Yesterday, as I often do,  I grabbed a random chapter out of The War of Art.  It concluded with this advice to professionals:

The goal of the professional “is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle himself as sturdily and steadily as he can.

Obstacles will come.  A professional with respond with strength and grace.

Later, I got an email, from a potential client that I’d helped to analyze their rental properties.  At the time they said they would not be selling, maybe ever.  (I’m avoiding gender-specific pronouns.)

Fair enough.  I did not pursue a listing agreement.  Months passed.  Then yesterday’s email, saying they had hired a property manager.  And then they decided to sell.  And their property manager was their likely listing agent.

I pounded the table.  How could they not have thought of me.  After all I’d done for them.  I was angry.  Then I remembered the admonition to handle myself as sturdily and steadily as possible.

As I was driving, I thought, wait a minute.  Have they formally hired the property manager as their listing agent?  Have they signed a binding listing agreement?  It seemed unlikely.

So I called.  The answer was no.  The property management agreement, when I examined it, included some vague language about wanting to serve as their listing agent, should that day ever come.   But as expected, it did not constitute a binding listing agreement.

Long story short, we spoke several times.  By 10 pm, we’d signed two formal listing agreements.  That just a few hours after getting angry, then remembering to conduct myself steadily and sturdily.

The War of Art author’s advice is not a success formula.  But at times it is a great aid to doing a successful thing.