"Getting in won't make you a better person. Getting rejected won't make you a worse one."
My college counselor said that to me the day before I found out if I got into Harvard University.
I was 17. I still think about it 20 years later.
The wins are real. Closing a deal you worked on for 18 months. Delivering returns to investors who believed in you. Building something your family will be proud of. None of that is trivial.
But I've watched what happens when outcomes become identity. The highs get a little dangerous. The lows get destabilizing. You start optimizing for the scoreboard instead of the work.
In real estate, the market does not care about your narrative. Rates move. Tenants blow out. Sellers reprice. Deals die in escrow. You can do everything right and still fail.
What my counselor was trying to tell me: your character is not a result. It does not go up when the deal closes. It does not go down when it falls apart. It is the constant.
I am still working on it. But I try to bring the same version of myself to every closing table and every deal that dies. Same values. Same standards. Same long game.
Who told you something at 17 that you are still unpacking today?
And blast tax… see below a pic of me drinking a giant margarita on spring break in Mexico, proof that not all of college was serious at Harvard.
