“When your legs scream stop and your lungs are bursting, that’s when it starts. That’s the hurt locker. Winners love it in there.”

-Chris “Macca” McCormack, Australian triathlete.

If you’re new to real estate, you probably haven’t experienced your first “down market” yet. Real estate is inherently cyclical, and if you enter during an upswing, you may not be familiar with what it takes to endure the low times.

Tuesday Tactics was launched by Oakley Signs & Graphics after the financial crisis of 2008, and many of our long-time readers will remember what it was like in those dark days of 2009 (and beyond). We had hoped the newsletter would help agents stay inspired. We hoped it would give them little points of light to keep focused on while the storm raged. Happily, here we are on the cusp of 2019, still going strong!

Many of the best in the business today are as good as they are because they learned the business in the wake of a catastrophe. Every lead, every listing, and every closing came with uncommonly steep challenges.

When the market turns again, scores of your colleagues will wash out of the industry. If you want to go the distance, you have to make a decision about how prepared you want to be when the wheel of fate turns again. Don’t view this as something to be feared. View it as a necessary part of your growth. Look hard at how much you love what you do, and decide if you’re going to make moves to remain resilient.

How might this point of view change your behavior today? Where might you mitigate certain risks and deepen relationships? What will it take for you to double-down when the grade changes?

As the great cyclist Greg LeMond once said, “It never gets easier, you just get faster.” The elite know that greatness is forged in the furnace of duress. Rather than believing the race will always run downhill, act as if you know there are brutal climbs ahead. It’s a mindset which will serve you when the time comes.