6 Steps to Becoming a Bass Pro
You may not know this, but my income does not come from fishing although it’s part of my plan in the future. At this point, I have to make enough money to at least have a shot at living the dream. For me, the best chance of accomplishing this goal is to concentrate on selling houses for a while.
I know, you hear it on the news all the time that the real estate market is in the dumps and will be for a long time. I’ll admit that home prices will not likely return to the levels we saw in 2005, but homes are selling and I can name countless people who will still make a 7 figure income from selling houses in 2011.
All I need is to make enough to buy a new boat and have enough money in savings to fish the BASS Opens and Everstarts next year. Needless to say, it’s still a lot of money.
I went to a seminar recently for accomplishing goals in real estate with 6 steps, but constantly related the tasks to fishing as well.
Step 1: Affirm – You need to affirm to yourself that you are who you want to be. In fishing or any other sport, you need to affirm to yourself daily that you are the best at what you do. The speaker used an example of Kid Rock on an interview with Pierce Morgan. As usual, the crass and rude Brit told Kid Rock that he’s no Tom Cruise in terms of looks or charisma and asked him if he had ever thought he’d be where he’s at today. Kid Rock’s answer was “everyday”. Kid Rock never had a doubt that he would be rock star some day. The speaker also noted that affirmation without discipline is delusion. For an aspiring bass pro, it means spending more time studying patterns on different lakes, spending more time becoming a better decision maker and time manager, and spend more time mastering different techniques and styles of fishing.
Step 2: Track - “That which is measured grows”. For me, I know how much money I need to make this year to fulfill my fishing goals next year and need to track it. The speaker suggested a simple thermometer. I also need to set goals for improving my fishing as well. I’m a total cluts when it comes to spinning equipment, not that good at skipping docks, and not the best offshore fisherman. I’ll need to set goals with deadlines to get better at these things.
Step 3: Find a Mentor – I don’t have a mentor at the moment, but I need to look at how some run of the mill guys (guys like us) have become a bass pro. Some names that come to mind is Randall Tharp, Greg Vinson, and John Cox. All these guys have made it from the ground up.
Step 4: Work – This is the part that sucks but unfortunately a necessity. There’s no substitute for time on the water and you gotta put the work in to improve your skills so that you can compete at the highest level. For me, this is 2 part: 1. I’ve gotta learn more about different lakes like Pickwick, Guntersville, Eufala, Okeechobee, etc. 2. get better at techniques that will work in those place. The Weekend Series Championship is at Santee Cooper this year, I’ll spend a lot of time pitching finesse worms to cypress trees with a spinning rod since it’s one technique that most winners have employed at Santee Cooper, namely Ken Ellis who’s the man up there. I totally suck with a spinning rod, but I’ll be good at it come this fall. The bite could be offshore, topwater, flippin, crankin, or spinnerbait but I’m a bit more comfortable doing that.
Step 5: Build – You build from your success. If you won a tournament lately, then you need to build from there. If you did well in a tournament recently, then you can build from there. The key here is to focus on your success.
Step 6: Map – Probably the best suggestion I got from this seminar was to map out your goals. You need to write your goals down and also write down how you’re going to accomplish them next to your goals. Nobody builds a house without blueprints. For my fishing, I need to make X amount this year (a whole heck of a lot), improve some techniques I don’t like, and focus more on work than fishing so that I can fish next year. I went out and bought a dry eraser board and written down my goals for fishing and real estate with steps to accomplish those goals. I’ll be keeping track of it daily along with my affirmations, “I will make a living from fishing so I can fish every day”.
I think these steps will have you achieve any goal you have for yourself, whether it be becoming a bass pro or anything else.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no bass pro, but I’ve made a commitment to work at this goal every single day and to tell myself that it is possible.
Help me accomplish my goals by referring anyone you know with real estate needs to me. I promise, they’ll receive the best possible service. My real estate sites include: http://sworlandoblog.com, http://www.sworlandorealeasy.com, and http://sworlando.kwrealty.com.
