BP Podcast FAQ “What Separates Successful…” The REAL Answer

[Jennifer Slaughter]

This morning I finished reading Grit by Angela Duckworth, PhD. As I read the last couple pages I couldn’t help but think of the question that is asked in nearly every BiggerPockets podcast episode,

“What separates successful real estate investors from those who give up, fail, or never get started?”

I have heard the different answers from different podcast guests and yes, there are several qualities that make up a successful person. However, without grit, giving up, failing, or never getting started is inevitable.

Angela summed it up perfectly on the last couple pages of her book,

“To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.”

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she uses the word “invest”. Anything we spend our time on is an investment. However, since we are on BP it’s safe to say that we share the same value of investing in something that could bring so much freedom and opportunity (read: real estate).

Angela goes on to talk about being interviewed by a journalist,

“He said, ‘So it’s obvious you could have talked all day. You really love this subject.’

‘Oh gosh. Is there anything as interesting as the psychology of achievement? Could there be anything more important?’

He chuckled. ‘you know,’ he said, ‘I absolutely love what I do, too. It’s amazing to me how many people I know who’re well into their forties and haven’t really committed to anything. They don’t know what they’re missing.’”

I took Angela’s Grit Scale and my goodness was I crushed (although not surprised) to find out I wasn’t perfectly gritty. Not even close. But there is hope for me and everyone else because we can become more gritty through practice. In the book, grit is described as the intersection of passion and perseverance and the idea that our work becomes more rewarding the longer we stick with it. Hallelujah! Wouldn’t it be terrible if our work became more miserable as we went from newbie to expert?

So for the new investor, stick with it. Find your niche—rentals, flipping, out of state, syndication, multi-family, notes, etc., the opportunities are endless. Know that success without conflict is unrealistic. Failure and rejection are well worn roads on the path to success. You can do greater things than you could ever hope or imagine. When things get weird, and they will, just go to the sage advice of Dory and JUST. KEEP. SWIMMING.