OODA Redux: Marketing is What You Do, & Who You Are.

by Chris Johnson

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

I talked about OODA for Real Estate before, mostly because it’s more clear to more people that there are no barriers to doing amazing (even splendid) things in or out of Real Estate.  Again, OODA is:  Observe, Orient, Decide Act (lather, rince repeat).   A better definition is here,   A still better definition is here.   But my current campaign work has me thinking more tactically in lieu of strategically. 

What I’m guessing is this:  Most Realtors (and chess players…and people….) would be far better served to study tactics than strategy.  Yes, yes, strategy matters—there are some preconditions that must be met before success in any venue is attainable.  A few would be: the ability to tell the truth, the ability to focus, the desire to help people, etc.  But, beyond the building blocks of a complete man, most people are addicted to strategy and planning.  Because making a plan is a blast.   And because you are getting a glimpse of the possible.   It’s the doing that’s a bitch.

Most people plan their work, and then plan their work, and then plan their work when they should be working.  Planning and thinking becomes procrastination, and then you may be great at Observing & Orienting but when it comes to deciding and acting…it’s easier to go to Reader to check in than it is to grind out a deal.  Easier to join the cadre of nincompoops on Twitter…and say ‘that sux,’ to one another.

Orly?   Easier for a day, that is…until you suddenly find someone calling about your car payment which is 16-days-past-due and you but you have only-$312 to last you until the 23rd where you SHOULD have a closing if the mortgage loan officer (or underwriter) gets off their ass, so why don’t you call the LO right now to get an “update?"  That kind of stress comes from overplanning and underworking. 

LO:  Hi, How’s it going.

Broke Realtor:  Well, You tell me.  (weighty silence)

Buh-leave me.   I know from brutal (and sadly, all too recent) past experience that a perfect plan sitting in a drawer is way worse than calling strangers with zeal and fervor and asking for business.   When the pressure is up and you’re on Death Ground, fight.  And if you’re not on Death Ground?  Convince yourself you are.  Brings out the fight in you.  (See Shaw, Russell). 

So we see it’s harder and more stressful to be indecisive.  You have to bear weight and pressure of unprocessed loops.  The second-greatest trick of the Devil  is this: Sloth (i.e. echochamber aspects of social media) is OK , and you should gravitate towards what’s low resistance instead of high value.   Napoleon didn’t slice open Archduke Charles by first wondering if all of Chuck’s Twitter Followers would approve.   He saw (O) an opportunity, and (O) saw what would happen by (D) sending his troops in, so he (A)cted.  

The thing is, too many people wait for perfect conditions to act.  They wait for business cards to be printed because, hey, you can’t sell without business cards, and that takes time.   They wait for rates to go down, prices to go up, whatever.   The bias for inaction is the biggest threat towards most people’s lives.   Marketing yourself is about taking action that people aren’t, being the ‘-est’  at whatever the hell you’re doing.  (Thank you, Scott).  

The state of perpetual half work that half wits find themselves in is why there is the continual vibe of being stressed out.  But the stress goes away when you work your ass off.  The end-of-the day feeling is relaxed contentment, and allowing yourself to be consumed with noise invariably breaks down your ability to form OODA loops and get inside the loops of others.  Then you become part of insipidly useless Twitter conversations about how your buyer/broker/lender/dog/ let you down because they aren’t as hardworking/honest/smart/thoughtful as you are.

So, the basic question: what could you be doing that you’re resisting? 

What could you do for an hour or two a day and get results?

What are you avoiding?

And…

How can you do everything faster?

And…

What things can you get away with not having?

and…

What are you using to make an excuse and let yourself off the hook for results?

Remember: EVERY general in history bitched about not having supplies to win the War.   The great ones did without, won and were remembered.

Damn the torpedoes and go fight–there ain’t any magic bullets here.