The Mindset Difference Between Average & Great Investors

If you are anything like me at all, you were probably told since you were a kid that if you ever wanted to be good at anything or achieve what you wanted, you had to invest some serious amount of time, effort, and most importantly, practice.

For example, the majority of us weren’t born with the ability to learn our multiplication tables by simply hearing about them once. We had to struggle as elementary school kids to keep reciting them to ourselves repeatedly, and after a while, we managed to get those numbers firmly implanted into our minds. (What’s 9 x 12? 108, of course!) This is one of those instances that proved to us that practice really makes perfect.

The Difference Between Average Investors & Great Investors

The thing is, successful investors aren’t born with a “how to” guide, and they definitely don’t lounge around all day relying on mere chance. While it is true that some people are more gifted than others, if those who are gifted don’t learn to cultivate it, even those who may not be blessed with those innate qualities can easily surpass them with work ethic.

The fact is, the true difference between those who excel in their chosen field compared to the “average Joe” is the time, effort, and practice that they invested into honing their craft. Those real estate investors that you always find yourself looking up to understood the fact that in order to achieve their sky high goals, they had to start from the bottom and work their way up. So they spent the time studying the art and putting in the effort to gain more experience, and they never expected miracles where everything would simply fall into place.

Regardless of whatever kind of real estate investing you want to do, you have probably discovered already that be it appreciation or cash flow, single family or multifamily, only a small handful of investors do really well for themselves. Want to know their secret to success?

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

Well, instead of leaping from one shiny thing to another like an average investor, those who taste success know that in order to reach higher levels, they can’t stay on the ground forever. They have to find a way to leap — and how do they do this? They keep trying over and over again. However, they don’t do any of this like a blind bat; they know that they have to be effective. After all, practice doesn’t make perfect if the practice done isn’t effective. So they understand the importance of setting out goals, mapping their course, and continuously refining their methods over the course of the journey.

Just by staying true to a tried and tested strategy while also continuing to educate themselves on new things, those successful investors become well versed in navigating around any difficult bumps along the way. They become accustomed to spotting those camouflaged potentials and opportunities in the real estate market. As you can see, these amazing people that you look up to didn’t simply achieve success overnight. Their success depended on them and all the experiences that they had, resulting in the skills that they collectively refined.

Cultivating Your Craft

This might all sound really simple (and it is); however, sometimes the simplest things turn out to be the most difficult. After all, almost everyone has experienced that fiery passion at the beginning when they simply wanted to climb to the top of the success ladder immediately, and absolutely nothing could stand in their way. So instead of spending the time cultivating their craft and learning the ropes, they ignored the basics and tried to enter the “get-quick-rich” scheme. This ultimately caused them to fall at the very first hurdle — which more often than not results in them taking off their hats and calling it quits before they even make progress. Don’t let this be you.

Basically, what I am trying to get at today is that success can be grown. It isn’t predetermined whether or not you will succeed or fail. If you put in the work, be smart about it, and learn to sculpt your skills in the field, there is no doubt that you will be heading off in the right direction!

What single mindset do you believe is most important for achieving success in real estate?

Let me know your thoughts with a comment!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.