Ok-this has very little to do with real estate except that I do believe that where one lives can affect their life happiness-personally, I need lots of light and to be near the ocean.
It seems to me that recently there has been a plethora of new books out on life happiness and career choice. This seems odd, but maybe not-given the fantastic job market. There seem to now be more options available for anyone looking for a job-so maybe these authors think if people are just reminded of what they need to do to find career and life happiness, they will get up and do something if they are not happy.
I personally love my job, where I live and pretty much all of my life. I am often surprised at how often I think to myself “wow I have a great life”. I think about how lucky I am-even though I realize that while it is in part luck, at least part of it is the result of action. I have a close friend who is not that happy with his career and hasn’t been for ages. It is “ok” at best and he hates it on the bad days. But given the significant risk associated with change, he stays there. He is very smart and a real people person, most people would think he could do anything he wanted-and I have no doubt he could-but I do doubt that he will…..he won’t take the risk required to move forward. I think that is the way it must be for a lot of people-they are afraid of change and the risk of things not working. That can paralyze a person. The most recent article I was reading was about the author of a book called “The Five Things we must Discover before we die”. He says 2 of the key principles in life are to “follow your heart” (which is how I started selling real estate) and “risk more” (which I don’t think I should really do since my friends already think I jump off the deep end in life without worrying about the consequences far too often!). The author says that the happiest people he interviewed in doing his research were those who took risks-and of course reaped the rewards of doing so. I think this is true and very obvious in the real estate field. It is interesting-but I think I can tell a lot about how a person lives their life based on how they buy homes/investment properties. My happiest clients seem to be the ones who take action and accept the risk that goes with it. They are quick, decisive, etc and it seems they apply those principles throughout their lives. It is not jut the ones with the most money who do this (although I think the risk takers do end up doing a lot better in real estate ultimately) it is just a personality thing. As they say, the way a person does one thing is the way they do everything….now if I could just change that one thing I do! Oh well-I would still like to change a lot about me but at least I love my life, my house, my career!
