There is one large barrier real estate agents need to master to create dominance in their marketplace - focus.

Focus always comes before success…even in the dictionary. For one to achieve success in business or in life, we must have intensity on focus. Ask yourself, what is the one thing, if done with excellence, that would make the biggest impact in your business? Let me share a quote from Peter Drueker, the great leadership and business thinker, “Effective leaders delegate a good many things, they have to or they would drown in trivia. They do not delegate the one thing that only they can do with excellence, the one thing that will make a difference, the one that will get the standards, the one thing they want to be remembered for. They do it.”

I know Mr. Drueker is right. Too often we are trying to do too much all at once. Success is not built on being a jack-of-all-trades. Success is built on the mastery of one thing. Once mastery has occurred we move on and create mastery in another area. Mastery is contained in the simple not the complex. Mastery is created through knowing and applying the fundamentals. Most successful people do the little things with excellence.

In real estate sales it is your ability to master the fundamentals of selling that will make all the difference. The fundamentals are scripts and dialogues, time management, team building, databasing, technology, systems, marketing and life planning. What one fundamental is really holding you back?

You can't create mastery by working on eight things at once. You have to work methodically with focus on the one thing that has the highest priority and then delegate the other priority items to others. The jack-of-all-trades is master of none. Select your area, which is most integral to your success, and start today. Work toward mastery.

Look back at where you generated the most transactions. Are you getting the most that you can from this area of success? What can you do to increase and intensify the results? What is the step-by-step process to drive this area of your business deeper?

Focus on the one thing you do with excellence, and do it with intensity. You will be astounded as to your process.

Published: July 31, 2001

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Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President & CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. He's the widely published author of Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print. You can get more information by visiting RealEstateChampions.com.