We often hear that a goal of top real estate agents is to earn the trust of their clients so they become “clients for life”. These agents are in it to win it, the inner game of real estate that is!  They have a mindset for professional longevity that can only be powered by passion and the joy of mastery.

To truly appreciate this mindset, one needs to look outside the real estate industry and learn about others who have achieved mastery in their lives.  Chef Jiro Ono, now 91 years old, is the owner of a three-Michelin starred Japanese sushi restaurant. With an average check of $350 per person and only 10 seats he is perennially booked at least one month in advance.

Jiro started working at a local restaurant at the age of seven before moving to Tokyo to study as an apprentice and eventually open up his own restaurant. His peers regard him as the greatest sushi craftsman alive.

World famous Italian education innovator, Maria Montessori, was a 20th century master. She observed an important behavioral phenomenon about the way kids learn. While in the state of relaxed focused concentration that we refer to throughout this article series they will repeat a learning task over and over again until they have an “explosion”- a sudden joyful burst of insight.

This explosion is the key to mastering a task. Once they have “cracked the code” and can effortlessly repeat the action, they experience a gain in self-confidence and then move on to master another skill.  For a very young child this can be something as simple as pouring colored water from one vessel to another without spilling.  The learning environment is purposely set up to provide opportunities for these “learning explosions”, the stepping-stones to mastery.

Someone who approaches their real estate practice as if it was a playground where they can continuously experience “learning explosions” is playing the inner game of real estate.  They create the games conditions in their minds so they can constantly win at something. They deliberately seek out ways to better serve their clients and to better market themselves.

Personally, Maria Montessori has provided us with tremendous inspiration for lifelong learning and mastery as we pursue our own inner game of brand strategy in the luxury real estate realm. As a touchstone we keep an old 1000 Lire note in our wallets on which she is depicted. Like us, the Italians truly value education and the pursuit of mastery.

Is your real estate practice powered by passion and the joy of mastery? If so, you are playing the inner game of real estate. May you live long and prosper in your profession!