This article originally appeared in The Simplifier #26.

Following Your Heart to Success—A Case Study

By Shawn Tuttle

Translating your dreams into the day-to-day realities of life can be challenging. Some think they must follow the status quo to success in their careers and only then will they turn to serving others and living their ideal life.

Following is the story of a woman, Kalia Rork, who overcame a serious illness in 2001 to become the top real estate agent of her company in the highly competitive Santa Barbara area—through following her heart.

The goal-setting part of this article is based on a conversation I had with Kalia in November 2006, and the rest of the article draws from numerous conversations and observation over the last 11 years. Not only is Kalia a heartfelt human being, she is a long-time friend and co-coaching buddy.

Kalia’s Question: “Why am I doing this?”

Kalia worked hard in the publishing industry. Really hard. Ironically, she didn’t have much to show for it. Her dream of owning a house in Santa Barbara still eluded her and she wasn’t able to get her credit cards paid all the way down.

She worked so hard, her body finally protested by falling into a serious illness in June 2001. Being laid up and flat on her back for five and half months forced her to stop her workaholic tendencies. She dropped her clients and did the only thing her body would allow her to do, which was rest and take care of herself.

A year and a half before this happened, intuitively following her dream to buy a house through creative means (since she didn’t have a down payment) she enrolled in a real estate course. Thinking the course was simply geared towards people interested in buying real estate, she was surprised to learn it was a licensing class that culminated in taking the actual Department of Real Estate exam, an intense 3-hour test in Los Angeles. She passed the exam, top in her class. The instructor sagely did his best to convince her it would be a good career to pursue. Never having imagined herself as a real estate agent, Kalia let it go.

A year after passing the exam, a letter arrived stating, “Unless you sign up with a broker, you’ll have to retake the test.” All that grueling studying for nothing? No way! Although it still didn’t sound like a dream job, she was still interested in real estate investments for herself, so she signed up with RE/MAX and got a huge surprise. All the pieces fell into place. Working through her very first deal in 2002, she learned that the activities of an agent played right to all of her professional and personal skills—and she loved it! Maybe this profession wouldn’t be so bad after all…

Now, passing the exam isn’t any indication of how well you’ll do as an agent. That’s where your personal and professional skills come in. Buyers and sellers have countless agents to choose from. Without a name or reputation, it’s even more difficult to get clients. You have to work hard. But Kalia had to watch it. If she tried to do too much, her body would protest and come out of remission, effectively laying her up for days at a time.

What else is there besides hard work?

Kalia shares the three cornerstones of her success: goals, visualization, and positive intention.

Goals

Kalia had read numerous books on self-growth. She also read books about successful people. It’s not a coincidence that most of the successful people written about were strongly rooted in personal growth. They explained the importance of goals and that reaching them actually relies more on mental imagery than doing! After taking the time to identify core values and a personal mission statement, the goals that had real power were those in line with her mind, body, and spirit.

And of course she chose SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Adhering to the SMART criteria increases the rate of success immensely.

Visualization

• Visualize your goals—see them, feel them, touch them, taste them.
• In your visualization, experience your goal complete.
• Keep index cards by your bed, with your goals written on them. Read them every morning and night. Adjust your cards as needed.
• Stay positive.

Positive intention Her goals were fortified with the practice of positive intention. Positive intention is more than “always looking on the bright side” of a situation. Two applications of positive intention include:

• being grateful for what you have (not focusing on what you don’t have), and
• stating your goals in terms of what you want (not what you don’t want)

Kalia said, “I’m constantly vigilant about watching my words. They really can affect my life!” She reminded me about a period in the fall of 2004 when several escrows fell through and she was feeling low about her new career prospects. Whenever someone asked her how things were going, she’d tell them! “This fell through, that didn’t happen, yadda, yadda, yadda.” With the support of her co-coaching buddy (me) she would stop herself whenever she heard herself repeating that negative story. Instead she’d say, “I’m doing great!” This shift in energy quickly took root. Within 3 months she had a full slate and within 6 months she was the busiest she’d ever been, with a maximum of 9 concurrent escrows. For the month of April 2005 she made the list of top 100 RE/MAX agents nationwide!

When the going gets tough

Experiencing stress illuminated the difference between being heart driven vs. head driven. Kalia learned that following her heart isn’t just about setting the right goals, it’s just as much about daily action in the world and interactions with others. Switching from (head) “what’s in it for me?” to (heart) “how can I serve my client?” improves the mood in a situation and causes it to go more smoothly.

As human beings, we are motivated in the long run by that which moves the heart, not head. They say that a person on her death bed won’t look back on her life and say, “If only I’d made that one more deal!” Nope. She’s more likely to say, “I wish I had treated all my clients like best friends.”

In a short amount of time, Kalia has shown us that a positive, values-based life begins now, not later. Henry David Thoreau wrote:

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

I hope this glimpse of one woman’s life inspires you as it does me.

• Service is about being as knowledgeable and competent as I can for my clients.
• Reviewing all the paperwork for them first.
• Attending all meetings.
• “It’s not about me.” Ever.
• I give away information all the time. I help people with no expectations (but know that when I do a good job they will refer me to their friends).
• Being patient and attentive.
• Doing the best I can.
• Being authentic.
• Telling the truth.
• Goal to be a trusted real estate advisor, not just an agent for a particular transaction.

You can visit Kalia’s real estate site here.

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Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify