(via Steve Scanlon, Reality and Hope)

Funks happen. The ebbing and flowing of our businesses and our lives is as inevitable as the rain in Portland. As long as you are still breathing, you will have lulls and you will have peaks.

You will also have many days that are neither high nor low, but rather somewhere in the middle.

The funny thing is that we can learn so much from any of these seasons. Don’t forget that seasons are just that – good or bad, they will soon change! It’s particularly important to remember this in tough times, because we might be tempted to think that the challenges are permanent. They never are.

If you are in a season of difficulty, it is quite human to want to get out and get back to a state of peace and joy. I wish there were some fool-proof way to get back there quickly, but often we need to stay in that season until we learn something.

One thing you can do in the midst of your challenges is to look for the lesson. Specifically, you may ask yourself, “What is it about the state I am in that could be a lesson I need to learn?”

Some of us never do. We wallow in our misery longer than we should, rather than posing the internal question. If you watch the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, you will see a very funny perspective on what it means to get stuck in an uncomfortable season until you finally learn to ask the right question.

One thing I need to learn over and over is that I ask the wrong question. My question is still, “What will get me out of this?” It is only when I shift my question from “what” to “who” do I finally begin to see the light. “Who do I need to help?” “Who can I serve?” “Who in my life could use a good word of encouragement from me?”

To ask this, to seek an answer, and then to take action is one of the keys to releasing yourself from a funk. Try it. If I am wrong then all you did was help someone in need. That wouldn’t be so bad.

The world around you needs you more than you know, and the cool thing is that most of the time it doesn’t care about your funks.

Look up and go help.

Ever wished things could go “back to normal”? Guess what?  We are in “The New Normal.”  Are you moving forward with the changing times or wasting time dwelling on the “good ol’ days”?

What does “The New Normal” look like?

• We will continue to be in a full-documentation world (some would call it over-documentation), in which there is not too much common sense – everything is verified then re-verified.   Underwriting guidelines will continue to be tighter as buy backs will continue to be an issue with lenders.

• Experience and Knowledge will be the difference between closing and not closing. No longer is it about who has the “Shiniest” mortgage product.  It is about the Loan Officer who stays on top of the guidelines and knows them better than the underwriter.   According to Mortgage Market Guide, over 65% of the loan officers who were in business as of 1/1/2008 are no longer in business.   In addition, of the 35% of the loan officers left in the business, over 75% of them have been in the business six years or more.  Experience counts.

• We can hope that things change back to the old ways (which is not going to happen), or we can embrace the new ways.   We must work smarter not harder.  We must embrace change, technology and systems.  We cannot do the same thing “over and over again” and expect different results.

• Those who choose to be “Ordinary” or “Average” will be out of business.  We must choose not to be ordinary.   Ordinary means going day to day with whatever comes our way.   Choosing not to be ordinary means treating your business like a business, following a specific and well laid out business plan and working the plan every single day.  Specific non-negotiable daily disciplines must be just that … non-negotiable.   Call me to get together if you would like to review some of my coaching secrets and tools about non-negotiables and daily disciplines.

Keeping Current Matters posted an excellent reminder of the New Normal in their January 2011 Quick Tips.  Whether you are a Realtor, a loan officer, a title rep or a builder, we must recognize that good is not good enough any longer.  Let’s keep encouraging each other to be extraordinary