Only ‘70 Days’ Left of 2013, and Time Is Flying By
By David Greene September 5, 2013 6:00 am
reprintsLet’s face it: Summer as we know it is now over.
We are now in the middle of the “back to school” period, all of the holidays, the sun goes down earlier, the sun comes up later, the leaves start to change color—“boo!”—Halloween, the clock falls backward, the new mayor gets elected, and then the snow begins to fall.
If you are reading this on Thursday, Sept. 5 (the beginning of Rosh Hashanah), did you know that there are just 118 days remaining in 2013? Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Well, maybe or maybe not. Thirty-four of those days fall on a weekend, which leaves just 84 days.
How about holidays? Depending upon your religious beliefs, you might take anywhere from 1 to 15 days off before the end of the Year. How about Yom Kippur, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and then the big national holiday, Christmas. Now you are somewhere in the vicinity of just 69 days left in 2013. Oh wait, did you need a day off? Did you catch a cold? Did you have a doctor’s appointment, a dentist? Did you take a day or two off to help your son move back to college? Were you planning to go to South Beach for a long weekend? O.K., you get it.
As our brokers hear me say frequently, “All you have is your time.” If you decide that you would like to go into the office on a Sunday, you can; if you decide to take a day off to play golf, you can. You make that decision, because you are in charge of your own time—a rare amenity in this day and age. Just 25 years ago, most people did not have a computer, and there was no automated listing service or “easy to use” website. Most people did not have a cellphone, at least one that fit in a pocket. With so much technology now, our work has not only become more conveniently accessible, but we can always stay in touch with our business world. But time sure does fly.
There’s the old adage, and I am not one for old adages: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today.” Man, I always hated that one. Thanks, Mom. She was right, though. In our business, we can always find something to do to help increase or maintain business. You just have to stay after it. That’s the secret. In our business, the amount of hard work we put in truly determines how much money we can make.
So now that we realize that we have about 70 days left in the year, use the days wisely. Work hard, work smart, be thorough, take good care of your customers and clients, and go make deals, but be sure to take care of yourself too. About 10 years ago, when my dad passed away earlier than expected, my brother turned to me at the funeral and said, “Clock’s ticking.” He was right.
