what i learned from by daughter's spelling bee...

Last week my daughter had a spelling be at her school. She had studied for days. She stayed up late the night before asking anyone she could find to call out words to her. She was prepared. Every possible word on her study sheet had been gone over and over in order to ensure her success, or at the very least keep her from embarrassing herself.

On Thursday, my extremely shy daughter jumped out of the car with a smile on her face feeling fairly confident in her knowledge for the spelling bee. It was quite a different face when she came home.

Apparently, after hours of studying, she went out during the first round on "s-u-c-h" I'm not exactly sure how she spelled it. she was too upset to even tell me. she said that she had misspelled the word and upon hearing that she was out- she ran to the bathroom and bawled her eyes out.

Then, the most wonderful thing happened. Her teacher, whom she adores, walked into the restroom after a few minutes. She hugged my daughter and comforted her. As my daughter spoke to me about the bathroom scene, she started crying even harder. She said it was the first time all year that she realized her teacher really did love her and care for her. She was so crushed that she did not go further in the Bee, but she was so moved that her teacher cared enough to come check on her.

I realized something as my daughter was describing this moment to me. --We all could use a little less competitiveness and a whole lot more compassion.

I realize that the real estate business is competitive. i have lost many listings to other realtors. I have had buyers go off and buy houses from someone else after i spent hours showing them houses. But, for me, real estate is not a competition. The reason i am a realtor is to help people with real estate. To show a little compassion for me is not hard.
I'm so grateful that my daughter did not win the spelling bee- I'm so grateful that she learned a lesson far more valuable- and then, reminded me of it. We all need to exercise a little more compassion and a little less competition. We will all be more successful if we take other people into consideration. Success is not measured in prideful competition. I make it my goal to always give more than I receive. That doesn't mean that i don't accept payment for services. Of course, I do. I work to earn money to provide for myself and my family. That is important to me. However, when i accept money at a closing, i want to feel good about the advice, effort, time, knowledge, and everything else that i have given to assist the transaction. All of those things will always be worth more to my client than the amount of money I receive at closing. And the other agents in my area-- I will always work with them-- and not against them. Every Realtor is assisting every other Realtor. We help each other in order to be successful- not compete against one another. What's the point?

This is certainly not the first lesson I've learned from my daughter. And, i know it won't be the last. But, what a wonderful moment for her. I hope she always remembers losing the spelling bee...