Unlock Your Success: 7 Mindset Shifts for Real Estate Triumph

John Harcar (00:01.668)
All right, hey guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m here today with Doug Giesler. And besides his experience in real estate and business, we’re gonna talk a little bit about kind of being in the zone, right? Being in that right mindset. Guys, remember at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, I mean, kind of all real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their business.

with the tools and resources to build the business that you want to have, which helps you live the life you want to live. Doug, welcome to our show.

Doug Giesler (00:35.458)
Thanks so much, John. Good to be here.

John Harcar (00:37.144)
I appreciate you coming on. look forward to talking about being in the zone and you know, I’m a big big on mindset. I think that’s that affects everything you do in your life. But before we get into that, you know, why don’t you tell our folks a little bit about you, you know, your experience in business and real estate and kind of just what got you to today?

Doug Giesler (00:54.83)
Sure, absolutely. I kind of grew up in the cell phone industry. I helped launch what’s now T-Mobile in New York City. I actually trained a bunch of the sales force, launched New York City. We did New Jersey, Staten Island, and then shipped me down to DC Baltimore, launched a bunch of stores down there for them. And then we parted ways after that. I launched 16 stores in DC Baltimore, and I’d never been there before.

John Harcar (01:00.518)
wow.

John Harcar (01:22.512)
Jeez, that’s awesome.

Doug Giesler (01:24.142)
was actually pretty fun. But then we kind of parted ways, and I went into day trading mode. Because in the early 2000s, I was really into the day trading markets and stuff. And I had made a bunch of money, and so I wanted to learn how to day trade. So that’s what I went after. so it was a real challenge. It wasn’t like traditional business, and I had a hard time figuring it out. But that was the early internet days.

John Harcar (01:49.808)
What do you mean, not like traditional business?

Doug Giesler (01:52.911)
Bye.

Like, kind of defies logic. Like, in a lot of ways, trading is counterintuitive. So I started programming all kinds of algorithms and whatnot to try and help figure it out. And this was early, early. So I learned how to trade using TradeStation. And then I learned how to program their Easy Language. And then I started watching that work on the computer screen. And then I was like, man, this stuff works.

John Harcar (02:08.986)
Okay.

Doug Giesler (02:23.344)
but I don’t. So I needed to fix me. It was like, oh, man, I’m bumping into myself over and over again. And I had to figure it out. So over the next 10 years or so, I kind of figured that stuff out.

Not only did I figure out trading, but I figured out Doug Eastler and how he worked and in the process. I’m like, man, this stuff is so universal that I need to go out into the world and show people that this stuff works, like the mindset stuff that I figured out. And I said, once I go out there and prove that this actually works, like first I had to prove it to myself and obviously prove it to other people. But once I did that, I wanted to actually turn around and give it back. And that’s kind of where I’m at right now.

John Harcar (02:53.433)
Yeah, yeah.

Doug Giesler (03:08.176)
I’ve had great success, you know, and a lot of good coaches along the way to not to say that I did it all by myself. That’s far from the truth. I’ve had a lot of good people with me. I’m still do. And now it’s about giving back and helping others to do the same things, but to get through their stuff, like their mind obstacles and there, cause you know, during that period I figured out, know, Hey, the biggest obstacle to my success was me.

John Harcar (03:30.811)
Mm-hmm.

Doug Giesler (03:38.147)
You

John Harcar (03:38.959)
Yeah, I mean, a lot of people don’t figure that out. I mean, like, what kind of was there a specific instance or something that happened for you to be able to figure that out?

Doug Giesler (03:48.511)
Yeah, was actually, during day trading, I was like super dialed in. And I was watching the markets on faster and faster time frames. And what I would see, I would see an entry come in. And I would see the entry. And I would hesitate. Or I would be too late. Or I would be a little bit too early. And after a while, if you get really drilled down on the timing of it,

John Harcar (03:57.903)
Mm-hmm.

Doug Giesler (04:15.126)
you actually see yourself getting your own way. Like your mind actually gets taken over by either fear or desire. And I literally watched this happen to myself, like almost from above myself over and over and over and over again. And then I kind of figured out what was, you know, it was like these little internal triggers and whatnot. And by watching it from that vantage point, helped me to realize number one, that I was the issue and number two, how to overcome it.

John Harcar (04:21.979)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (04:43.397)
Sure. What, so as you kept, as you kept, you know, building, especially like any, any real estate career or, know, in all these different things, like, you know, what were some of the other struggles outside of mindset that maybe you encountered or maybe, you know, they’re associated with the mindset that you encountered in, in growing and building in the business world or writing books and things like that.

Doug Giesler (05:06.478)
Yeah, it’s really as you said all about mindset because we all arrive into the moment as different people and you know different archetypes drive that different desires drive that different passions drive that and so when we arrive into the moment

A lot of the time, we’re not in the moment because we’re either dialed into something in the past like guilt, regret, remorse, whatever, making mistakes and getting angry about it, frustrated. Those emotional triggers literally take us either into the past or into the future. And we’re not in the moment to execute what we need to execute in that moment. So it’s like, OK, if you can get a handle and get a grip on whatever your own personal drivers are, whatever those obstacles are for you,

whatever those limits, those thresholds that you’re running into. In my book, I call them edges, because we’re always bumping into those edges, right? What happens is you get a clue before you get there. Like either you’re going to get fear creeping up, or you’re going to get overexcited, or you’re going have some sort of twinge, like your stomach gets a little tight, or you get a little tight. Whatever it is, there’s a clue that it’s coming. So if you can.

John Harcar (06:00.284)
Mm-hmm.

Doug Giesler (06:20.428)
Be cognizant and aware of the clue as it comes in, then you can kind of heighten your awareness to it. As you’re coming into the moment, it’s almost like you can see the future because you see yourself.

coming into that moment. And you’re almost riding that wave of time as you’re approaching. And you’re maintaining your presence as you arrive in the moment so that you can execute in the moment. So understanding that from your own personal perspective, in real estate, you can kind of see other people are coming into one of the biggest financial transactions of their lives, right?

John Harcar (06:35.758)
Right.

Doug Giesler (06:54.53)
So and you’re helping them through that. So you have to understand there’s going to be some emotions involved with that. And you’re going to help these people through those emotions. It could be, know, I’m having a hard time with movers or contractors or the financial end of it. And there’s all kinds of things that we wear a lot of hats in real estate, right? So it’s all about knowing the right people and knowing how to help them through and guide them through to get them to the closing table. That’s what it is.

John Harcar (07:12.953)
Yep. Yep.

John Harcar (07:20.667)
Yeah, 100%. So what got you into the real estate aspect of your business or your experience?

Doug Giesler (07:28.268)
You know, I’ve always liked real estate. And back when I was learning all the day trading stuff, I was in Virginia. And we were building out a 62-acre farm. My wife and I, put a four-ton landscape in it with waterfalls and everything. And so I was kind of distracted at that time learning the day trading stuff, learning the financial markets and whatnot. I had opportunities to get into real estate back then, and I didn’t take them. And later on,

John Harcar (07:38.411)
okay.

John Harcar (07:42.149)
Nice.

Doug Giesler (07:57.615)
I was like, man, I really want to do real estate. And it was like an awesome decision because not only does it put you in situations where it challenges yourself, but it also puts you in situations where other people are challenged and you’re kind of having a meeting of the minds and just a ton of people to help. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

John Harcar (08:15.567)
you create impact, right? In someone’s life. So what type of mindset tools did you have to take into real estate? Like, you know, when you’re talking to sellers or buyers or whoever, like what kind of things did you bring into that industry that helped you succeed?

Doug Giesler (08:33.902)
I think a lot of it is just being self-aware like being self-aware to the point where I see things coming into my own, you know awareness so that I kind of have an idea to Put myself in their shoes. Like what’s their situation? What are they going through? What are their drivers? What are the passions? Where do they want to be? You know and I can literally put myself in their shoes and try to relate to them better so that I can help them better

So but and a lot of times like, you know, people don’t verbalize that as much as they probably should. But you can see it in their demeanor. You can see it in the way that, you know, maybe they’re kind of half smiling or they’re not smiling at all. so you pay where you pay attention to the nonverbal clues and you know what their what their body posture says, what their facial expression says. And and you kind of you have to put the pieces together sometimes because people don’t necessarily

John Harcar (09:19.845)
Yeah.

Doug Giesler (09:30.576)
tell you what they’re thinking or feeling you have and it’s hard sometimes a lot of our business is over the phone so you know you got to pay attention to you know what they’re saying and and over the phone it becomes a little bit more of a challenge but in person it’s a lot easier

John Harcar (09:33.135)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (09:46.971)
Do you think that there’s a lot of times when maybe it’s fear that gets in the way of asking like the right and tough questions for people?

Doug Giesler (09:53.503)
absolutely. Yeah. As agents, yeah, that’s the number one thing. It’s like, people don’t want to pick up the phone and call. They want to text or email. But picking up the phone, particularly the higher echelon of buyers, they want to talk to you on the phone, in my opinion.

John Harcar (10:02.874)
Right.

John Harcar (10:11.247)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, you’re right. mean, it’s always better to have that personal relationship than, mean, anybody can, know, a monkey can shoot a text and shoot an email. what is your, before we kind of go a little bit more on the being in the zone part, right, the right mindset, what does your team and your business look like today?

Doug Giesler (10:32.77)
Right now, I am an agent with three team members that all serve the central South Carolina lakes, Lake Murray, Lake Watery, Lake Greenwood, Lake Monticello, Lake Carolina. Pretty much all the lakes and all the areas around these lakes in the central part of South Carolina. We’re doing anywhere from probably $15 to $25 million right now in sales.

John Harcar (10:58.555)
Okay. And you focus mainly on Lake Homes?

Doug Giesler (11:02.075)
Lake homes and lake markets.

John Harcar (11:04.303)
Like markets, okay. All right, so you’re doing that real estate and then you also got a couple books.

Doug Giesler (11:10.168)
I do. The first book is out. It’s called Be The Instrument. And that’s all about the mental mindset stuff that I learned in my late 20s, early 30s. And I put it out there. I’ve given quite a few away. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on that. some of the feedback was I wanted a little bit more clarity on.

two of the main topics. so I’ve written two more books. The second one is out. It’s called the F word. No, not that one. Uh, forgiveness. And, um, that’s actually used as a tool to let go of the past. Um, one of the bigger tools that we can use to, um, not only forgive, but let go of, and, um, rather than getting all caught up into, um, you know, I made a mistake and getting angry and frustrated, understanding that it’s a learning opportunity, letting go and grow.

John Harcar (11:41.723)
Mm-hmm.

Doug Giesler (11:57.967)
through to get you to the moment. And then the third book is coming out in the next couple of weeks. And it’s the F word. No, not that one. Faith.

and why it matters. And faith is actually the opposite side of the moment. So once you let go of the past and you get to the moment, you have presence. But what happens is the future reaches in and grabs you and pulls you forward, right? So you maintain that presence where you can actually make effective decisions. And if we get yanked out of the present moment into the future, whether it be whatever emotion you want to attach to it, whatever excuse or driver obstacles,

limits, edges, whatever you want to call that. It’s typically a toss between desire and fear. And that grabs us, pulls us forward. And then we’re no longer in the moment to make ourselves basically present our best self. So in order to maximize these three, yourself in the moment, these three books are kind of geared towards presence, being your best self, arriving to the moment where you can serve.

John Harcar (12:51.94)
Right, right, right.

John Harcar (13:04.571)
Okay, and got it. What prompted you to write these books?

Doug Giesler (13:05.43)
Not only yourself, but others.

Doug Giesler (13:10.31)
as I said, when I, when I came through all that stuff, that was, I want to go out and prove this stuff works in the world. And then once I do, I’m going to write this stuff down and help other people. And, you know, it got to the point a couple of years ago, like we were, man, after COVID, everything just exploded, right? Here you work in 20 hours a day. Like if you have an opportunity to sleep, it was good. But, we got kind of through that period, let’s say the end of,

John Harcar (13:25.541)
Right.

Doug Giesler (13:37.775)
mid to end of 2022, things started to of crest and flatten out a little bit. And I had a little bit more, a lot more time, actually. And going from running at that speed to even doing 10 or 15 million a year, it was like, oh, man.

John Harcar (13:46.139)
Mm-hmm

Doug Giesler (13:54.123)
It’s slow, right? And you’re still really, really busy. But it’s like, OK, now I have some time. And I’ve slept all that much. So I basically get up at between 1 and 3 AM and just start to read on the books. And then I would do real estate all day long. So I sleep anywhere from four to six hours, typically more like.

John Harcar (14:00.186)
Right.

John Harcar (14:05.36)
BOOF

John Harcar (14:12.997)
Some people can operate like that. I’m not one of them.

Doug Giesler (14:16.398)
That’s me.

John Harcar (14:20.517)
So awesome. So let’s talk about being in the zone, right? How or what or I guess you could say, are like your top couple techniques, mindset hacks, tricks, books, things to listen to, whatever someone can use to really kind of prepare themselves, get them in the zone for success.

Doug Giesler (14:40.77)
Yeah, so I think the biggest key for people is going to be balance. And so when

when you’re trying to be in the moment with presence, you have to be balanced, but you also have to be focused. And when I said, like, I was watching myself kind of from above myself, that’s the position that I think is, is really kind of appropriate. And some people even talk about like, you know, considering your mind is not yours, but something that you watch and kind of manage from an oversight perspective. me, that’s a great perspective because you’re a little bit detached. You’re a little bit above.

John Harcar (15:14.107)
Mm-hmm.

Doug Giesler (15:18.996)
and you can kind of watch yourself as you’re proceeding through life. So, from an awareness perspective, it’s, it’s really, you can really drill down on a task, but you don’t have to be in the task. You can be above the task. So from a mindset perspective, that allows you a position to be really, really balanced and stuff doesn’t come in from the sides or behind you or whatever and blindside you, because not only are you dialed into sight, but you’re dialed into hearing.

You’re dialed into you know your feelings and you dial it to your heart and if you’re really centered from that perspective and you’re in the moment literally Feeling and hearing all the data that’s coming in rather than in the past or in the future Then you’re gonna get the information that you need to make the appropriate decisions And if you if you really approach life from that balanced perspective, it’s it’s a really an understanding it’s an understanding that

When I arrive to this life, everything that arrives in it is for me. I’m going to either win in that moment, or I’m going to get a lesson. And if you approach from that perspective, your life gets a whole lot easier, because you don’t spend a lot of time in the past beating yourself up and then trying to recover.

John Harcar (16:32.677)
Yeah.

John Harcar (16:37.339)
wallowing over the wallowing over the failure or the the the shortcoming instead of yeah, I love how I love how you look I’m either gonna win or I’m gonna learn and guess what happens when I learn I win Yeah, that’s incredible

Doug Giesler (16:49.784)
That’s right. Yeah. But I think what a lot of people get caught up in is

When you’re trying to get dialed in like that, a lot of stuff catches us off balance. And what they are is typically emotions. And everybody’s different. Everybody arrives as a different person. So it’s not going to be the same for me as it is for you or anybody else. So what I teach people is to have that overarching awareness and really be able to perceive not only the externals but the internals. And that’s what makes all the difference.

John Harcar (17:11.098)
Great.

John Harcar (17:25.167)
Yeah, that’s where all the motion comes from too.

Are there any, or let me ask a better question. What are your favorite speakers, books, podcasts, things on mindset that you like to listen to that kind of keep you, keep going, keep in front of your mind every day?

Doug Giesler (17:45.923)
well, love Anthony Robbins. I think he’s one of the best coaches out there. know, and Dean Grazzi, Ozzie, they’re, they’re always out there teaching and helping people. and, you know, one of the things that he teaches is, you know, life happens for me, not to me. And that kind of goes from that same mold we were just talking about. so I think those two guys are, amazing. There’s a, there’s a ton of amazing people out there that are teaching a lot of the same stuff now. And it’s, it’s awesome because, man, everywhere you go, like now it’s in the speed of technology.

John Harcar (17:49.051)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (18:11.632)
Yeah.

Doug Giesler (18:15.696)
There’s so many people that are helping other people. It’s like you you learn your lessons, right? Well do yourself a favor and do everybody else a favor look over your shoulder and help somebody through that same thing And that’s what we’re here to do

John Harcar (18:27.382)
Share those lessons, yeah.

Yep. That’s why, you when I do these podcasts, I like to talk about people’s experience and their background and how they came up because, you know, that might be something that you went through that someone who’s listening is going through and like, man, I’m not alone. he did it this way. That’s so awesome. So when do all your books come out? Or your most recent or current one come out?

Doug Giesler (18:44.588)
Yeah.

Doug Giesler (18:48.426)
Sorry.

So Be The Instruments out. And you can actually go to UnlimitYourLimit.com and see the three books that are coming. And there’s one more coming after that. So it’s Be The Instruments out. The Forgiveness book is out. I haven’t really started promoting that yet. And then within the next couple of weeks, Well, sorry. Faith first. And I still have to write the Fear book. But it’s going to be the F words. I’m going have a website for the F words. That’s not going to be the F word you think.

John Harcar (19:06.363)
till today.

John Harcar (19:13.733)
Got it.

John Harcar (19:18.285)
I love that. I love that. Well, it’s catchy. It’s remembering something people will remember. If there’s folks out here that want to get in touch with you, maybe want to buy your book. mean, is there a website? I I was probably on Amazon or some of that. But yeah, is there a website or where they can reach out and get in contact with you?

Doug Giesler (19:20.4)
you

Yeah, yeah.

Doug Giesler (19:32.297)
yeah. Yep.

Doug Giesler (19:36.962)
Yeah, absolutely. UnlimitYourLimit.com. You’ll see a coaching opportunity, and you’ll also see all the books there. There’s some free downloads there as well if you want to just get an introduction to it, obviously on Amazon and all over the web if you just want to go there and grab them. But yeah, there’s some pretty cool reviews and whatnot on there.

John Harcar (19:58.043)
Yeah, and I think I got your email on here. And I’ll put that in the show notes as well. So guys, you can always reach out to me via email. Doug, you came on to share some really good stuff, man. And I’m super, super appreciative of you coming on. Guys that are out there listening, I hope you guys all took some good notes, learned some good things. It’s really about the mindset, getting yourself prepared and in the zone for success. Doug, thank you again. Guys, we’ll see you on the next one. Cheers.

Doug Giesler (20:05.006)
Yeah.

Doug Giesler (20:24.931)
My pleasure. Thanks,