CREJ - Property Management Quarterly - August 2015
Great property managers protect their most important asset – themselves! management is hard mental And let’s face it, property - 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 competing 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 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. 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 Symphony 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 interpreter. My favorite recurring dream is that I am conducting the Berlin Philharmonic performing the Symphony No. 9 of Beethoven. To bring me ever so close to reality, my wife Debbie bought me my very own conductor’s baton for my birthday, accompanied with a baton technique book. Now that is true love! This baton brings me much joy as I stand in my front room, in conducting attire, impersonating Herbert Von Karajan. It is such exhausting but exhilarating work. It is spiritual work. Things happen while listening to it that are too delicate 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 greatly have improved my talent to discern by actively listening and identifying the various instruments performing, whether they be violins, violas, violoncellos, 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 problem-solving ability. We can discern and prioritize better. Studies show that one hour more of sleep equals several hours of much higher productivity, and that sleep enables the highest 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 zombie.” Andreesen even confesses that on weekends he sleeps 12-plus hours. “It makes a big difference in my ability to function,” he said. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agrees, “I am more 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 sympathy 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 morning 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 spending leisurely time on matters of our own choice. But getting up early is not enough. The key is choosing deliberately 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? Aristotle 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.