The advantages are compounded as the January kids get older and advance through higher levels of competition. By the time the players born in January reach draft age, they’re thought to be more talented; in reality, they’ve just had more significant opportunities to develop their skills and confidence. As a result, they’re more likely to become professional hockey players. If talent were the main factor, you would see professional hockey players whose birthdays were scattered throughout the year. They’d be born in December, November, and all other months, not primarily in the first quarter. Now think about your own success. Have you been losing lots of listing presentations? Maybe you’re not a terrible presenter, after all. Perhaps you could be an excellent, fantastic presenter if you practiced a little more. Refine your presentation. Refine your bio presentation. Refine your elevator pitch — the primary reason somebody should work with you to buy or sell a house. The more you practice, the better you’ll become, and you’ll also be able to fix and improve your presentation. Maybe you’ll notice that if you say things a certain way, people immediately nod and think, “You know what, you sound like a great Realtor®. I want to work with you to buy a house.” Maybe you’ll identify where your presentation routinely goes wrong — gets too complicated, filled with real estate jargon, or makes people look puzzled or unhappy. I’ll bet you’ve heard the old saying, “Practice makes perfect.” It’s true. Here’s another reason why you should practice. Look at Tiger Woods. He practices like a maniac, 6, 8, 10 hours daily. Personal problems and lousy health have eaten away at his concentration and skill level. But when Tiger Woods was at the top of his game, he was the best golfer in the world by a wide margin, and he got that way by practicing more intensely than anyone else. Michael Jordan became a legend in professional basketball the same way — through intense practice. Many people who have
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