Big things...big decisions
I’m not sure if there’s
something in the air right now but a number of people have reached out to me,
to talk about big things going on in their lives … big decisions. And this is not limited to one particular generation. Perhaps there is a lot of soul-searching
going on … stimulated by the loss of a job and/or complete unhappiness with a manager
or company. Having experienced myself what
it’s like to wake up every morning and dread going into work – I know it’s not
fun. We all want to be able to address situations from a place of strength –
but sometimes responsibility or fear overwhelms us and we end up compromising.
Who we choose to turn to when
we’re under stress or dealing with a complicated situation are those we trust,
those people in our lives that really care about us. But, even the best-intentioned friends don’t
necessarily have the right answer – after all, they’re human just like us and don’t
have a crystal ball. At the end of the day we need to take responsibility and make
our own decisions.
What it comes down to is
realizing that we have to trust ourselves – to dig down deep inside and find
that place where the solution presents itself.
When dealing with monumental decisions, it pays to make sure you have
all the information you need to consider the possibilities. We may use thought,
analysis, visualization and/or weighing the pros and cons; in other words, we
do the best we can. And there’s also the ‘life is short’ philosophy that
appears sometimes just begging for consideration.
Ultimately, the time comes when
the decision has to be made. We all know
that not making a decision is a decision in its own right. With a real estate deal, if it doesn’t pan out
the way you thought it would, there will be other opportunities. When investing in your life and your future
you may not get a second chance.
I like to think of life as a
series of adventures, one day at a time. Every day we are presented with opportunities
of one sort or another. The stories of our lives are the result of the
individual choices we make as each day unfolds.
When at a crossroad in our
lives, we often need to consider the risk of not doing something – the regret
factor - in addition to moving forward with the choice. It’s possible we’ll
only really know if we made the ‘right’ choice in a week, a month, a year, a
decade or even a lifetime from now… when we have the perspective to look back.
Sometimes we don’t recognize the BIG decisions as significant turning points in
our lives until well after the fact.
It would certainly be
interesting if the universe was able to give you a ‘heads up’ every time you
were at one of those times in your life.
Or maybe we just need to be more aware of what the signs might look like
…..hmmmm.
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read ALL about it??
When I worked on The Bulletin, the school newspaper at
Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, the team was fortunate to have a
true professional journalist as our advisor.
Marty Gansberg worked for the New York Times and he taught us the Times
approach to journalism. It was classic
journalistic techniques at its finest, and we all benefited. A few of my ‘paper-mates’ went on to use what they learned working as student
journalists in their future media, public relations and advertising positions. One
enduring lesson we all took from the late Marty was the importance of responsible
reporting.
I find it simply incredible how much unreliable information
is published these days – just in the commercial real estate industry alone. As a fairly well-connected real estate
industry professional, I sometimes - on a confidential basis - learn about
breaking news before it breaks. It’s a
special feeling to be trusted with that kind of information. However, when some of the media publishes
that very ‘same’ news story, all too often it’s either missing information or
is reported inaccurately. And, while
there is an entire service industry built on ‘crisis management,’ wouldn’t it
be nice if ‘reporters’ actually confirmed their information before publishing??
Don’t get me wrong; there are some fine journalists and
publications in our industry that care about reporting news correctly. But, in other ways, even with the ease of
posting on the Internet, it seems like little has changed since the paperboys
of years gone by - standing on the street corner, holding up a
hot-off-the-presses newspaper yelling, ‘EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!” Headlines sell papers – and advertising. But irresponsible journalism doesn’t make a
publication look good. And it forces the
subject of the erroneous information to spend time and money informing clients,
investors and others that the ‘news’ was reported incorrectly.
Careers and lives have been dented and sometimes smashed by
gossip and indiscriminate information. Getting
it right may take a little more time and effort but I sure hope that those who
publish will one day consider what it would feel like - if the tables were turned
- and they became the victim of
reckless information or unsubstantiated rumors. Signing off for now.
My sincere best wishes to those who are celebrating Passover and Easter this week.
Congratulations...
Scott Arden on becoming a principal at Hodes Weill & Associates.
Alessandro Bronda who joined Zurich Insurance as Head of Global Real Estate Investment Strategy.
Larissa Belova now Director of Business Development at Candlebrook Properties.
Emmanuel Blouin named non-Executive Chairman at IO Adria.
May 2 - 6: Family visit, Asheville, NC
May 16: Annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows, North Palm Beach, FL
June 10 - 11: Client meetings, Chicago, IL
June 12 - 13: IMN's 15th Annual US Real Estate Opportunity and Private Fund Investing Forum, New York, NY (I will be moderating a panel called, 'A Day in the Life of an LP').
June 16 - 19: Annual Conference of The National Association of Real Estate Companies, Charleston, SC
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All content in this blog is created for informational purposes only. Content, which includes all text, photos, video and graphics is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company or individual. Steve Felix makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or other information as a result of following any featured link to or from this site. The intention of this blog is to do no harm in regards to injury, defamation or libel. What is written or shown is not to be taken as fact or absolute. Steve Felix will hold himself harmless for any errors or omissions in this blog’s information; including but not limited to external link information, translation or interpretation of content or incorrect grammar or punctuation.
