Outlasting the Long Day

The recent "24" finale opens with the President of the United States sitting her cabinet down and saying to them, "I know this has been a long day." I get a kick out of that because if you know the show you know this woman (the President's) husband has been strangled and left close to death, the White House has been overrun by terrorists and the hostages rescued, bio-weapons have been seconds from launch just prior to being taken out by F-16's, the show's star, Jack Bauer (himself having been instrumental in the saving and rescue of everyone else), has been exposed to a nerve agent and is dying - and so on and so forth - and the beauty of all this, it's only been 22 hours out of a 24-hour day! And we've all had long days. Haven't we? (Hopefully not like on "24.") And right now in this real estate market that's exactly what it seems like for a lot of us. It seems like a very, very long day in the challenges faced - of trying to find home buyers, of having to convince sellers to price their homes right so they'll sell, of having to deal with banks and out of the area title companies who sometimes drag their feet and aren't always diligent and can be less than cooperative at times - and so on and so forth. It's enough to pull your hair out over at times, quite frankly. (Have you ever felt like doing that?) I came across a quote that I think is helpful for situations such as ours: "Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer." And before I give you who said it - I just think it's such a good quote, not because we somehow need "bravery" to face our challenges as real estate professionals - or maybe we do? We definitely need stick-to-it-iveness. (I always like to use that word.) The long day isn't easy. That's for sure. But we're gonna outlast it. We are. (The quote is from Ronald Reagan.)