When success takes time, focusing on daily small wins helps you feel like you’re making progress - even though your results can take months or even years to come to fruition.
In my previous career working on college campuses, success felt easy. I could execute, check things off my list, and see results compound quickly. Commercial real estate is different. The big wins like signing a lease, buying a building, selling an asset, can take months or even years. It can feel painfully slow. And then all of a sudden, success arrives all at once.
That gap in between is where most people get discouraged - and some even give up entirely. After transitioning into commercial real estate, I had to learn to think differently about progress so I could reduce my frustrations and stay committed to our long-term vision.
When my husband and business partner, Sam, empowered me to take the lead on our entire leasing process, I knew I had to build a tracking system around it. I bought a whiteboard. I put every tenant in our pipeline on it and next to each name I wrote one thing circled in blue - the next action. Tenant interview. Background Check. LOI negotiation. Lease draft. Revisions. Signed lease. Collect security deposit and rent. Landlord work. That’s it. Just the next move.
Commercial leasing takes time. Negotiations go back and forth. Weeks can pass between moves with national tenants. The whiteboard keeps me focused on what I can control - the next right step - so nothing slips and no deal dies quietly in the background.
I do the same thing on my fridge at home.
I keep a habit tracker there for my personal goals. Every day I show up and commit to my health habits. I do my morning workout and then check the box. And I’ll be honest, I’m not perfect. Not every day goes as planned. But tracking my progress keeps the momentum going even when I can’t commit to every habit every day. It helps me feel proud of the small actions I take every day because those actions are the foundation of everything that comes later.
We are wired for growth. And these small daily investments - in our work, in our habits, in ourselves - are how we find joy in the day-to-day life of goal achievement. The checkmark on the fridge. The next action on the whiteboard. Those aren’t small things. They add up more than you know and you start seeing your success unfold.
What’s one goal in your life right now that needs a system behind it? What’s your next move?
Never give up. Always be better.
Liz Bapasola, Ed.D. is Partner at Champion Investment Properties LLC. She writes about habits, mindset, and the strategies that help you reach your goals. She can be reached at liz@championinvestcre.com.