Effective means that you can accomplish an expected result. Efficient means you can do it with the least amount of wasted time and effort.

To put it another way, being effective is doing the right thing while being efficient is doing the right thing in the right way.

You are effective when you are sitting at your desk compiling a list of people to call for referrals or listening to a self-improvement CD. If, however, you stop every five minutes to check your e-mails, talk with a coworker or text a friend, you aren’t being efficient.

According to research, the leading time-wasting activities on the job are personal internet use, socializing with coworkers and conducting personal business. These distractions consume an average of 2.1 hours every day. Add to this the time people take off for lunch, coffee, bathroom breaks, errands and smoking, and there aren’t many hours left to be productive.

Another study found that workers spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before being distracted and that, once they are distracted, it takes anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes to return to the original task.

In an eight-hour workday, at what point do these unexpected, unplanned interruptions become disruptions? How can you concentrate on selling new homes if you’re in a reactionary mode all day?

As my mother used to say when someone got distracted from something important, “Don’t get so busy mopping the floor that you forget to turn off the faucet.”

The hardest thing for me was learning to play without continually glancing at the fingers on my fret hand to make sure they were properly placed.

For those of you who might not know, the ridges on the neck of the guitar where you position your fingers in order to play specific notes are called “frets.” I find this ironic because the word also means to be anxious — which I was.

I thought about quitting, but it’s not in my nature. So I persevered and I practiced … a lot. As a result, my confidence increased and I can now play guitar without fretting about my fret hand.

In one of the books I bought was the story about a music teacher whose aspiring student complained that she didn’t have the gift of music. The teacher told her, “You do not have to have the gift. You just have to have the patience to learn music without giving up. That’s the secret of great musicians.”

The same principle applies in new home sales. You’re not born with the gift of salesmanship or a natural talent to sell igloos to Eskimos. To succeed, you must have a desire to learn and the commitment to practice … faithfully and regularly … whether you feel like it or not.

Practice your closing scripts. Practice overcoming objections. Practice meeting and greeting buyers. Practice role-playing with other salespeople. Practice better sales techniques and new marketing strategies.

Basketball player Abe Lemons was one of the most successful coaches in Oklahoma history. He believed himself to be a “teacher of men” on and off the court. He used to tell his players, “One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.”

It’s natural to make mistakes when you undertake something unfamiliar, such as trying a different sale’s technique or a new marketing approach.

What you want to avoid, however, is giving your mistakes the power to disrupt your life and career. If you repeatedly replay them in your head and beat yourself up, they will keep you down and doubting.

Call it what you will — a mistake, blunder, slip-up, oversight, error in judgment or faux pas — when you make one, ask yourself three questions: What can I learn from this? How did I benefit from it? What’s the best way to move forward from this point?

Maybe you’ll have a chance to correct the mistake; maybe you won’t. Perhaps you can try again in a different way. Regardless, you are wiser than you were before the experience and can consider yourself “blessed” because you are improving.

So, give it a shot, even at the risk of messing up. It’s by pushing yourself too far that you find out how far you really can go.

There is a story about how the late Martin Luther King, Jr., was sitting in the back of the bus saying to himself, “I may be in the back of the bus, but I left my mind in the front of the bus. One day I am going to put my body up there where my mind is.”

He had a vision of equality that he crafted into a reality. Vision holds promise and possibilities. However, vision without work is a dream; and work without vision is drudgery. You need both.

At the end of the day, what would you rather say? “I’m glad I did” or “I wish I had.”

I love that quote. What is says to me is that, if you have a small business –and most new home salespeople are themselves a small business –you don’t have to be narrow minded. Instead of thinking within very tight, well-defined boundaries, you can choose to think outside the lines. Widen your view …expand your vision … diversify and multiply your options.

To grow your business, you want to think big; and by “big” I’m not suggesting that you need big money to succeed.

There is a myth out there that says it takes money to make money. This implies that you
must start with a lot of money to make a lot of money. If that were really true, how could
Steve Jobs, David Oreck, Bill Gates, Rachel Ray and countless others have
succeeded? They had very little seed money.

Jobs founded Apple with $1,300. Dell, a pre-med student, started his computer
company with $1,000 in his dorm room then dropped out of college at age 19 to build it.
Five years ago, he donated $50 million to his drop-out alma mater, the University of
Texas.

John Mackey and Renee Hardy borrowed money from friends and family to open a small
natural foods store in Austin, Texas, which became Whole Foods Market.

Ross Perot founded Electronic Data Systems with $1,000.

Newly-married Ruth & Elliot Handler started a business in their garage that expanded
into the top toymaker in the world, Mattel.

In 1995, in Pierre Omidyar’s living room, he wrote the technical code that would allow
him to start a web-based company called eBay. Within three years, it was ranked
number 326 on the Fortune-500 list of companies.

Two teachers and a writer invested $1,350 each in 1971 to open a Chicago coffee shop
that evolved into Starbucks.

Adolph Coors invested $2,000 to form Coors Brewing Company, one of the largest in the
world.

Each one of these small business owners proved that, to succeed, you don’t need
unlimited resources. You just need unlimited resourcefulness.

Big businesses are grown by people who prove they have the resourcefulness to grow
small companies.

Being resourceful means making the most of the time, energy, money, connections,
health, talents, passions, and other assets you have. Use them to overcome obstacles,
to find overlooked clients, to achieve over-the-top results and to overtake your
competition by envisioning success where others see failure.

Teddy Roosevelt summed it up this way: “Do what you can with what you have where
you are.”

Be a person of resourcefulness who thinks big.

Most people aren’t willing to leave the soothing comfort of familiarity. They fear the unknown, so they remain safely anchored in Humdrum Haven.

But if you have reached the point where you are ready to pay the price to change your life, how do you do it?

For real change to occur, two things must happen. First, you must alter your thinking. Second, you must endure the pain of self-discipline.

Change begins in the mind. It starts on the inside and works its way out. The Bible states it simply: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

All those scattered thoughts that skip across the landscape of your mind gradually crystallize into the person you are becoming. They control the actions you take and configure the lifestyle you’ve chosen.

The way you think determines your belief system, which evolves into the consequences and memories you have today.

To think differently, you need to put new information into your mind. The best way to do that is to read an hour every day. That’s what I’ve done for years. As a result, the new information I’ve absorbed has overcome my old … and sometimes self-destructive … thoughts.

When your thinking changes, so do your actions; and when your actions change, so do your outcomes.

Your brain is like a giant computer. It unloads what’s been been fed into it. When you watch TV shows, listen to radio and music, read books and magazines — all of the information you’re taking in from these different sources is fed into your brain. So, if you want to change the way your mind thinks and alter the way your life is going, change your brain food.

Input the positive. Overcome the negative.

The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Zig Ziglar says to “focus on the good, the clean and the positive.”

Hang out with uplifting people. Listen to informational CDs and podcasts. Read inspiring books. Absorb the right information and your life changes. Before you know it, you have become a product of that programming.

Then, once you start thinking differently, take action. Do what you know needs to be done, when you have to do it, whether you feel like it or not. That’s discipline.

Alexander Hamilton is quoted as saying, “Men give me some credit for genius.  All the genius I have lies in this: When I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly.  Day and night it is before me.  I explore it in all its bearings.  My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I make is what the people call the fruit of genius.  It is the fruit of labor and thought.”

There’s the key … labor and thought. Wishing won’t change your life. Working at it will. Believe differently.  Be disciplined. It’s that simple.

I mention this because, as I watched the wind and rain beat the trees into submission outside my window, I realized two things: (1) Everything we possess can be gone in a heartbeat; and (2) stories of hope and heroes emerge in the aftermath of disaster.

As horrific as 9-11 was, what’s broadcast in the media today is less about the catastrophe and more about the survivors and how they have moved on with their lives. The “Today” show this week interviewed a woman who, against the odds and through raw determination, recovered after being burned over 80% of her body by fire in one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Lauren Manning has authored a book chronicling her ordeal. During the interview, she echoed the sentiments of other survivors when she said, “There’s no where to go but forward. You get over it and you get through it. I would never surrender.”

Here at home, in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, neighbors are helping neighbors rally and retrieve the remnants of their lives. For many, the road to recovery is not dependent upon concrete highways, but upon the kindness of others.

While the so-called dismal housing market is not on the same scale as natural disasters and terrorism, they all magnify a side of Americans that is too often ignored. In our core, we are grit and gratitude.

It is here that hope buds and heroes are born. Not the chest-thumping, glory-seeking heroes, but the behind-the-scenes kind. Those who quietly say they aren’t hungry when they know there isn’t enough food to go around.

We need more everyday heroes like that in the new-home market. Salespeople who stand up to the challenge … and stand out from the crowd. Who not only survive, but proclaim, “I refuse to dwell on what was or what could have been. There’s no where to go but forward. I’ll get over it. I’ll get through it. And along the way, I’ll help others do the same.”

People today need the security of a home as much as they need Homeland Security. And they need you to persevere with them through the tough times while keeping your sense of compassion, strength of character and steadfast commitment. Do this and later you will find that, as a Portuguese proverb states, “what was hard to bear can be sweet to remember.”

He explains that when you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work backing up that premise and proving why it’s impossible. However, when you believe … really believe … something can be done, your mind goes to work to find ways to accomplish it.

Great baseball player Satchel Paige never told how old he was, although it was obvious he was up in years because he had been playing ball for so long. One day he was being pressured by reporters to tell his age.

“Satch, c’mon. Tell us how old you are,” a reporter coaxed.

Satchel turned the question around and asked the reporter, “If you did not know how old you were, how old would you be?”

To Satchel Paige, a person’s age didn’t define what they could accomplish. Both he and Schwartz knew the secret: It’s all in your head. What’s important is what you believe.

It’s about attitude and how you view the world through your mind’s eye. Look for the good and you’ll find it. Look for the bad and you’ll spot it everywhere. Perceive the housing market as favorable and it will awaken the optimist in you. See it as failing and your internal skeptic will detect signs of doomsday.

Depending upon what you believe, your mind will either apply the brakes or accelerate.

So, let me ask you: If you did not believe the housing market was down, how many homes would you sell this week?

It’s here that we examine ourselves under a critical eye and decide that we come up short. We’re not good enough … not smart enough … not strong enough. We blame ourselves … we blame others … we blame circumstances … we whine.

I once heard a comedian say, “I am tired of hearing people complain about how it isn’t their day. With six billion people on the planet, what are the chances that this would be your day?”

It’s natural — maybe even therapeutic — to occasionally be a darkroom dweller; but why make it a habit?

It’s better to follow this advice: Don’t complain, blame or explain. Assume responsibility for your actions and for the decisions you make. This enables you to change your circumstances and empowers you to handle life on your terms.

With fewer negatives to deal with, you won’t be in the dark when opportunity knocks.

Nope. It’s tomorrow.

Everything’s going to happen “tomorrow.” We’ll start exercising, eat healthier, stop smoking, work harder, read more, study better, close that sale … tomorrow. As the saying goes, “There’s no time like the present to procrastinate.”

We all drag our feet occasionally. While there are tons of tips you can find about time management and how to stop procrastinating, it really boils down to three words:

Think.
Plan.
Do.

Think about the task or goal. Plan the best way to achieve it. Take action. The vision must be followed by the venture or it’s just wishful thinking.

To quote Martin Luther King, Jr.: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step.”

If you keep waiting until tomorrow to begin, it won’t be long before “not now” becomes “never.”