Repetition!

I’ve mentioned a few times that I am slowly working through the book, “Atomic Habits”, by James Clear. It is a lot to take in, so I absorb it in small doses.

There was a part of the book that I read this week that really stuck out to me, and I have retold it at least 5-6 times … and now I’ll tell you. 😜

In the book the author tells the story of a college professor who teaches a photography class. One semester the professor decided to divide his class into two groups; a quantity group and a quality group.

The objective of the quantity group was to take and submit as many photos as possible. In order to get an A in the class the students needed to submit at least 100 photos. The quality of the photos didn’t matter, simply the quantity of them.

The objective of the quality group was to take the very best, most perfect photo possible. In order to get an A in the class those students needed only submit one photo but it had to be nearly perfect.

Guess what happened? At the end of the semester the professor found that the students in the quantity group produced far better QUALITY photos than those in the quality group! Why do you think that is?

Repetition. They had lots of practice. Every time they took a photo they learned a little something that they could then tweak, adjust and apply with their next photo, repeat, repeat, repeat. Their 100th photo was far better than their 1st, and it was also better than the “perfect” submission of the quality group.

While the quantity students were busy taking action, taking pictures, learning things and then applying it, the quality group barely took any photos. They spent all their time learning about what would make a perfect photo, but not actually putting that into practice and making it happen.

Chances are my listing presentation is better than yours. Not because I’m any better than you or have nicer materials or a stronger CMA, but because I’ve done it literally 1000s of times.

Do you do a lot of open houses? I guarantee that your open house process and the way you interact with your visitors and convert them is better than mine. I haven’t sat an open house in a good 7-8 years, and even then I didn’t do them very often.

It is in the repetition that we hone our skill. It is through practice and doing again and again that we learn and get better … and better, and better.

Yes, you could read up on all the things, watch lots of training videos, and shadow multiple colleagues on how to explain an offer (for example), but until you have done it yourself again and again you won’t be able to truly become skilled.

Perfection is not attainable. For anyone. Don’t worry that you won’t do things just right and that someone may notice or comment or think negatively. Take action. Before long you will be doing them so well that THAT is what people will notice and think about when they see you.

What is something that you do really, really well that you have learned through repetition?

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