Hello, and welcome to the September edition of The Casual Conversation.

It has been a busy summer and full of lots of different things going on personally, some time off, lots of work, which has been great, and just trying to get back into the swing of things and remember what regular school days look like, even though I don't have anyone going to school this year, which is a whole big change in itself.

I had the absolute honour of being the number three agent in my brokerage for the month of August. And I always find that very funny, that there's always this conversation about spring market and how busy it is, and, oh, everyone's always crazy during spring market. And historically for me, August and September have always been my busiest months.

And this again seems to be like that is the trend. So, as I said, August was full of amazing opportunities to help people buy and sell homes, and I'm so grateful for the clients that trusted me to get them to the next step.

And so it has put me near the top of the leaderboard for my brokerage, which, considering all of the amazing agents that I work with, is a great feeling.

They drive me to be better and work harder and make sure that I hold myself to a level that I am now comfortable with. And it's one of these things where being on the top of that leaderboard has never been motivation for me to just do more and work harder, but it's a nice validation of the work that I do.

And I struggle sometimes with pride. We're always, when we grow up, we're taught that pride is bad, and there's a difference, I think, between being prideful and using that to make yourself or to tell people that you're better than them, and acknowledging that it feels good to accomplish something.

And so I now have taken myself to a level, an expectation in my business that I like to stay at, and I like to keep busy at.

And when I'm having conversations with different things and different people, it's always this conversation of, yes, I know that a number doesn't really mean anything.

Like if I say, "Oh, I was a diamond agent, a diamond award level agent last year," that doesn't really mean anything to people that aren't really in Royal LePage. And when homes are in the top five percent for Canada, that really doesn't mean anything to anybody that isn't in this industry.

But it's something that I'm proud of having accomplished. And so it's always a challenge to make sure that I stay at that level because I want to continue to grow my business and make sure that I'm always putting my best work foot forward.

But not letting it be the only driving factor. I look at it as a goal to set, but my driving factor is the people that I get to work with.

So sometimes it pulls against you when you're trying to figure some things, and it adds a little bit of stress if you're waiting to hit that mark and make sure that you accomplish all those goals. But it's very interesting how those little things can get stuck in your head and be a stressful motivator.

If I accomplish them, that's fantastic. I always want to accomplish my goals. But I also understand that if I don't quite hit that goal, that I'm still a good agent and I've still done a good job in my industry and in life in general.

So a whole lot of talking about goal setting, I guess, basically.

And I hope that you have some goals in mind for this year. We're in September now, which is crazy to think of. We're getting close to the last part of the year.

What goals do you guys have sitting there that you're just not quite at, that you need to give a little push for? How do you accomplish those goals? How do you set yourself up for success?

I would love to hear all your tips and tricks, and I'd love to hear your goals. And I also wanna celebrate with you when you actually achieve them.

So thank you for stopping by and listening to me talk about my goals for the next little bit and the things that I have accomplished that I am actually proud of, and the things that I'm working towards.

I hope you have a fantastic month. We're getting into a little bit of colder. We had some very cold and rainy weather. Sun's shining now, which is fantastic.

But I hope that you have a great month, and I look forward to talking to you again soon.

Goodbye.