Learning classroom lessons. He tends to study and read the assigned work carefully, he just will not apply himself to completing assigned tasks.

3. Paying attention to the teacher. At the start of each lecture he is thoroughly involved in what the teacher is saying, however his attention soon drifts. ME: Boring!

4. Respect for authority Tends to think he knows more than the teacher. ME: No kidding, I often did!

Almost verbatim what was written about me by every teacher grades 1-12. In my last two years of high school I was universally known as "minimum effort (last name). Despite graduating near the bottom of a class of 600, here is what can be written (and has been written) about me 40 years later.

Finance: His quick, clear grasp of numbers and percentages allow him to quickly size up the likely prospect of a projects success and whether it's worth devoting any time to further analysis (ie; due diligence).

Ability to get along with others; His constant need for attention and need to always be right is offputting to many others. OTOH, there is NO ONE we would rather have leading a project.

Prospects; In our experience people of this generation, who exhibited these characteristics as a child tend to do best in two areas; intricate surgery or ENTEPRENEURSHIP. People of later generations who exhibited these characteristics are either (1) diagnosed as ADD/ADHD and are drugged until they reach puberty, or (2) put into a "fast track" school for gifted children.

Not an exact quote from numerous medical studies but more of a synopsis.

BTW; just to brag a bit on myself (and say "bite me" to just about every authority figure in my schools, except my Senior year Guidance Counselor, here is a short history of me since '66.

Drafted into military, ended up spending 9 years doing that, a couple of combat decorations, started my BS while in service at the urging of my Colonel who told me my talent would always be wasted in government service, finished my BS in about 30 months of starting, despite several extended TDY assignments.

Held 5 jobs within the first 3 years after getting out of the service, and had started one company, later sold.
10 years later I had 5 rentals and an MBA
5 years later I had 10 rentals and had started a second company
5 years later I had quit a job after 17 years that was paying pretty da** well, started a partnership (dissolved within 3 years) and had 16 rentals, all paid for, owned my own house free and clear.

BTW, despite my stellar 1.3 GPA in high school I had a 3.7 in college and a 3.8 in graduate school. All of that school was done while working full time and traveling on business.

My personality traits really haven't changed, I still talk too much, I'm still pretty opinionated* and I still constantly have my brain working about ways to make money. People still tell me that I'm a faithful friend and confidant and that if I SAY I'm going to do something if I DON'T show up and do it they need to call the funeral home.

*My opinions, if not always right, are at least a lot better informed than most people. I read 6 newspapers and 2 online news sites and an average of 1-2 NON-FICTION books per week.

One other thing, people who are generally considered hard charging d**ks NEVER consider me "hard to get along with", they tend to consider me "normal".

I'm a tireless volunteer for a couple of different organizations. BUT one thing I didn't learn until I was 50; I AM NO GOOD AT ALL AT SERVING ON BOARDS.

Thats me in a (nut) shell.

all cash

What would your real estate report card say?

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