I did a podcast interview today with 27 year old real estate phenom Matt Phipps, for my Real Estate Thought Leadership Mastery Program. Matt's a real dynamo, having just become the youngest committee chair in the history of the National Association of Realtors as well as being named "30 [to watch] Under 30" by Realtor Magazine.

This got me to thinking. What makes some people able to accomplish more in 5 years than others have been able to achieve in 25? I don't know the definitive answer, but here's my top list of things each of us should absolutely start doing tomorrow morning, if we want to find ourselves in a significantly better place 5 years from now.

    * Improve Your Network. Get to know more people and increase the depth and connection that you have with those you know. Use Facebook, LinkedIn...Heaven forbid, maybe even the telephone. You can't have a George Bailey moment without dear friends. Not good at this? Too shy? Everybody can learn and there's nobody better to learn this from than Larry Benet. There's a reason he's called "The Connector."

    * Strengthen Your Weaknesses. Everyone has things they're stronger at than others. Those that achieve      greatness find a way to strengthen their weaknesses, so they are no longer a big liability. They may not be an asset, but at least they're not a big weakness. You don't want to be like Superman, vulnerable to anyone pulling a little piece of Kryptonite out of their pocket. Strengthening weaknesses goes against human nature. Golfers are a great example of this. We tend to like to practice the clubs we hit well and leave the ones that we're lousy with in the bag on the practice range. This has a name, and it's called self-delusion.

    * Get Away From Doing What Your Lousy At. This may seem to fly in the face of what I just said, but it's actually quite different. Just because you strengthen your weaknesses so it's not such a great liability, doesn't mean that you should be spending your time doing what you're weak at. Better to find someone who LOVES to do what you hate and let them handle it. You focus on doing what you love (and are great at) and voila, you're way more productive and everything runs better.

    * Stop Telling The Truth. We all seem to feel the need to "tell it like it is." When business isn't great or something bad has happened we communicate that "reality" to others under the guise of keeping it real or telling the truth. The problem is that there is mounting scientific evidence to illustrate that our thoughts and words are creative, meaning they influence the future events that happen to us. If this is indeed the case, then telling that "truth" (if it's something you don't want or is the absence of what you do want) is keeping you in the exact problem state you're desiring to get out of. It's much better to be like my brilliant tech writer friend, Lane Cooper, of Cooper Research Associates. Regardless of what problems he may have be in the midst of, if you asked Lane how he was doing he'd always say something like: "Great", "Couldn't Be Better" or "Absolutely Phenomenal," and he'd say it with feeling and actually MEAN it. One day I pressed him on why he's lying to himself. He said, "I'm not lying. I'm telling the God's honest truth...just a little in advance." I learned a powerful lesson from Lane that day.

What am I missing? Reply and share what other "Bitter Pills" you think we should all start "swallowing" to make us better in the near future.