How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? I love that question. Think about that for a moment. The number of times the earth has rotated around the sun since you were born is a great measuring tool for starting kindergarten, getting a drivers license, and occupying a space at Del Boca Vista. However, other than that, measuring your age is one of the greatest disservices you can do to yourself. Why should your birth certificate dictate how old you are?

If I didn’t know that I was 38 years old, I would probably say I was about 25 in spirit, 30 in physical condition, 40 years old in experience and wisdom, and 13 in regards to my juvenile sense of humour. Yes there are parts of my life I will never grow out of, and my grade 8 sense of humour is one of them. My point is, I’m not letting my actual years on earth dictate how old I should feel or act for that matter.

The reason why this blog topic resonated with me is because after looking back at some photos of myself from about 3 to 8 years ago, I noticed that I certainly looked a lot older back then than I do now. Of course I had more hair, or I should say of course I had hair, but I also had huge bags under my eyes, I was 25 pounds heavier, I was so high strung and stressed all the time. I was in the worst physical shape of my life and balance wasn’t even something I thought of. I had a ton of work energy but had little energy left for anything else. I was physically, mentally and spiritually spent and looked like shit. If I didn’t know how old I was when I was 33, I would have guessed that I was in my late forties and on my way to stroke, heart attack, or bound to collapse from sheer exhaustion.

Now for another example, my parents – the most cautious and somewhat unadventurous couple when they were in their prime (sorry Fockers but its true) – and it wasn’t long ago when my dad was much heavier, looked older, and was grumpier too (sorry dad but that’s also true). Then all of a sudden a whole lot changed really quick one night. I remember it like it was yesterday, my dad was doubled over, clutching his chest and waking me to call the ambulance – how fun was that family vacation? A bunch of stints later, everything in their lives has changed for the better and they started really living like there was no tomorrow. They are both 67 years old, now retired and living in Cabo. Nobody who knew them 10 years ago would have predicted that they would pack up their Vancouver roots and move south of the border, down Mexico way. With a life that’s full of balance now including one key thing, which is taking care of themselves equally to everyone around them, they not only look 10 years younger, they now act 10 years younger too. They have really embraced the get busy living or get busy dying motto I live by and if they are wasting time, its next to the Sea of Cortez with their toes in the sand. They are full of energy and full of life and are always in great spirits now. They enjoy life and don’t sweat the small stuff like they used to. I am so proud to see them living like they are back in their early 50s again with a chance to do it over and do it right. Prime example of the importance of balance, mental and physical health, and most importantly not surrendering to a number on your passport and living the age you feel, not the age you are.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, I saw a good friend of mine last month, the night before she was taking her family on a vacation, and although she is only 41 she looked like she aged 5 years in the past 12 months (sorry but that’s true as well). She confessed that the night before she had cried herself to sleep as her life has become such a mess – certainly not the behaviour of someone who was excited to take her loved ones on a first class holiday. Unfortunately, anyone who has gone through a “marital transition” has done this kind of vacation, I call it the Guilt Trip. You know when you lie to yourself and deep down you know your marriage pretty much or completely over, but feel like you owe it to your kids and parents etc to give it one last ditch effort… So you take everyone away thinking it will make everything better, only to realize when you are on the trip you feel completely disconnected and all you are thinking is that you are just prolonging the inevitable but don’t know how to do it without hurting everyone? Yup, that’s a Guilt Trip. Its an amazingly stressful period for anyone regardless of the outcome and I certainly feel her pain. However, its beyond obvious that she isn’t taking proper care of herself, maybe internalizing everything, and putting everything and everyone ahead of her. I know she wont be like this forever, but for now her unbalanced life is getting the better of her and it breaks my heart. It was only a year or two ago that she looked 5 years younger than me.

We all have ups and downs and there are certainly challenging times behind us, around us, and ahead of us. However, being involved in which ever stage you are in, in regards to those tough times, its only human and natural that those difficult times consume your energy, thoughts, and ultimately hijack your mind and balance goes by the way side. I think we all know what I’m talking about.

It shows you that when you are solely focused on others, or work, or whatever, instead of being equally focused on taking care of yourself, it will not only throw your entire life out of balance, it will take a toll on you physically and mentally and it will no doubt expedite the amount you age in a real short period of time. Regaining your youth is certainly possible, but just like the movie Supersize Me where it took Morgan Spurlock 14 months to lose the weight he gained in 30 days, it may take years of balance to regain some youth that only a year of stress has robbed you of. The quicker you can focus on balance, and as selfish as it sounds focus on yourself, the faster you will start turning things around so eventually you can become the age that you are naturally accustomed to living.

No matter what any guru tells you, stress is unavoidable and there are very few things you can do to make very personal challenges less painful. However, there is hope. Like me, when I started being true to myself and taking care of myself as equally as all my loved ones, that’s when I started to roll back my years and started taking years of obvious stress off my face.

All of our stars shine at different times so take a look at yourself, whether your life is perfect, whether you are riding an up or a down, whether you are avoiding looking at your life honestly, or whether you have just come through and overcome one of the most stressful periods of your life and ask yourself this, how old do I look and feel in spirit compared to 2, 3 or 5 years ago? Older or Younger? And why is that?

Don’t let your drivers license dictate how old you are.  Age is just a number and from those 3 examples above, I’m sure you can relate in one direction or another.

Think about this – How Old Would You Be If You Didn’t Know How Old You Were?

IT ALL BEGAN IN 2010

A year ago in November 2010, I thought I would sneak attack my parents who were hanging out in Cabo. I didn’t have a lot energy left at that point in the year, so I just needed some family around me and some sunshine. I spent most of the time reflecting and thinking about things and mostly how my life and business had become such a chaotic mess.

Every morning as the sun was coming up, I walked down the beach in San Jose del Cabo and I pondered what I needed for 2011 and there was only one thing I needed in my life, that was simplicity and with simplicity came balance. All I wanted was a simple life, yet my life was chaotic and complex both personally and my business as well. While making my life simple again, another thing that I thought would be helpful would be to figure out who I really was and what motivates me to do the things I do. If I knew that, then maybe I would stop complicating my life.

2011 WAS ABOUT SLOWING DOWN

So 2011 was all about slowing down and figuring out who Ian Watt actually was. I went to therapy, fell in love with yoga, studied psychology and proudly achieved absolutely nothing new as far as business was concerned. Yes I slowed almost everything right down and just watched the world pass by. Maybe people say I crazy, doing what I’m doing… I was just sitting here watching the wheels* go round and round (and I loved every second of it).

You see, every year I was always looking for a new mountain to climb, one after another, year after year. I never took time to slow down and look back at the mountains I had conquered. So 2011 was pretty much all about me. I didn’t climb any mountains. I didn’t overcome any business challenges and I didn’t take my business to a new level. I spent 2011 walking through the valley, staring back at the challenges I descended from and staring all the mountains on the horizon and thinking about which one to climb next.

Figuring out who I really was had a lot to do with taking time to reflect on my past, my present, and my actions in certain situations. It took a whole lot of discovery and just by chance I came across a book that was about the psychology of a well known person in our modern world. Not that I was like that person, but the list of characteristics of someone of this personality type suited me to a tee. I dove deeper and studied more about this personality type and those people who are classified as this. I was astonished. At times I would laugh out loud thinking OMG that is so me, and at other times I cringe and say OMG that is so me. More than just entertainment it was a huge break through, like getting the complete set of Coles Notes on my brain. All the things that I thought were fucked up about my brain and consequently my characteristics, are the things that these other people which I studied have used to their benefit and ultimately helped them become successful in their respective fields. Now that I know more about who I am, 2012 will be about finding out how to use my brain, my habits and behavioural patterns to my benefit and more importantly stop using it to my detriment. It was a huge breakthrough year on self-discovery and a year I really needed.

Another fantastic thing about 2011 is that I spent more time with my kids this year and had the entire summer with them too. I vacationed a half dozen times. Built up a great relationship up with their mother again. I read more books than I had in forever. Got back in to fairly decent shape. One thing I cannot dismiss the importance of was that I cleared my mind of worries from the past and I actually took time to smell the roses and if you didn’t know, roses actually do smell quite lovely. Try it out.

HOW DID WORKING LESS WORK OUT FOR ME?

So what did 2011 look like as far as my business was concerned? Not too bad actually considering growing my business was not top of the list for things to do in 2011. Of course I had to keep working and stay the course and keep my business running but here are the results.

– The total units sold for downtown Vancouver for 2011 was 2639 down from the 2769 units sold in 2010, not much change here.

– The average price for a downtown Vancouver condo sold hadn’t changed so much either.

– I sold 12% less units because I wasn’t concerned about being in the top 1%.

– I worked on average 30 to 35 hours a week down about 35% to 40% from the year before where I figured I was averaging 55 hours a week.

– And my hourly billing rate went up significantly.

– However, the interesting thing is that I made 4.5% more money.

Who would have thought? Not exactly sure how I did it but some of the key factors are; I did stop wasting my time with people who are not 100% serious. The “I think I might buy a place” people don’t get my attention. Past clients, referrals and people who are listing their place do. I also stuck to my business hours for the most part. Moreover, I had faith in my brand, my systems, and my ability and they didn’t let me down.

REGRETS? I HAD A FEW

Even though I say 2011 was a great year, it was also an unusual year as death was all around me. Not only did I walk past a dead body splattered from bridge above early one morning, five other people died that I knew. We all know that people come and go from our lives and that’s life, but it truly gave me a renewed appreciation of how short life is. So with the loss of a close friend, it made me realize there is more to life than MLS rankings amongst realtors. My motto Get Busy Living or Getting Busy Dying never rang more true than now.

So regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention. I hate to tell you this but I selfishly did everything I really wanted to do this year. I may have pissed off a few people along the way but I also said all the sorrys I needed to. Life in 2011 was far from perfect but whether you believe everything happens for a reason or not, its how we react to it that shapes our lives. I’m a pretty lucky person I guess, so I always think no matter what happens in my life, everything works out for me, and it always does.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE YEAR GONE BY

Reflecting on the year that was couldn’t be complete without lessons learned and the take aways that struck me and in 2011 these were the big ones for me.’

– That working more hours per day or week doesn’t mean you will earn more money.

– People come and go from our lives, like it or not.

– Some years are for climbing mountains and some are for walking through the valleys.

– Learning about myself is a non stop life long education.

– Life is short. Get busy living or get busy dying.

– Its never too early to start your bucket list : )

MY AMAZING RACE, A GIFT TO ME

Yes I had spent most of 2011 focused inward. It was a year to reflect, a year to think, and a year to work less and a year to work smarter. Although I have a long way to go with regards to getting it right, I certainly came a long way from where I was 2 years ago.

Anytime someone accomplishes something significant, I believe its calls for celebration. Now I am certainly not one for parties and I don’t like to buy too many things for myself other than shoes and a few clothes, so to help celebrate the Year of Me, I pretty much took November and December off of work to knock a few things off my bucket list.

Of course I could have stayed home got a few more deals done, and worked on certain avenues of my business that can be improved upon, but I didn’t have the passion and I was bored with my business. Plus 2011 wasn’t about work, it was about me.

So one day in October I signed off of Facebook and the spent the rest of the year living static free. Yes I saw all the “hey were are you going…..” but I didn’t want to reply as I know it would have been really tough to answer, plus it would have defeated the purpose of signing off.

I grabbed my passport and with a few days notice I’m in the sky in search of the sun. Visiting my parents is always special for me and running my business from some corner booth in a little cantina in Mexico isn’t too shabby either. Just me and my laptop a few bottles of Pacifico.

I briefly came back to Vancouver to take care of some business, have a few meetings and kiss the kids, and then I was off again.

I booked a one way ticket to London and a one way ticket from Beijing to Vancouver and had no set plans in between. I ended up going from London, to Paris, to Venice, to Rome, to New Delhi, to Taiwan, to the Philippines, to Kyoto, to Tokyo, and to Beijing. I had nothing but free time and that gave me the opportunity to think. I thought about everything I wanted, needed and dreamed of for my future, personally and professionally.

I love travelling not only because I get back in touch with my creative side but you inevitably end forced to learn just to survive. Furthermore, travelling light with the bare essentials makes you realize what you really need, what’s important and what’s just baggage – a huge metaphor we usually don’t want to think about.

Also a funny thing happens when you are away from home, you notice how different things are. How many right ways there are to do things and how many wrong ways WE do things.

One thing that really hit close to home was the differences I had witnessed in the past few weeks. The Europeans were all about the experience, quality not quantity, and working to live. Now walk around Tokyo and witness how many people are just exhausted. They are working their asses off and living for their work and their jobs are everything. In North America I think its pretty safe to say we have the freedom to do anything we want. Unfortunately most of us are caught up in working to acquire as many superficial things as possible. To ensure our kids have a Macbook or XBox, we have the car of our dreams (leased of course), an unnecessarily large house, and of course we buy anything under the sun to make us look successful. Somewhere there is a balance in between those 3 cultures. Somewhere someone has it right. Its probably Japanese 40 year old who went to high school and university in Europe and was transferred to the US for work. She knows how to work hard, save money, live life, live within her means, has time to play catch with her kids, embraces time off and has fun along the way.

This year was about being selfish and trying not to put things on hold for tomorrow. It was about making time to do things I never found the time (clear my throat, made the time) to do. This was a trip of a lifetime and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. It made me realize I have a pretty good life and I want to keep it that way.

SO WHATS IN STORE FOR ME IN 2012

My amazing race also gave me lots of time to be creative, to get focused, to recharge and think about what I need to do in the next 12 months and set new goals. Now these are not the most profound goals but they mean everything to me. They all have sub-goals but these are the ones I’m willing to share.

– work less than 35 hours a week
– build a bigger business (not for the money but for the fun and the challenge)
– live a simple life

Working a little less and building a bigger business are pretty easy goals to fathom. However, creating a simpler life is a huge challenge for all of us. As we all know the fact is we only need food, clothing, and shelter. Its an idealistic way to think and a hypocritical statement to make as my Marc Jacobs sneakers bounce off the stones of the Great Wall. However, its so natural for us as humans to want more, yet there is something so real to be said about having less, less material items, less distractions, less headaches, less work, less worries, and less stress. Less is simple. Simple is sexy.

As I’m writing these last couple of paragraphs on my iPhone, my legs dangle off the edge of the Great Wall of China. Its been an amazing journey which began in London in November, filled with passion and unexpected moments and experiences. It may have cost me a few deals, and $10,000 worth of damage on my visa, but its shaping my present and the way I’m looking at my 2012 – the possibilities for my limitless future. It really wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t slow down to enjoy my life.

Now I am looking at next year to recreate what I do and use what I learned in 2011 to catapult me onwards. And with 2012 just a few days away and I have my eyes set on the next challenge and next chapter of my life. 2012 will be about pushing myself to a new level of personal growth and creating new passions towards my business again. Of course balance will always be a goal but now I have the foundation to build the life I want.

One more flight booked and that’s just a quick 10 hour hop that leaves tomorrow and takes me from Beijing back to Vancouver. Although it may take me a few days to recover, I feel fresh, proud and focused again and ready to start 2012 with a new outlook on business, a new outlook on life and new skill set and spirit to take me there.

I’m super so ready for a simple and fun 2012 but I couldn’t have done it without an amazing 2011 (and a shitty 2010)

– i –

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

* Maybe something’s wrong with my spelling

The Business of Being Ian Watt by Ian Watt

For a right brain thinker and somewhat spontaneous, fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy, its not surprising how much structure I need in my life to make it through the week, both in my personal life and my business life.

I have to admit if it werent for all the Google apps I employ to keep me organized I would be a huge mess. I can have a million creative ideas spill out of my head everyday but if I didn’t have an alarm in my calendar that gave me a fifteen minute warning to get to a showing, reply to emails, update my website and even pick up the kids, all those tasks would be forgetten.

If you have never read the E-Myth, READ IT, its a book that changed the way I run my business. Its a simple story that explains the life of an entrepreneur who bakes pies. She gets so wrapped up in pie baking that her business starts to fail, she is exhausted and she ends up hating her job.

The lesson to be learned in the E-myth is that every business needs the following 3 roles to maintain growth, success and balance; the role of the manager, the technition, and the entrepreneur. The manager keeps the back end of the business rolling, pays the bills, organizes everything, and keeps structure to the business. The technition does all the work that the clients pay for and stays in the present. And the Entrepreneur dreams up ideas, strategizes and focuses on the future.

I am not a natural manager and I can fake the role of the technition, but one important lesson I have learned is the charisma of an entrepreneur is not enough to keep a business successful. So its so important that I MAKE myself dedicate time to the role of the manager.

If you were to open my calendar, you would see my work schedule is blocked off and completely colour coded for easy recognition of what I have to do next and more importantly gage how much time I’ve spent in one of the 3 business roles. Yellow appointments are Manager duties, paying parking tickets, preparing receipts for the accountant, getting paper work done and replying to emails. Green is for the Entrepreneur role which entails marketing, blogging and creative planning. And Red is for the technition and in my case that is the role of being a Realtor, showings, tours and listing presentations. Its a great way for me to keep my business organized, ensure I don’t ignore the important aspects of my business that I hate doing, and to keep me from working too many hours a day.

This is just the way my brain works, I always get lost in my ideas and thoughts, and forget that its so important to do the things I don’t passionately love to do like paying my bills, checking in on my bank accounts. There has been more than one instance where I went to get gas and my Chevron card was denied, not because I didn’t have the money to pay the bills, but because I just forgot to pay the bill. Yes thats another reminder in my calendar. Everything I have to do has a reminder now.

Respecting my personality type and acknowledging I am the worlds worst manager, I realize I need these reminders to manage not only my business but my personal life too. That’s why in the past couple years, I’ve taken that same thought process to my personal life. Now when you look in my calendar you see a rich Pink or Fuchsia colour that has begun to dominate my calendar. This colour is for me and my personal time like scheduling in walks, excercise, time with my kids, cooking dinner a few times a week, and even going to bed. Yes if I didn’t make myself go to bed I would stay up all night thinking or creating and the problem with that is no matter what time I go to bed I still wake up before 6:00 am.

These reminders create routines, and routines create structure, and structure creates balance, and balance creates happiness for me.

Yes this is what I have to do, and it doesn’t mean that I stick to the schedule 100%. However, it means that the reminders may pile up and at the end of the day I can clearly see what I did and what I didn’t do. Those reminders stay in my inbox until I clear them out. Trust me they don’t all get cleared out at the end of every day but they all get cleared out eventually.

Furthermore, and maybe its with age or maturity, or just the realization that work is my vehicle to have a great life, I know that Pink, my personal appointments, are the most important time blocks in my schedule.

Pink appointments now rule the other colours. Reds are secondary. Pinks can bump Reds, but Reds VERY rarely bump Pinks. Yellows and Greens DO NOT bump Reds or Pinks and they take a back seat. It doesn’t mean that Yellows and Greens are not as important, but their timeliness is secondary.

For example, if I have a vacation planned, whether it be for 3 days or a week, I am not going to let a Red appointment change it. However, if I have some Red appointments tomorrow and my best friend comes to town for one day only, a Pink appointment will trump the Red and I will spend the day with her. Obviously my marketing and clerical tasks are important but those duties will be done sometime the next day. Also when a realtor texts me for a showing (keep in mind I am present for all showings) the first thing I do is check my schedule and if I have Pink coloured appointment like plans with the kids or a yoga class, then I will say sorry and make that realtor reschedule. Capiche?

When you think about it, its funny how things have changed so much in the past 3 years thanks to technology, social media and Facebook in particular. We used to think that we could have our personal lives over here and our work lives over there but do to technology and just the speed of which our lives move, everything these days are blended together. From dealing with my kids, to dealing with my clients, its all Ian Watt. Its not Ian Watt the dad and his personal life vs IanWatt (thats not a typo, I never put a space when i talk about my business) the realtor. Its all wrapped up as the Business of Being Ian Watt.

I know its strange but if you look at my iPad screen or my computer back drop there is a common theme. It says The Business of being Ian Watt. This is a reminder that “Me Inc” (The business of being who I am) is like a its own corporation that needs structure, attention and cultivation and a whole lot of tweaking to make it through the day.

Three years ago when my life was a mess, it was clear that business was the most important thing and sometimes the only thing in my calendar. The Red appointments called the shots in my calendar and that did a lot of damage to my relationships, and to my physical and mental health. Now that my priorities are much healthier, everything seems to be more balanced than ever and my business and personal life are both much easier to control. And most importantly I am much happier.

Its not easy, but discipline, confidence and faith that you are on the right path are certainly required. Also please remember, like any structure, importance of being true to what you want and being honest about what your goals actually are seem to be the keys to success.

If this is the Business of Being Ian Watt. Take some time and ask yourself this, what does the Business of Being You look like?

We All Fail at Maintaining Balance from Time to Time, I Have Big Time by Ian Watt

I guess thats why I called it the quest for balance. Balance in life is not something you work towards, achieve and forget about. There are too many variables that can knock you on your ass when you least expect it. There are so many things you can’t predict or plan for and its overwhelming. However, when I break down my 5 different aspects that make up balance for me, its usually a lot easier to focus on my quest. Having said that, this past month has been a disaster as far as balance is concerned, and here’s why.

Summer 2011 has been a very special summer for me, one that I will never forget. You see my kids are 7 and 10 now and year after year since birth, they have spent their summers in Tokyo with their mother. Its a fantastic life and an amazing opportunity for them to live in both Yaletown and Tokyo and be educated in both school systems too. Although there were (and are) always memories and experiences created, there were also lots of them lost not having the kids here for the best season Vancouver has to offer. **** If you have never experienced summer in Vancouver put it on your bucket list ****

Sadly, as we all know the Japanese earthquake earlier in the year made this year quite irregular or better yet, exceptional, in the true sense of the word, for anyone who has ties to Japan. Of course we all witnessed the devastation of the tsunami, but many people don’t even think about the aftermath and after effects of the earthquake, like the nuclear leaks. Throughout the spring we watched to see if the nuclear levels in Japan would let up and unfortunately there was no safe reports that said it had changed for the better. We all take these things for granted but you have to think about this; rice, vegetables, water and other natural products and locally grown food could all be contaminated to some degree. So the risk of sending the kids this year wasn’t worth it for us. So unlike every previous year when May would come around and we would say our goodbyes at YVR, this was the first summer they would stay in Vancouver.

Depends how you look at it, for me this was an opportunity of a lifetime for my family, and I immediately decided that this year (which may be the only summer for a decade the kids will be in Vancouver) was going to be fantastic and I was going to dedicate every free moment I had to the kids. This is where balance went out the window.

Lets make one thing clear, I am certainly not rich so what I also had to do was make sure I kept the business rolling as well. *** NOTE *** If you don’t have kids, let me break the news to you, kids are expensive, so go out and buy a Porsche and get a vasectomy. You will never look back and you can thank me later. IM KIDDING OF COURSE!!!

I love my business and am still excited about working on it every chance I get but its hard work. Real estate isn’t easy and the market in Downtown Vancouver is far from hot. If only it were like 2007 when I would take a listing on Monday, showings on Saturday and collect the subject free offers on Sunday… then balancing my kids would kids would be a piece of cake. Now, us realtors actually have to work for our commissions. I believe that some years are for making money, some years are about staying alive and some years are transitional between the two. For many realtors this is still one of those staying alive years.

Money isn’t everything to me, but we all know that our real estate businesses are just like giant flywheels that we are spinning. Remember when you first started, initially it takes you a month or two to make one full rotation because the weight and pressure is so heavy. However, after a few rotations momentum builds and it becomes a little easier to spin. Then success comes and we can spin that giant flywheel (our businesses) with one pinky. Life is great, money is rolling in and everything is easy so you decide to take a month or two off and then when we return we are completely shocked to see this giant flywheel at a complete standstill. We try and move it but it barely budges an inch and then it takes all our might, more than when we first started to spin it because we don’t have the energy or enthusiasm we did when we entered this business. We take it for granted that our business will just fire up again, “I’m Ian Watt nothing can stop me”, but the fact is Nothing Fails Like Success. We all take our incomes for granted at one point of our business lives or another ( OK, I know I have ) so I am always conscious of feeding the pipe and spinning the flywheel 6 days a week. Thats why balance was so important to me this year. There was no way I was going to let this business come to a stand still (again) and no way I was going to burn out (again).

So keeping the business rolling and creating a great summer for the kids was the goal for the past 3 months. As you know balance for me consists of this; family, financially, heath (mental and physical), and community. Which means, my mental and physical health and the community around me took a back seat (sorry Stilwell), actually they got completely and totally left behind. My morning and evening walks were put on the back burner, and my yoga practice was non existent. I haven’t been eating healthy and few too many beers on the sundeck too. I feel fat and out of shape for the first time in a long time. Also I haven’t made quality time for anything other than my kids. No regrets but I know I have been completely out of balance.

Now back to the kids. Throughout the summer I wanted the kids to experience everything our amazing province had to offer and they did it all. From a day at the Fair, to bike riding to water parks, boating in the Gulf Island, float planes to the cabin, to just simply hanging out with their cousins and doing kid stuff. Please keep in mind that we live in the city. The kids home and school is amongst towers in Downtown Vancouver and you can only imagine what life in Tokyo is like, so being with nature and having fun was massively important for summer 2011.

As their mom was in Tokyo for the past while, I had the kids full time, and when kids are not in school, routines are hard to come by. I find that balance is about getting in to a rhythm and routines or its just impossible. The goal was to have a routine around this; work Sunday until about 4:00 and then get to the seaplane or the ferry and head over to the cabin until Wednesday morning and start work at 10:00 am (sounds great in theory). Of course I tried to work remotely as much as I can, but unfortunately with our jobs we need to be present and in person to make the last 20% really count. The routine was really tough to maintain as a single parent. Luckily my family has been extremely helpful and I am so fortunate to have them around. However, there aren’t always helping hands around when you need them. So yes my kids have worked open houses with me and done showings when the sitter wasn’t available and when you have kids and you are on your own, that stuff can’t be avoided sometimes.

Focusing on the kids and balancing that with work has been amazingly challenging and whole lot of fun but I realize I can be more present, calmer, and more focused after yoga, proper meals, and some alone time. Unfortunately, right now I feel exhausted, I feel fat and I feel like I need a routine, and I feel like I failed at my quest for balance this summer. just one more reason I haven’t been on Facebook much and one more excuse for taking so long to post this blog.

After Labour Day the kids were back to school and the rhythm and routine started to take shape again. Its something that we all need in our little family to keep balanced.

Now its time to focus on my 5 key ingredients and its also time to learn from what has happened. I always figure I never learn anything from my successes, but all the lessons learned come from my failures. I failed big time this summer but I learned a lot.

This summer was a huge wake up call to the importance of maintaining equal balance in my life. Balance was pretty much non existent, but it was the best summer I have had in years and I’m sure my kids will never forget it.

I certainly won’t.

40 Hour Work Week by Ian Watt

A couple of weeks ago I blogged that one of my goals was to work 40 hours a week or less. Next year it might get decreased to under 35 hours a week, but baby steps are important when dealing with someone who not so long ago worked 80, 90 and 100 hours some weeks.

First of all, recognition of not having a life outside of my real estate business and my kids was the first step – yes I had a problem.  It didn’t seem like a problem though, mainly because I was having a whole lot of fun. Kind of the same reasoning or justification an alcoholic or drug addict speaks of when he or she is still in denial, I’m not hurting anyone and I’m having a great time so whats the problem?  I’m happy!

Next step was to write out a goal to change this life. I sat up all night and I wrote and wrote and wrote this huge long mission for my business and my life like the scene from Jerry McGuire, and I’m not even a writer : ) I read it over and over and it seemed cool, optimistic and encouraging but the next day I trashed the whole plan (even though I loved it). It was too much and how could I even remember the goal when its multiple pages?  So I re-wrote it in 30 seconds and here is what I wrote – WORK 40 -  Pretty damn simple.

All I wanted to do was work like most people in North America, work 40 hours a week so I could make money to have a life. I kept thinking, just because I don’t have a “job” doesn’t mean I should be working double shifts every day.

Lets make something clear before any of you start saying “Well I can’t afford to do that”, Working less doesn’t mean making less. Working less means WORKING LESS!

Of course we have all heard of the 4 Hour Work Week but I hate to tell you this, for most people, especially Realtors, this is impossible. Even the 4 Hour Work Day seems impossible to a lot of people. So yes lets stick to the 40 hour week for a start.

Its funny how people think about working and then dedicating yourself to your career. Back in the 1980s and 1990s it was cool to say I work so much, I put in 80 hours minimum every week and I’m crazy busy. People would say “wow he’s successful. working lots just comes with the territory. He works hard and plays hard. I admire that…” But now that isn’t so cool anymore.

What I think is cool is being able to say I have a created a business that works even when I don’t. I work hard when I work but I don’t work stupid hours anymore and my business doesn’t control me. Can you say that?

The biggest question was how can I make the same amount of money and work half the time I used to? It took me a while and took a lot of soul searching, researching, and I finally came up with this. Ready? And if you want to follow my path here it is. Just follow this simple rule. Look at everything you do in your business and ask yourself this “Do it? Delegate it? Or, Delete it? This will not only save you money, it will also save you a whole lot of time. (Fuck that’s brilliant – doesn’t happen everyday but I have to admit, this one is brilliant.)

Think about everything you do. From printing and filing? To, do I need an office? Do I need to lick these stamps? Do I need to respond to stupid emails? To getting an initial from a client. To even answering blocked numbers… instantly I smell a TW (time waster).  How about this? Writing thank you cards.

Do it. There are certain things we need to do and since we ARE our product we can’t get around them. So these are the things we must do. Like showing properties, getting listings, and signing offers.

Delegate it. You can’t get around accounting, marketing, and other Must Do tasks, but do WE need to do them? Presenting offers is usually under this category for me. All my thank you cards and expired cards are hand written by a retired woman in the West End and her hand writing looks amazing and she only charges me $2.00.

Delete it. Here are the things that are going to blow your mind. For example, and this might be an extreme but I never answer my phone unless you are an active client, close friend or family member. Realtors setting up appointments need to text or email me. Buyer leads need to do the same.  This is a huge time saver.  Dinners and lunches were also a massive TW that I don’t do anymore. Breakfasts only (***** NOTE ***** The problem with dinners is that they never end). The list goes on and on and I love it!

Another way I have saved time is becoming pickier with with taking listings.  If its not a condo or in Downtown Vancouver (unless its a family member or someone close to me) I wont take the listing. Since I don’t use lockboxes and I actually work for my listings, its too much of a waste of time driving an hour for 1 showing.  I’d rather refer it to a local specialist and this is what I mean by Delegate.  Make money doing nothing, who can argue with that?

Even the amount of people I want to work with has changed. We can file this under DELEGATE too. All the Internet leads go to people I work with. I have enough business so why am I working these leads? I would rather delegate these leads and get a referral rather than waste my time. Now I only work with 1 new buyer a month. They either have to be past clients or motivated clients. Just because I have 5 new leads everyday and I could do 100 more deals this year doesn’t mean I should.  It certainly doesn’t mean I would be happier either.

Another huge thing I needed to do was set parameters so I could control my business, instead of letting my business control me. Parameters as to what kind of product I want to sell. Where I want to sell it. Who I want to work with. How much I am going to work for. And the hours I’m going to work. Everything is posted on my website.

Personally in the summer I work Saturdays and Sundays and take Monday and Tuesdays off because my kids are out of school. However, when my kids are in school I don’t work Sundays… no ifs ands or buts.

Regular Hours

Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Saturdays 12:00 to 4:00.

Or Summer Hours

Wednesday to Friday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 to 4:00.

Yes mathematically that makes up more than 40 hours a week. I don’t work all those hours, they are my office hours, those are the hours you might get me out to a property, a listing presentation or get an email reply. Yes those are my hours and I stick to them as best I can and if you don’t like it there are 10,000 other Realtors in Vancouver who are out there who would be happy to run you around the city.

Think about this. If I went to my favourite restaurant that obviously post their dinner hours on the door and I called with 24 hours notice and asked if I could come in 4 hours earlier to have a steak, they  would most likely say, take a hike. If I called my doctor and told him I’m coming in at 10:00 pm because I have a sore throat, he probably wouldn’t even answer. And lastly, if I went to the Vancouver Airport and said I need a flight to Hawaii in 5 minutes they would probably laugh in my face. So why did I as a realtor jump when a potential client (not even a past client) calls to see a condo?

Its easy to set these parameters but it takes a whole lot of discipline to be true to them. It may sting at first and seem totally unnatural but in the long run you’ll have a more solid business, have more free time, and more importantly be known for something, like Downtown Condos.

I love my business, I love my clients, and I love my life but just making more money is kind of a boring challenge year after year. So not only is this a goal but its kind of a riddle for me that challenges me everyday – How can I make more money and work less?

This post means the world to me and I could go on and on for days about this but I’m going to leave you with this one question and please answer this question honestly.

Do you control your business or does your business control you?

So What Is Balance Anyways? by Ian Watt

For the past 3 weeks I have been blogging about my pursuit of balance. Of course my quest began over a year ago and it has been an awesome journey of exploring all avenues of who the hell I am. I noticed I have been blah blah blahing about balance but I never once mentioned what balance was to me. Although I had it defined a while ago, I forgot to mention it until some crazy woman on facebook : ) challenged me in a true and simple post “Define Balance?”

Actually, defining Balance isn’t that hard. I’m sure we all can come up with our own version of what Balance means to us. No one can tell you what balance means for you but my definition is this – When the 4 things that are important to me (actually five because 1 has 2 parts) are aligned and have equal importance and significance and stability in my life, then I feel balanced. Those 4 simple words that define balance for me are;

- Family

- Financially

- Health (Mental & Physical)

- Community

(I know these words aren’t grammatically correct but its the mantra the stuck in my head)

Every Monday morning when I fill out my dashboard I give myself a score out of 20. Family gets a score out of 20. Financially gets a score out of 20. Health is divided in to two parts, Mental and Physical health, and they get 20 points each. And lastly Community gets 20 points as well.

Family – This is basically my relationships with those I love, family and close friends.

Financially – This my business and more specifically my work and personal balance sheets.

Health - Physical Health is obvious. Am I exercising, eating right and sleeping enough? Mental Health is a little more challenging. Do I feel calm? Does my brain feel overtired? Relaxed? Is my brain cycling at night?

Community – Is about everyone else around me. Its about having good healthy relationships and interactions with all those I come across. Its about the relationships I have with acquaitances and colleagues etc whether thats in person or via the web.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***

Please note that my business makes up 20% of my balance score but its not 100%. The reason why is money IS important but its not everything. Think about it like this, money and profits are like oxygen for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them there is no life.

Staying focused is key to being successful and ultimately achieving whatever your goal may be. I’m all about reminders about staying focused on whatever it is that I need to be focused on. My reminders are everywhere, in my phone, my computer, and even in the bathtub or wherever else I would need to see them.

BOWER Time! I have been bowering all my life and what it is, is meditation or thinking time. Away from everyone and everything, I lay in the bath with the shower on and steam up the bathroom and think. In my bathtub I always have the usuals (minus the shampoo) but I also have sharpees and laminated sheets. Some of the sheets are blank and are there for my thoughts and those rare “genius moments”, and the others are reminders of goals and balance.

Generally for the past year it seems like everything is has been up and down from 10 (Canadian Taxes Suck Balls) to 16 or 17 or so which is not bad. I have never given myself a perfect 20 because there is always room to grow. Also financially may be impossible to achieve a perfect 20 as well because even if we achieve the goal to have a million in the bank, we always have unexpected expenses. These are scores for my present goals, maybe next year my financial goal posts will be moved but the scoreboard won’t change.

So where am I today? This morning when I logged in I gave myself a total of 78 points. So if that were a grading system I would have a B – which is not bad at all. No honor roll for me, but unlike academics, your life is always changing and life is always throwing you curveballs. So its more about maintaining a solid consistent score, than a perfect score.

Why is this balance score card important to me? Because sometimes when I feel edgy I can easily look at all 4 quadrants and quickly recognize which area I have been neglecting and focus a little more attention on that to feel good again. Pretty simple system and it may not be for everyone, but I like it and it seems to be working for me.

My Goals for a Balanced Life by Ian Watt

Every year I have the Ian Watt AGM where all the shareholders take off to some fancy resort and make new goals for my business. Ok I’m the sole shareholder in Ian Watt, Inc and yes I go all by myself but there are no arguements and there is never a fight on the company’s direction. The whole point of the excersice is to reassess the past year and make new goals for the next chapter of my business life.

The kind of person I am, if you haven’t noticed, is someone who is always reinventing and trying to better my business and challenge my abilities behind the helm. Unfortunately, as you saw in my past blogs other than Be a Great Dad (which couldn’t be more important to me so I never had to write it down), I never made any personal goals. My goals always had to do with business, money, sales, homes and other tangible items.

So last year I made these goals, and throughout 2011 I have been trying to my best to achieve them all day, everyday.

 - Be Happy

 - Be Healthy

 - Be Present

 - Work only 40 Hours a Week, and

 - Get Busy Living

Lets start with working 40 Hours a Week – Why do we start our own businesses? The challenge? Money? Freedom? Whatever the reason we know that running a small business becomes your life and sucks all your free time, especially at the beginning. Furthermore, we all know that the real estate business is an all or nothing, feast or famine business and you only get out what you put in to it. We probably all know the quote “Success Takes Sacrifice” sadly the things we sacrifice are usually the things we love. So this goal is the most important out of the 5 goals I have for no other reason than because none of the other 4 or any other personal goal is achievable if all you’re doing is working. So yes I now usually work 6 days a week and probably about 7 hours a day on average, so that gives me at least 8 hours a day to be me, do the things I love, work on my balance, and be with my kids. I will write about how I am achieving this goal every week in next week’s blog.

Being healthy has two different facets; my physical and mental health. As I’m sure a lot of you workaholic realtors are aware when you work 16 hour days (what small business owner hasn’t?) eating healthy is not a high priority. Skipping meals, eating fast food, 10 cups of coffee a day, and dinners at 10:30 at night are the norm. Its funny because we all know we should be keeping fit and eating right but that’s easier said than done. Slowing my busy brain down has also been a challenge but with lots of help and tons of work that has become one of the most entertaining, interesting and unexpectedly enjoyable goals I love to work on. More to come on the things that I’m doing to achieve that in the coming weeks.

Not being present is something I think we are all guilty of. Its a world of multi-tasking and I did that as well as anyone (look at my early blogs). Take a moment and think about the last time you did anything with your kids, your spouse or even by yourself then ask yourself this; did I spend a noticeable amount of time on my phone either talking or texting with clients, or on Facebook, or whatever else other than being 100% focused on my kids playing or the company I’m with?  If you were 100% focused on the moment, that’s great. Either you are my hero, or you are a complete liar. For me staying focused on the present moment has been a huge challenge all my life and even more with all this amazing and cool technology at our fingertips. This goal is my biggest challenge and I think for me, but even more so for others, it’s so rewarding.  Enjoying the moment for what it is, and giving those around me the respect of being present is the least I can do. Of course we need to make the odd exception here and there, but how I used to be was making the exception to peel my eyes away from my phone to join the conversation. Not cool and not healthy.

Be happy. Sounds like a stupid goal because who needs to write that down? Maybe I’m the only person in life who needs to, but trust me, I needed to and still need to. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t miserable because being happy in all aspects of my life was certainly achieved. Unfortunately, all I ever did was work! So it was very important to me to be happy being idle, shopping, being with friends, and taking time off. Even being stuck in traffic used to really piss me off but now hey … I think its about taking the moment to think, reflect and appreciate whatever it is for what it is. All the things that I would begrudgingly do like paperwork. Happy to be doing the little things. Happy to be doing the uninspiring things. And happy that I even have this moment when many of us don’t. Even when things got really tough my blood would boil, now I say, I wonder what I’m suppose to learn from this?

Get busy living or get busy dying. I took this quote from the Shawshank Redemption and I love it. So many of us waste time. Sitting around waiting for life to happen and making plans for tomorrow. Trust me I’m a dreamer if there ever was one, but all those close to me know I do, and I am going to suck every second out of this life. Plus I don’t want my kids or anyone I love to say when I die, “Man nobody sold more condos than Ian, he was awesome”. How empty is that? All I want to is for everyone to say “Fuck, nobody lived like Ian. You name it, he did it. He had a great life and was a great dad.” Because I live in an amazing city I have opportunities to do a lot of things that most people travel around the world to do. My days are packed with activities that most people dream of only while on vacation. However, I sincerely think it has nothing to do with geography, but everything to do with my frame of mind.

Stolen from US Military’s brilliant recruitment campaign on the 1980s I do more by 9:00 am than most people do all day, and I’m proud of that. Get busy living or get busy dying!

Time to Step Back from the Running Water by Ian Watt

So there I am with the idea to change my entire life, but at the same time not knowing what it was that I was going to change? Obviously there are some things we simply can’t change, so the question was ultimately what could I change in my life? I realized that I didn’t know the answer to either of those questions. Furthermore, what was it that I was going to change my life into? Guess I didn’t know that either. All I knew is that I wanted a simple life, I wanted balance, and I wanted to have fun – all day, everyday.

Like a fat person wanting to be skinny, no like a fat person wanting to be fit, there is no shortcut or easy way to change your life. Actually, it’s possibly even harder than being fat because there aren’t too many organizations out there like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers to help people get their life and balance back in sync and be happy within all areas of their life. The reason I use weight as an analogy because most people can understand how easy it is on January 1st of every year to set a goal to lose weight and starving yourself can make a sudden impact on your overall density, but its a longterm lifestyle change that helps you truly become healthier on the inside and out. So no matter how you look at it, there is no easy route when it comes to breaking old habits and routines.

This is the only life I knew. I loved my work, and I loved being a dad, and other than being superficially happy with everything else in my life, thats as deep as it got. So the question became how can I be as happy doing other things in my life as I am when I’m with my kids or working, especially since I didn’t do anything but work or spend time with my kids? Great questions, unfortunately no answer… I had a feeling this was going to take a while to figure out and it wasn’t going to be easy.

Although I didn’t know the answers, I realized exactly what the next step was going to be after I read this Taoist proverb;

No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.

Take a moment to think about that, pretty simple but quite profound. How can we see who we truly are if all we are doing is running from appointment, to engagement, and back to appointment again? I love that quote and that quote made me realize I needed to take a step back from the world I knew to explore who I was. Its true, if you really want to make changes you have to take a step back and not only see what you are you doing, but you also have to take another step back and truly see why you are doing the things you do. See what the things are that truly motivate us, scare and us and see what we are running from.

Without hesitation, I slowly started stepping back – I know some of you saw this as I received the hundreds of emails that began with the same “Ian are you ok? Haven’t seen you for a while…” would indicate. To set out towards the goal of making a simple life and quiet life, I decided to cut out everything that was a distraction, an irritation, or unhealthy (including people). I stopped speaking, travelling to conventions, being a part of the real estate community, I asked people to stop blogging about me and my business, stopped being social with acquaintances and people who I knew were friends solely because of business, connections and influence. I was barely on Facebook and I even deleted my Twitter account (and don’t miss it a bit). So thats exactly what I did, I hid. I hid from the life I knew, in hopes the waters would be still enough to see my reflection.

Of course there were things in my life I couldn’t run from. Responsibilities I had that I couldn’t put on hold, for example being a father, financial responsibilities like mortgages, my business and clients etc. So other than those things which I powered through on autopilot, all I did was think in hibernation. Unfortunately, when all I did was let my mind race day and night it caused me to sleep around 2 hours day and I lost nearly 40 lbs too. I was exhausted and weak but knew I was heading in the right direction.

You know how some people always need to be with people like a crutch and can’t be alone? Its like a dependancy that helps us from looking in the mirror. So being alone, without feeling lonely, was a goal I had during this time. For me it became very natural to be alone, and those times when I was feeling lonely I would call my best friend or my mom, or go visit my kids for the evening.

Over this 6 month period I spent a lot of time alone. This kept me grounded and focused on peeling back the layers bullshit and finding out who I was. I spent every day and night thinking about how wrapped up I was and why. Thinking about what a simple life meant to me, and what a balanced life meant to me as well. After months and months of self-discovery, therapy and honesty, I thought it was time to write down some goals to achieve balance and a simple life.

Eventually with endless days to reflect I came up with these 5 simple goals for my personal life (yes I have 5 for my business life too);

– Be Happy
– Be Healthy
– Be Present
– Work only 40 Hours a Week, and
– Get Busy Living

Great goals, but how was I going to achieve them?


Where my Search for Balance Began by Ian Watt

In early 2010 I noticed that things were moving so quickly for me. My IanWatt.ca business was great, working tons, was just getting ready to launch CondoGo.com, and I was traveling a lot doing social media speaking. I loved my life and still had a ton of passion for my work. I was full of confidence and nothing could stop me. 

I remember thinking, if I won $25,000,000 today I would still go to work tomorrow, that’s how much I loved my business. Unfortunately, with all this passion for work, all the hours invested, I hadn’t even realized that, other than my kids, I had no other passions or past times. 

Although I was having a ball day in and day out, I remember the feeling of getting home every night and being exhausted from working all the time, which consequently caused me to be, at moments, set off and at times erupt by the smallest of issues. I was too busy to consider or even notice those issues – actually I just would put it behind me and never think about it again which also meant I never thought about others too much or said sorry for pissing whole lot of people off. I was too busy to care. And running on adrenaline all day, everyday, I had no time to relax – no, I MADE no time to relax – and it was slowly killing me. Don’t misunderstand me, I was having the time of my life, so slowing down was the last thing on my mind.

To be perfectly honest with you, there was no major crash or hitting of the wall that opened my eyes to my reality, but I do remember sitting in a hotel room in Calgary when it all changed. 

I had just finished speaking at the Calgary Real Estate Board about how I run my business, and this questions was asked, what AM I doing here? If you’ve ever spent 3 days in Downtown Calgary I’m sure you have said the exact same thing, and if you haven’t, close your eyes and imagine New York, and the people, great restaurants, the action and the excitement… Now think of the most opposite place on earth and thats Calgary. A night there can make anyone question their being. 

So I’m walking around now in this frozen ghost town with absolutely nothing to do (Welcome to Calgary) thinking why am I doing this?Why did i come to speak in Calgary? I don’t need the money. My ego was already healthy enough. I didn’t want to become famous amongst realtors. I love giving back and think we all should, but what’s the point of all this? I didn’t even have any free time for myself. So why? 

So as I walked around in search of urban grocery store (never found one – again Welcome to Calgary) I realized the reason i was there, making more work for myself, was mainly because I had absolutely no hobbies, plus idle time drove me crazy, consequently work ultimately became my everything. 

So there I am, with nothing but idle time, which I hate, and nothing to do but think, I asked myself this… Why don’t I have hobbies? I used to have hobbies. I used to be fit. I used to be calm. But the most important thing I recollected or realized was that I used to work to make money, so i would have financial means to have fun. Now work was my fun. 

This same question kept coming back too, am I going to be one of those pathetic Realtors at one of those real estate conventions that has every material item ever sold to show success but nothing else to show for their life? Jesus I hope not. 

How did I get like this? How did my job become my life? How did my job become me? How did real estate become who I was. Where did the old Ian go? How did IanWatt.ca over take Ian Watt the person?

So like an alcoholic having a moment of clarity, I decided, fuck, I needed to get some balance and somehow become the old Ian again.  

And here is my journey…

PS 

Yes my writing is like a conversation, probably far from grammatically correct, and littered with typos… I know… but if you don’t like it, then i have a simple solution for you, don’t read it ; )