Our January Newsletter is now online.

Highlights include:

• Procrastination Combat Strategies
• Holidays
• The Market in Calgary

Printable PDF Link.

[Load the PDF - It looks much better than this quick edit ]

Mañana…

As we are looking at purchasing our next property I find that I get stuck in analysis paralysis – which really points directly to procrastination; my greatest obstacle. I can find myself stuck for days, cleaning my desk and finding much more important things to do. Additionally, as I had mentioned in the CREN article written by Rusti Lehay, there is always stress involved in writing the offer – so I get lost long before I get to the point with “much more important” things to do.

The best way to combat this is to simply get out there and ‘do it’. I know it sounds simplistic, but breaking the paralysis-spell and making action the new habit is the first critical step to getting beyond the “Mañana-mindset”.

I have written here about procrastination previously but here are some of the things that I am now using to work more efficiently.

Using a Timer

I have been finding that when I have a task before me I set a timer with a commitment that I will work only on that project until the timer goes off and only then am I going to take a break.

Set Small, Realistic Goals

In the morning I begin with my tasks that I want to complete by the end of the day or the end of the week and write them down. Even in the act of writing this and essentially “telling on myself” I have gotten more productive. Yesterday, after writing the above, I went out and viewed 5 properties and spoke to around the same number of agents.

Last but not least do not forget the most important:

Celebrate

That might be a nice glass of wine by the fireplace, an hour reading your favorite book or magazine or even a movie out. As long as you know that this is your celebratory reward for completion, no matter how small the task, if it was a tough one for you – celebrate.

I would love to hear how you combat procrastination, please send me your tried and true suggestions if you are willing to share them.

Christmas and New Year

We were lucky to have a very full house this Christmas with both my family and Alan’s attending. In what we had previously considered a spacious place, we somehow managed to feed, sit and entertain 15 people. There was more than enough food to go around and not too many left overs to haunt us for the rest of the week.

Given the number of people we choose to do a Christmas present draw this year. Everyone brought a gift of a similar dollar value and wrapped it. We put them in the centre of the room and drew names to see who would pick from the wrapped presents first. Then the next person drawn had the choice of choosing a wrapped gift or ‘stealing’ the gift from anyone who had an unwrapped one. If the choice was to ‘steal’ then the victim would then have the same choice… and so on. It was great fun. It started out very benignly and then we watched our family become a band of thieves.

It was with sadness that we watched most of our guests depart the next day. We had some stay for a few days and then head home. Alan and I then had a couple of quiet days at home before New Year’s evening. Which continued along the same lines, quietly and peacefully we rang in the new year together.

We hope that everyone had an enjoyable Break and New Year.

We’d love to hear how you deal with large families and the holiday season, whatever you celebrate – logistics transcend all.

Real Estate Market is Wild

I have been looking at houses and condos in the past couple of weeks and have witnessed the frenzy first hand. Realtors are taking holidays in the middle of a melee because they are desperate for a break. Listings that show well are hitting the market one day and have 30 viewings and 3 or more offers by the evening, most offers end up being over list price. I have refused to look at a listing that is already in a bidding war and I have been asked “How do you expect to find something?”. I will simply keep looking. There are deals out there, I won’t find them without looking.

Photography

I’ve (Alan) started posting more regular photographs to my weblog and announced the existence of a Picture-of-the-Week section. This general idea is that it will publicly hold me to higher standard and help me get out shooting more often. So far, it hasn’t worked out that way, but perhaps I’ll have a moment or two this weekend to drive down to Big Sur and capture a few wonderful images. (link)

Click on Picture of the Week search link in the text. If you make an account and let me know about it, I’ll add you to my friends and family groups so you can see more photos.

Calendar of Events

We are quite swamped for the next month dealing with rentals and work-related items so are not scheduling any games. If you are interested if playing CashFlow™, let us know and we’ll co-ordinate something via e-mail.