August 2015 — Property Management Quarterly —
Page 9
G
reat property managers pro-
tect their most important
asset – themselves!
And let’s face it, property
management is hard mental
work. Good decisions need to be made
consistently throughout the day. This
requires a property manager to gain
the talent and discipline to discern
what is right and wrong, essential or
nonessential, as well as filter com-
peting and conflicting facts, options
and opinions constantly vying for our
attention. And it is difficult to discern
correctly when there are many voices
that are pulling us in many directions.
Great property managers are pow-
erful observers and listeners. And
the really great ones listen for what
others do not hear or, in other words,
discern what is not said. The good
news is that this skill can be acquired,
honed and perfected through daily
practice.
Here are my three suggestions to
improve your ability to discern.
Get out of bed early and listen to great
music.
My absolute favorite is Sym-
phony No. 9 of Ludwig Van Beethoven
– Friedrich von Schillers “Ode to Joy,”
by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted
by Herbert Von Karajan. I have learned
over many early mornings that there
is great power in music that invites
close introspection.
One of the most exciting aspects
of listening to these symphonies is
that they can have the most personal
meaning to each of us. Each listener is
entitled to be his own judge and inter-
preter. My favorite recurring dream is
that I am conducting the Berlin Phil-
harmonic performing the Symphony
No. 9 of Beethoven. To bring me ever
so close to real-
ity, my wife Debbie
bought me my very
own conductor’s
baton for my birth-
day, accompanied
with a baton tech-
nique book. Now
that is true love!
This baton brings
me much joy as I
stand in my front
room, in conducting
attire, impersonat-
ing Herbert Von
Karajan. It is such exhausting but
exhilarating work.
It is spiritual work. Things happen
while listening to it that are too deli-
cate for words. The music takes me
away because I am so concentrated
on every nuance and instrument that
I forget everything else. I know I great-
ly have improved my talent to discern
by actively listening and identifying
the various instruments performing,
whether they be violins, violas, vio-
loncellos, double basses, flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets,
trombones, timpani, percussion and,
at the end of Symphony No. 9, the
chorus. No. 9 starts out with chaos
and ends in unity.
Get a full night’s sleep.
This increases
brainpower and enhances our prob-
lem-solving ability.We can discern
and prioritize better. Studies show
that one hour more of sleep equals
several hours of much higher produc-
tivity, and that sleep enables the high-
est levels of mental contribution.
“Seven hours and I start to degrade,”
said Mark Andreesen, cofounder of
Netscape. “Six is suboptimal. Five is a
big problem. Four means I am a zom-
bie.” Andreesen even confesses that
on weekends he sleeps 12-plus hours.
“It makes a big difference in my abil-
ity to function,” he said.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agrees, “I
ammore alert and think more clearly
and feel so much better all day long if
I have had eight hours of sleep.”
Rise early and take a walk.
Again,
the purpose of the walk is to increase
our ability to discern, to tune-in to
nature and to people throughout the
day. For me, each morning is time
to focus on things that matter most.
Time never passes so rapidly as when
I am walking and delighting in my
own thoughts. Sunrises and sunsets
are very much a now-you-see-it, now-
you-don’t event. You absolutely have
to be there.
“Measure your health by your sym-
pathy with morning and spring,” said
Henry David Thoreau. “If there is no
response in you to the awakening of
nature – if the prospect of an early
morning walk does not banish sleep,
if the warble of the first bluebird does
not thrill you – know that the morn-
ing and spring of your life are past.
Thus you may feel your pulse.”
There is much value in charging
our personal batteries, sharpening
our saws, awakening our senses to
the beauty all around us, and spend-
ing leisurely time on matters of our
own choice. But getting up early is not
enough. The key is choosing delib-
erately what you will focus on each
morning. And there is a smorgasbord
of great music, poetry, literature and
nature from which to choose.
I choose to approach each day with
an attitude of gratitude, observing,
listening and noting throughout the
day the good in others. Is there value
and genuine benefits to those who
keep an early-to-rise schedule? Aris-
totle and Benjamin Franklin certainly
thought so. “It is well to be up before
day-break, for such a habit contributes
to health, wealth and wisdom,” said
Aristotle. And, “Early to bed and early
to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise,” echoed Franklin.
These are sound principles that we
can rely on to increase our powers of
discernment.
s
Perspective
Steven S.
Sessions
CEO, Sessions
Group LLC, Denver
Great property
managers are
powerful observers
and listeners. And
the really great
ones listen for what
others do not hear
or, in other words,
discern what
is not said.
