My own routines

I forget most of the time, that each day is my own. I hit my snooze alarm at least six times every morning before getting myself out of bed, usually before 7 am. On the weekends I'll sleep in until 8 or so, but usually I am up because I am hungry or thinking about something or waiting for an email. I make hot breakfast for me and my roommate, she makes the coffee. I shower, email and look at a broker's website with daily new listings to see if anything new has come on the market for clients I like or think are serious. I check for the $8000 client a lot. Some mornings I have to move my car to a spot where I won't get a ticket. They street sweep four times a week over here in Greenpoint. At some point I put on my businessy clothes and go out to catch the bus or the G train. I usually make it into work in about 20-35 minutes, not bad. Twice a week we have meetings in which we talk about available apartments, notable apartments, cool places we've seen, what to avoid, how to address a particularly excitable super or onsite agent.

I like to be at these meetings, not because I couldn't find the apartments myself, but because they make me feel grounded and involved. It is important to be current and stay that way. Otherwise I just don't feel like I know what I am talking about. Also it generates a good like of things to preview to write new ads.

Some days I know just what I am going to work on when I get to the office. Others are more fluid. Some days I feel like I can't get anything done. Some days I remember my time is my own and I can leave in the middle of the day. This week I have a friend in town and a couple of times I have ducked out of work to have meals with him and his friend. For some reason this always feels so forbidden and silly. It is just eating lunch. Mind tricks can be powerful.

I feel like I barely worked today. I went into the office at 9 am, made most of the meeting, copied the rest from someone else, then got busy calling back some clients, researching apartments. Around 11:30 I decided I should go out to Brooklyn to deal with my car, which was parked in front of a new friend's house. I had a horn problem.

***This is a tangent!***
Sunday I was with this same friend and his friend. I drove us all to their friend's house in Kensington, we hung out, I made my friend help me try to replace my busted car horn with the new part I have. As soon as most of the part was out. The horn starts going off without any control at all. The neighbors are looking through their windows, telling me to shut it off. I am laughing, feeling a little self conscious, but really I just think it is funny. Luckily the auto shop I go to is around the corner. I decide to leave the car there, deal with it the next day. We all go out, have a meal, I get dropped off at the train to go home. Not five minutes after I get home does my phone ring. I guess my car's horn has been going off since we left for our meal. Maybe hours. The neighbors are angry, the police have been called, AAA has been called, $20 has been borrowed, cabs have been called, my new friend is afraid to go outside for fear he will be beaten by the neighbor and arrested by the police. I wish he would just man up and go outside and disconnect the battery. But no. Anyway, I went back out there, drank a cup of tea, was yelled at by the tow truck driver, filed a complaint, borrowed $20 more and went home. And watched a little bit of the Academy Awards. academy awards. Kinda stupid, except for when those homies won for "You know it hard out here for a pimp!" That was cool.

Back to real estate. I decided in the middle of today that I was allowed to go out to Brooklyn to deal with getting the car to the shop. I forget sometimes, often, that I can schedule my time however I want and deal with my own stuff, that being successful in real estate is not about which hours I put in or even any number of hours. Much of it is random, just being in the right place at the right time. Of course I try to up my chances of this happening by showing up everyday or almost everyday. It's good I forget most of the time or I'd be playing hookey far too often. But it's fun to get drunk in the middle of the day sometimes, or at least hang out with someone who's doing that.

I can't decide if I should go to work before my healing appointment tomorrow. I know the answer is probably not, but I'd like to be at least a bit prepared for my two o'clock appointment with the pregnant lady. I thought I had two or three places to show her, but it may only be one and that doesn't seem good. Though I have done more with less before. Anyway, I'll have to decide later. For now I am tired. It's late and I have to get up before seven.