Be A Happy Real Estate Agent
One day, I was feeling anxious and frustrated on the many tasks lined out on my To-Do-List and all of a sudden, a text message with a video came through our life transformation program, BRAVE chat group. It was about a video named 10th Apple, and the story went like this…
A hunter was deep in the jungle and lost his way while pursuing his prey. Even with all of his experience and navigational skills, he was not able to find a way out of the jungle. On top of that, he couldn’t find food to eat for several days. As the days went by, the hunter began to feel extremely hungry and began to lose hope. At this moment, he saw an apple tree. He plucked a dozen apples from the tree and start gobbling.
As he was eating the first apple, he felt extremely grateful and blessed. But when he continued to eat the apples, his gratefulness lowered gradually. By the time he reached the 10th apple, the joy reduced drastically and the hunter no longer enjoyed the apples.
What caused the hunter to lose the gratefulness and joy the he’d felt with the first apple? The reason is that after the first apple, he had already begun to take for granted the gift of having found the apple tree in the midst of the jungle after several days of hunger. By the time he took the fifth apple into his hand, the hunter was not so severe and he didn’t enjoy eating the apple as much as the first.
Economists call this Diminishing Marginal Utility. I would like to call it diminishing gratitude, which simply means taking things for granted. This is the 10th apple effect.
The 10th apple didn’t lack taste, and it had the potential to satisfy the hunter’s hunger. The only thing lacking was the hunter’s gratitude at finding this life-saving food in the middle of the jungle.
Let’s stop and think about this story for a minute. Let’s say the hunter represents each one of us. And the apple represents all the gifts that life gives us. The 10th apple can stand for our lack of gratitude for these gifts, which in reality is our attitude of taking everything for granted. As we keep receiving the gifts of life, our hunger (which is our greed) keeps on increasing, while the joy we get from these gifts decreases.
The 10th apple is always just as sweet as the first apple. However, if the 10th apple doesn’t bring you as much pleasure as the first one, there’s nothing wrong with the apple. Instead, the problem is with you.
Let’s look at this another way. If you become bored on a dull day, this isn’t because the day is dull or boring. Instead, the boring day is caused by your lack of gratitude. Your gratitude has become dull and boring. Taking this further, the Nth year of life should seem as exciting as the 16th year, as the 25th year and as the 50th year. Never should we let the 10th apple effect make us take the gifts of life for granted.
The story of the hunter and the 10th apple are representative of our own lives. Sometimes we take our friends, family, spouse, or parents for granted. The simple acknowledgement for what they’ve done for us, no matter how small or large, makes a difference to how you feel about yourself and the relationship. Why not tell your spouse “Thank you” when they cook a nice meal or run an errand for you? Whatever they do may seem insignificant. However, with this attitude, it may mean that you’re expressing how you feel about them, rather than being grateful for what they’ve done for you.
I am very thankful to my wife who take care of the family so I can build my business whole heartedly. She is not only a loving wife but she is also my soul mate. Without her, I would not be where I am now.
I am very thankful to all my team leaders. Many of them selflessly contributed to the growth of the team. They organise events to bond the team, conduct trainings to share their expertise to the other team mates and develop new features for our mobile app, Link Up.
I am very thankful for all the mentors in my life. I have learned different things from each of them. I learned to put myself in another person's shoes so as to understand and empathise with their point of view. I learned that no one man is the center of the Universe. Once you realise you are not the focus of everyone's attention, your confidence will soar. You will be able to speak better in public. You will enjoy the freedom of doing the things you like to do, knowing that people are not constantly looking for your flaws.
I learned to not take things for granted. Some mornings when I wake up not feeling 100% fresh and positive, I will remind myself to look for 3 things (however small) to be grateful for. We often overlook these things, especially those that seem everlasting like our health, our family and friends.
Check out my Youtube Channel Gary Chua The Real Estate Agent Mentor
When my kids were smaller, my spouse and I took turns tucking them in bed each night. We would ask them to name three things they were grateful for that day. This practice has made them become appreciative of the people and things around them. They have now grown to be very polite, kind and happy teenagers as a result of their gratefulness practice. This practise is now frequently carried out on the dining table before a meal.
Never let the 10th apple effect take the joy and peace from your life. Gratitude is the most powerful tool to help you achieve happiness. Gratefulness is an attitude, which is a choice and a habit. Consciously practicing gratefulness for the people, situations, and resources around us, we soon begin to attract even better relationships and results.
Many scientific researchers have proven that people who regularly practice gratitude experience an overall increase in their well-being. They are happier, healthier, more focused, and they even sleep better. So, never let your gratitude for life’s gifts fade away.
Namaste. Wish you become a Happy Real Estate Agent.
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To Your Success,
Gary Chua
Gary Chua is the co-founder of Navis Living Group
—A 1300 agents-strong division with Huttons real estate agency, and the fastest growing group in this competitive industry. Gary is also a mentor to many real estate agents and team builders, for two decades and counting.
Before devoting his work full-time to grooming realtors, Gary was himself a distinguished real estate salesperson. He first stepped into the industry at age 30 in Year 2000 and having been Top 50 Achievers in his 5 years of sales, he understands the hurdles and challenges facing both new and experienced agents, and is thus equipped with a wealth of knowledge to aid and teach the property agents whom he takes under his wings.
In 2005, Gary realised that his true calling was to groom and coach the next generation of real estate agents. It was also the year that he consciously diverted almost all of his time and effort into recruitment activities, putting his personal sales aside and taking a hit in his bottom line.
Through sheer grit and determination, Gary's vision took hold as his team expanded, eventually growing to become the largest division in its agency, and also one of the largest in Singapore. It cultivated numerous top producers and achievers throughout the decade—some of whom have clocked in more than S$1,000,000 in commission in a single year, broken many sales records, won many local and international awards, and helped many real estate agents achieve outstanding results and realise their financial freedom.