The Friday Frame (of mind)

When It Rains

Many, many years ago, before I jumped into the deep end of real estate development, one of my colleagues pulled me aside - honestly, I was having a crap day - and he said, "Sean, when it rains...let it."

I was too stuck in my head at the time to let that sink in, but on the drive home, when, in fact, it did start to rain, I laughed. It was sage advice that underscored the impossible tasks we set before ourselves.

Attend that fifth meeting of the day!

Crunch those numbers!

Scout that site!

Hold back the rain!

So, I want to send you off into the weekend with this advice:

Give yourself a break already. The world is so...so complicated, and there are a million things clamoring for our attention and burning through our bandwidth. Do what you can do. And that's good enough.

I got an email from a new reader yesterday. She responded to my recent thoughts on driving (or walking) your Dreamland.

"This. THIS I can do," she wrote.

In five short words, she conveyed her enthusiasm AND how busy she feels.

But a walk?

Or a drive?

Anyone can do it.

And while you're walking your Dreamland, you're still chasing your dreams.

The Third Place

If you do have a spare moment to curl up with your tablet this weekend, check out this article by Stuart M. Butler and Carmen Diaz where they reflect on this idea of the “Third Place”. Essentially, the third place “is a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg and refers to places where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place). They are locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships.” One reader asked me yesterday how I chose a site to develop. While there are a whole bunch of factors involved in site selection, the opportunity to create community within walking distance of the development is crucial, and I’m going to talk about this next week.

Warm Fuzzies

Shout out to @Cribdilla, who gave me the warm fuzzies :-) Support is always, always, ALWAYS appreciated as I aim to become your go-to place for meaningful insights into the real estate development world.

Happy Friday, folks.

Peace!

PS. A few years later, I discovered that my colleague had cribbed his “let it rain” advice from a well-known poet. A shoutout in next week's newsletter to anyone who can figure out who the poet is without using Google!