Miss Gigi Rasshopper and Mrs. Tinee Ant shared an office in the same real estate company. Mrs. Ant worked hard all day long, scouting for leads, updating her web site, creating a vision board, organizing her goals and revising her mission statement. She called potential buyers, qualified them, followed up and asked for referrals. She filled her head and her bookshelves with print and audio books that taught her how to succeed in new home sales.
Miss Rasshopper watched her scurry about and laughed, saying, “Why do you work so hard, Mrs. Ant? Come, rest awhile and listen to this new song on my MP3 player. The days are sunny and warm. Why spend them driving buyers around or being shut up inside a model home?”
She paused, waiting for a response, then continued, “I’ve been where you are. Just look at my
new-home-salesperson-of-the-month plaques? I was top performer seven months in a row and was in the million-dollar club. Of course, that was five years ago and the housing market was a little different then, but still…”
Mrs. Ant just ignored her and kept working.
“You silly woman,” Miss Rasshopper said, sipping on a cool, green drink. “Don’t you know the
economy’s bad? You’re doing all this work, but the buyers just aren’t out there. So why not live a little and forget about new home sales for now?”
Her words fell on deaf ears because Mrs. Ant was on a mission. She had set a goal and she
only had 14 days left to achieve it.
Within a few weeks, the blue skies turned gray and the winds blew chilled air into the office as
Mrs. Ant came and went. Nights were long. No one was shopping for new homes … at least no
one Miss Rasshopper knew.
Mrs. Ant, on the other hand, was consistently bringing in commissions on homes she had sold. Her world was warm, comfortable and financially solid.
Miss Rasshopper decided the reason she wasn’t selling homes was because of her builder and
her broker, so she started hopping from one to another.
Mrs. Ant watched her go, but she didn’t hear her angry mumblings because she was too busy
listening to her MP3 and dancing to her favorite song, “I Will Survive!”
The Moral: The way to have nothing tomorrow is to do nothing today. Your past is
history and the present is a fleeting shadow that doesn’t last. Work for the future
because that is where you will live.
