Chapter 5

The Knowledge Myth

As Josh soon discovered, the next steps were harder than he thought.

Josh had left Cor at the shop to be home in time to meet Kiera for dinner. He felt invigorated. Passing the estate homes on Cor's bike had inspired him—there was a lot of potential in his business. I just have to get out there and go for it, he thought.

He'd planned to tell Kiera everything over dinner, but when he walked in, she said offhandedly as she bustled around the kitchen, “I see the Haltons are selling.”

Josh was sure he detected some sarcasm in her voice, and so he'd told her a short version of the story of his day. He downplayed the problems at work and didn't mention Amy, either. He wasn't lying, but he just wasn't sure quite how to explain Cor and Amy. He wasn't even sure he could explain it to himself. It was difficult to articulate the strange calm he felt when he was around them, mixed with an empowering sense that he could do anything. Anything, that is, but explain it to Kiera. He went to bed that night feeling strangely uneasy. His unease only worsened when Kiera came to bed without even saying goodnight.

Nonetheless, the next morning he had awoken at dawn, newly inspired, and set out for the office early, ready to take on the world. Having committed a week to Cor and Amy, he knew he didn't have many hours left for work. It was time to knuckle down. No sleeping in.

For the first time in many months, his drive to the office was pleasant. The abundance of Amy Deerham signs no longer bothered him. Instead, he found himself imagining Josh Abrams signs on every corner. Smiling clients. Commission checks.

It'll be such a relief to have some more regular money coming in, he thought.

How much? That was a good question. He had a pretty good handle on what it cost to run his and Kiera's life. And he knew that because the shortfall was what had been going on their credit cards and line of credit each month.

If I could double my income this year, the pressure would be off. We could get out of debt, and enjoy ourselves, too.

Double his income. It seemed completely reasonable to Josh. If Soichiro Honda could persevere, couldn't Josh? If Amy Deerham could build her business up so quickly, why couldn't Josh Abrams? She was wonderful, but as far as Josh could tell, she wasn't any more special than he was.

Double my income it is, then, Josh thought.

It felt good to have a target in his sights. He did the math. Doubling last year's business, and dividing that by twelve gave him…well, a healthy monthly commission. Wow. That really would change things.

With his monthly target lodged firmly in his mind, Josh pulled into the office parking lot. Inside, he was surprised to find the alarm off, the lights on, and Wendy, the surly rep, already at her desk.

“Morning, Wendy,” Josh said, pausing at her open door.

“Right,” she said, without looking up.

“Um…how are things?”

“How do you think?”

“Yeah. I guess…well, I guess this whole thing kind of sucks.”

Wendy looked up from her papers. “You think?” she said, scowling. “Seen the staff room yet? That oughta brighten your day.” She went back to her work, and Josh walked down the hall to the staff room.

Across one wall, a large whiteboard had been divided into rows and columns. It was easy to see what it was: a ranking of the performance for the quarter so far for each agent. Josh couldn't help scanning the rows for his name, although he already knew where it would be. The top two spots were no brainers. In fact, there were likely only a few spots really up for grabs—the first two were locked. He found Wendy in fifth spot. She's a contender, he thought.

He had to scroll considerably further down to find his name. Josh was undaunted. It only takes a deal or two, he thought. I've got lots of leads. I just need to knuckle down and get going. He put the board and its rankings out of his mind, and headed for his desk.

It was during his third cup of coffee and fourth game of solitaire that Josh realized he was in trouble.

An hour's passed. How's that income doubling going? the voice asked.

Josh knew he'd been procrastinating, and he suddenly felt deflated. He knew what he wanted—or did he? He'd been here before: pumped up and ready to succeed, but then deflated when the moment came to actually get to work. Josh looked up at the whiteboard on his own wall. The only work he'd done so far was to write on it in blue dry erase marker. It was a number—his monthly sales target.

Josh looked at the number, then at the computer game on the screen in front of him. And he started to smile despite his feeling of disappointment. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small piece of paper Eloise had given him the day before. He looked at the words Do and Have, and smiled again.

Goals don't just tell us where to arrive tomorrow, Eloise had said. They tell us what to do today.

It was simple, elegant, and powerful, he suspected. And yet he'd fallen for the Future Myth like some patsy in a carnival scam. He'd been caught up in the goal—his sales target—and was spending his time dreaming about what he'd do with his next commission check, instead of thinking about what to do next.

That was the problem, he realized: What to do next?

He didn't know.

Just as Josh was trying to decipher what his goal was telling him, Carl stuck his head in the door. He was carrying his jacket and a cup of coffee. “Well, look who's here bright and early,” he smiled. “Nothing like a little motivation. Good for you, Josh.”

Josh looked at the solitaire game on his screen and smiled weakly. “Early bird gets the worm, right?” He tried to sound convincing.

“Atta boy,” Carl said.

Josh watched him leave. Then stared at the commission number on his whiteboard. Goals tell us what to do today. That was the problem. He just didn't know. He looked at his watch. It was time to meet Amy. Maybe she could help. He grabbed his coat and headed for the car.

Josh met Amy at a coffee shop not far from her office. She was her usual smiley self—or perhaps a little more smiley than usual, Josh thought.

“Did you enjoy your ride yesterday?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I knew you were going to say that.”

“Seriously, though,” she said. “How was day one?”

“Good. No…great. I woke up feeling…energized.” He paused. “Yeah. It was good.”

“What's the matter?”

Josh sipped his coffee. “I don't mean to sound…ungrateful. But…well, I started off strong, but it wasn't long before I was…” Josh trailed off, searching for the right word, “…stuck. I didn't know what to actually do.”

“That must have been disheartening.”

“To be honest, yes. I mean, I've been there before. You think you've found a magic bullet, you get all excited, but then you're right back where you started.”

“I know just what you mean, Josh.”

Josh laughed. “Right. Judging by the number of your signs I see around, it seems like you know exactly what to do. That's my problem. I don't know what to do.”

“I can't complain. I'm very happy with my progress. But I was in the same position as you once. And the first thing I learned was that there really are no magic bullets. The secret to success is there is no secret to success. There are just a few simple principles, practiced with consistency over time. You learned one of those principles yesterday.”

“The Future Myth?”

“Right. Tell me what that principle says.”

Josh thought for a moment. “Goals don't just tell us where to arrive tomorrow, they tell us what to do today.”

“Right. So tell me what happened yesterday.”

“Well, I got to thinking about goals. I got pretty fired up being around people like you and Cor—and around all those wealthy estates, to be honest—and I started thinking about how doubling my income would really make a difference for us. And I looked at that number, and it seemed…doable. Realistic. I felt confident. But I knew I'd have to get to work today, to make it happen, to reach the goal. So, I got up early, and headed to work…” He trailed off again. “…and then I got stuck. It didn't work for me. I didn't know what to do next. Maybe the principles only work for some people.”

“That, I can tell you isn't true. They work for everyone, always. There are no exceptions. As long as you set behaviors that align with your goals, this will work.”

“So why am I stuck?”

“Let me ask you this: What did your goal tell you to do today?”

Josh thought. “Work harder?”

“Be more specific.”

Josh paused, uncertain. “I guess I didn't grasp the Future Myth as well as I thought.”

“We're in the same business, Josh,” Amy said. “So, I can help a bit here. We make our money from commissions on sales, right? That's what your goal represents.”

“Right.”

“So where do sales come from?”

“From…offers, I suppose. Offers to buy a home. Without the offer, there's no deal.”

“And where do offers come from?”

Josh began to see the pattern.

“From listings I have, or from showing other listings to people.”

“And where do those come from?”

“From leads,” Josh said, and then he took the lead himself. “And the leads come from calls, networking, advertising, writing, referrals, open houses, past clients, prospecting, and more.”

“And…?” Amy made a rolling keep going gesture with her hands.

I'm watching a sale happen in reverse. From the happy client all the way back to…Josh smiled. “I see where you're going with this. If I need three sales per month, for example, then I need to have a certain number of listings. To do that, I need to have a certain number of listing presentations.” Josh closed his eyes and began to see the sales process running backwards like a film in reverse. “To get those presentations,” he said, “I need people to speak with—prospects. To find them, I need leads. Those will come from a certain number of phone calls, meetings, etcetera.” He opened his eyes. “Those are the things I need to do.”

“Right. The calls, the events, the follow ups. Those are behaviors. And the end result?” Amy prompted.

“I hit my target.”

“Now tell me your daily, repeatable behaviors, Josh,” Amy persisted. “What action is your goal telling you to take?”

Josh thought, then began to scribble rapidly on a napkin from the stack on their table:

• Connect with five new prospects each day.
• Make five follow up phone calls every day.
• Set one face to face buyer or seller appointment every week.

Josh passed the list to Amy and said, “This is what drives my business.” Amy scanned the list and nodded. “That's doable. The trick with daily, repeatable behaviors is to create a list that you can truly do. Consistently.”

Josh thought for a moment more. “Okay. So, The Future Myth has just taught me what I need to do now. But I already do the stuff on this list: the calls, the networking, the appointments.” He pushed the napkin away. “To be honest, Amy, I don't think that's my problem. I think I need to know what else to do. I just don't know as much as you—I need to do what you're doing. That's what's missing. You clearly know something I don't.”

Amy looked at him for a moment, as if trying to make a decision. “Okay,” she said, finally. “Let's go find your missing knowledge.”

At first, Josh thought they were lost. Amy directed him to a part of town that Josh seldom visited. Property values were low. Crime was high. It wasn't high on his list of places to go looking for business. They stopped in front of a somewhat dilapidated building. Josh looked more closely and realized it was actually a school.

“Here we are,” Amy said brightly.

Josh looked at her, but she was already stepping out of the car and heading for the entrance. He shook his head, and got out of the car and followed. Inside, the place wasn't as dilapidated as Josh had thought. Like Cor's shop, came the fleeting thought.

Their footsteps echoed down the hall, and Josh could hear the sounds of kids and teachers from behind closed doors. Josh wondered how an inner city school was going to help him find his missing knowledge.

Amy stopped and peered through the window of each door they passed, then finally smiled. “Here we go.” She knocked lightly and pushed open the door into a classroom. The desks were empty, but as Josh scanned the room, a woman looked up from a table at the front of the class. “Josh, I'd like you meet Anna. Anna runs a special program for adults here.”

Anna was a tall, willowy woman with an enormous mouth that got even larger as she approached Josh with a huge smile and outstretched arms, and clasped his hands tightly. “Welcome, Josh. Any friend of Amy's is a friend of mine.”

Josh still had no idea why they were there, but he asked politely, “You're a teacher, Anna?”

“Well. You could say I'm a teacher by profession. But,” she laughed brightly, “they ran me out of that job a long time ago. I landed here—still at a school, mind you, but one where they are more…aligned with my philosophy, let's say.” She winked at Amy. “But…that's why I'm here, Josh,” she said, her large mouth smiling even more broadly. “What are you doing here?”

“I was kind of hoping you could tell me that.”

“Josh. In my line of work, we don't settle for lame answers like that. Do better.”

Josh stared at her for a moment, and then realized his mouth was hanging open a little.

“So. Why are you here?” she repeated.

Josh had the distinct feeling he'd forgotten to do his homework. He looked at Amy for help, but saw her trying to cover a smirk. As with the motorcycle experience, she was clearly enjoying herself. He was on his own for this one.

“I…” he began. Then he blurted, “I'm struggling at work, and I need to learn more about what to do so that I can grow my business, and Amy brought me to you, only I'm not sure why and so I'm hoping you can help, but I'm not sure exactly how you can.”

Anna pursed her lips. “Okay. Breathe, Josh. That's better, at least. You tried.”

Josh was beginning to feel like he was back in the third grade.

“Tell me, Josh. What exactly is it you feel you need to know? If you're here with Amy, that tells me that you've had a visit with Eloise already, and you know that goals tell you what to do.”

Josh thought for a moment.

“But…I know how to do those things. And they haven't worked for me.”

“So. The things that would help you reach your goal. You know how to do them?”

Josh laughed. “I've been to enough training and seminars that I could probably teach you how to do them.”

“Then let me ask you this, Josh. Are you doing them?”

Josh's mouth clamped shut.

She watched Josh's expression closely, then turned and walked from the room. “Come with me please.”

Josh felt a bit dazed as he followed Anna down the hall. He'd never met someone so…direct. All of his sales training and experience had been in very supportive, positive, rah rah environments. This wasn't negative, to be sure, but the voice in his head said, She nailed it, didn't she? You haven't actually been doing the work, have you? You told Amy you were doing it, but you really aren't. He thought back over the previous few weeks. How much had he really done? Certainly, he'd made a few calls.

But you're not exactly consistent, are you? the voice said. Unless you count how consistently you played solitaire and socialized online.

Josh was grateful when his thoughts were interrupted by Anna, who led him into a room with about a dozen adults of various ages, busy in varying ways from working in groups in quiet discussion, to alone at desks.

“Pardon me, everyone,” Anna announced. “This is Josh and he would like to know what to do.”

Smiles and chuckles broke out in the group. Anna was clearly having some fun at his expense, and the class had obviously experienced it before. But the fun was well intended, and Josh felt himself smiling along with them.

“What should we tell Josh?” Anna asked.

In unison, they responded. “To read the sign.”

Josh looked around, bewildered. Anna pointed behind her. Above the blackboard was a large poster. Printed in neat script was: The Knowledge Myth.