Kent Sanders

Reflections on Writing & Creativity

Podcast 077: Making Your Creative Work a Priority (with Karen Briscoe, Realtor & Author)

March 7, 2019 by Kent Sanders | Leave a Comment

Let’s begin with a riddle: When is the perfect time to make your creative work a priority? Answer: There is no perfect time. Life is messy, and if we put off our important creative work until the “right time,” that time will never come. Our guest today knows that dilemma very well, and as a successful realtor, mother, and wife, she still found time to pursue her creativity. As you hear her story, you’ll also be inspired and equipped to make your creative work a priority as well.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Google Play

I’m excited to share this interview with Karen Briscoe, who is a Realtor, author, and entrepreneur. She is the creator of the 5 Minute Success concept, host of the 5 Minute Success podcast, and a regular speaker both nationally and locally. Karen is also a frequent guest on other podcasts that focus on entrepreneurial, success and motivation, as well as real estate related topics. In addition, she is a contributing author to real estate media outlets INMAN and Real Trends.

In our conversation, Karen goes into detail about the background behind the creation of her first book. You’ll learn from her experience why there is no perfect time to take action. You’ll also learn how to increase the speed of your success by learning from others people’s experience.

One of the most insightful parts of our conversation is Karen’s reflection on how real estate agents are actually “change” agents who help their clients navigate the enormous emotional changes they experience in a move.

You’re going to love Karen’s enthusiasm and her emphasis on taking action and executing on your ideas!

Episode Highlights

In this episode, you’ll discover:

  • Karen’s background in real estate, and why she felt led to write a book.
  • Karen’s strategy for writing her first book.
  • Why you shouldn’t wait until the time is right to take action to pursue your dreams.
  • How to make faster progress by piggybacking on other people’s knowledge and following your passion.
  • An inside peek into Karen’s new book Flip Time, Love Life, and how it can help you focus on your creative work.
  • Why real estate is a creative industry, and why a large part of being a good real estate agent is about helping people through change.

Key Takeaways

1. Writing a book opens up a multitude of opportunities.

Karen talked about how a book opens up opportunities that she would have not had otherwise. (The same is true for a podcast, by the way.) She noted that the root word of “authority” is the word “author,” which I confess I had never considered before. But that absolutely rings true since writing a book automatically positions you as an authority on your topic.

Despite all our electronic gadgets and ability to do almost everything digitally these days, there is still something magical and impressive about handing someone a print copy of your book. It instantly communicates that you have taken the time and effort to create something valuable. It also shows that you have the confidence to put your words out there, and that you had the persistence to finish a big project.

So, get to work writing your first—or next—book!

2. Say “yes” to yourself.

So often, we feel like it’s selfish to take time for ourselves. But it’s not. You can’t be at your best unless you are refilling your spiritual, emotional, mental, social, and physical tanks. As Karen mentioned, other people’s lives will improve when yours improves. In the end, anything that we do to improve ourselves will filter down to others.

Karen took the first hour of the morning to focus on writing. Your time doesn’t have to be in the morning, but it’s important to find a good, consistent time to work on your craft and do things to renew your spirit. When you put the “big rocks” into your schedule, the other items will fall into place. It’s simply a matter of focusing on our priorities.

I know this is easier said than done! But it’s an area where we can all improve.

3. Figure out how to execute and implement an idea.

This is honestly a huge problem for artists and creatives. We have lots of grand ideas, but we often fail to execute those ideas and bring them into reality. This is why it’s important to learn from successful people, particularly in the business community.

This interview was very helpful to me because I have struggled with executing on ideas in the past, and still do sometimes. I have several books on my hard drive that are written, but I haven’t done anything else with them. Maybe you have the same issue of going 90% of the way, then stopping before a project is finished.

Let’s commit together to doing a better job on following through on our best ideas and seeing things to completion. After all, a book or project that was “almost” finished will not have the opportunity to change anyone’s life.

BONUS: Avoid the regrets of the dying.

Karen mentioned a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. I’ll be checking out this book. The title of the book alone is compelling, and it’s a reminder that we must strive to live with no regrets. So take a risk and put your art out there. Make that apology to a loved one. Stop destroying your life with that bad habit or addiction.

We only get one life, so let’s use it wisely and with purpose.

Resources

Download my free ebook: 21 Time Hacks for Writers.

I want to thank Karen for taking the time out of her busy schedule to share this amazing conversation!