Rob Foglia

I’m reminded today of a saying that I heard at a sales conference years ago:

Progress over perfection.

And while the speaker was talking about growth in terms of becoming a better salesperson, I think it applies to all areas of your life.

Here’s the thing: we live in a microwave society. Everything is about immediacy. It’s not just enough that we get fast food; we want fast food brought to us right away from a delivery service. Prime 2-Day shipping is not good enough; we want it overnight or within a couple of hours.

It’s kind of the world we live in right now. A society where we have expectations that everything happens as quickly as a microwaved dinner. But is that good enough?

Now I know there has been some progress in the world of food, but even the best microwave meals can’t touch a great home-cooked meal. A home-cooked meal or, better yet, how about a slow-cooked meal in the crockpot? Or maybe some barbecue that has been slow cook cooked to perfection since the wee hours of the morning? Now that’s the chef’s kiss.

And I think we all realize this. I think at least 9 times out of 10, if you give someone the choice to have a delicious home-cooked meal or some fast food, that person is going to take that home-cooked meal. We recognize the quality of it. We understand that quality takes time, and we’re cool with that. We’re good with the crockpot. 

That is, unless we are the ones having to do the cooking.

When we are the ones having to do the cooking, I think that too many of us choose the microwave.

Now, maybe I’m just hungry; however, I think this is the perfect analogy for what I’m getting at today: Progress over perfection.

We all have dreams, goals, and aspirations. We have things we want to learn, milestones to accomplish, and dreams we want to fulfill. Many of us have a lot that we want to experience and get out of life. But does the microwave get us there or the crockpot?

This is where it gets tricky. When looking from outside in and at others, it’s easy to slow things down and remind someone else that things take time. Sayings like “good things come to those who wait“ and “hard work pays off“ are told to us when we are kids. But when looking from the inside out, that’s so hard to remember. And, as adults, the aforementioned advice gets lost and/or overlooked.

Remember, everywhere around us is the microwave. Everything is now. And I don’t mean that from a “be in the present” mindset, I mean that from an immediacy standpoint. Everything is about getting something now. We expect instant results. And when we don’t get them, oftentimes we just move on to something new in search of greener pastures. That’s usually not the answer. 

One thing I’ve been experiencing this year in my new role as managing broker at my office has been having more of a “mentor“ role, for lack of a better term, than I ever have in the past. Many newer agents at the office are coming to me for guidance. I love helping them, and yet I see a trend.

Many of the newer agents want to or expect to see results from their activities immediately. And while some activities in real estate can produce immediate results, real estate is about the long game. After all, the average person only moves about every 10 years. So, when I talk to somebody who knows me, likes me, and trust me, there’s likely a less than 10% chance that person is moving in the next year. And it’s even a much smaller percentage that they have an immediate real estate need (immediate like within the next couple of months).

The newer agents expect those immediate results, though. Is this the microwave society creeping up? Maybe. 

I wish I could get through to some of them that it’s all about the crockpot mentality. We must “slow cook“ our leads and the people that we know for a long time before they’re ready. And that’s OK! It’s part of how real estate works. And, just like home-cooked meals, some will be ready in 20-30 minutes and some will take hours of prep work, some real estate sales will be ready in 3-6 months, and some will take years to get off the fence. That’s just real estate.

I wish I could get them to see this, and that the answer isn’t the greener pastures of trying a new “silver bullet” or switching companies. Those “fixes” only work if you’re changing who you are what your business is along with the change.

As someone who’s been in the business for more than a decade, that’s easy for me to say and easy for me to see from the outside. Truth be told, this is not always easy for me to see from the inside.

I make no secret about my love of music. It’s what gets me going and what I enjoy more than anything. Playing and creating is that thing that makes me feel alive. It’s that thing that when I do it, I feel like I’m in a flow state. Time both stands still and yet evaporates in an instant. It just feels natural and feels right.

And yet, for many years, I hid this part of myself. For many years, I was a bedroom musician, didn’t go to jams, and created in private. Almost in secret. That is, until a few years ago, when I really started to get out there. 

For those who don’t know my entire story, when my daughter was born, things changed a lot for me. For one, it made me really wake up and inspired me to do everything I could to show my daughter what it’s like to go after what you care about. For me, that’s creating and playing music. Finding sound that no one has ever heard before.

So all things considered, despite hitting the big 4-0 this year, I constantly have to remind myself that I’m still at the beginning of my musical journey. When I hear and see excellent musicians who have been playing for longer than I’ve been alive, I can’t compare myself to them. They have been slow cooking in that crockpot for their entire careers. And even though I’ve been playing, my slow cooker has really only been on for the last few years, when I really started to get out there, attending jams, releasing music, playing for others, etc.

Maybe all of this boils back down to a topic I’ve talked about recently, and that’s measuring and comparing your successes with others. This is my race, not anyone else’s. It doesn’t matter what someone else has accomplished, where someone is on their journey; it only matters where I am and that I’m getting better than the person I was yesterday. This goes for me as a musician, a parent, and just a human being.

It’s about progress over perfection. It’s about making a little progress every day. Getting a little bit better every day. 

It’s not about playing a perfect solo every single time. It’s about getting a little bit better at that solo every single time.

For my sales friends out there, it’s not about closing every lead you ever run into, but getting better at it with every person you encounter.

Progress over perfection.

All this makes me wonder, what would our world look like if everyone simultaneously dropped microwave expectations and embraced a crockpot mindset?

Would we have more people going after what truly matters to them?

Would we live in a happier and more fulfilled world?

I’m going to ponder all of this as I move forward, but I want to leave you with a question. Where in your life can you drop the perfect expectations and embrace progress?

Go out there and be irreplaceable.