The zeroth law: you must want to do it.

The Seven Laws of the Successful Property Investor.

The zeroth law: you must want to do it.

Do you really want to do it?

Before you answer that, give it some thought. Know what's involved first or you may change your mind or simply lose interest and fall away.

These are the qualities you will need for successful property investment:

1. You need to be willing to learn.
2. You need to be prepared to question conventional wisdom.
3. You need to be prepared to change.
4. You need to understand that learning also means work.
5. You need to understand that taking action - when you are ready - is part of learning .
6. You need to be patient enough to do the homework and to wait for the right deal.
7. You need to be able to start with a vision and then move on to acquire the training through the right tools.

Don't make the mistake of not taking change seriously. We have an inner drive towards change but we also have an inner resistance. A laziness, a lethargy, an inertia. If it has been some years since you last pushed yourself, experimented, signed on for a course, explored an unfamiliar area, studied, etc ... then your mental muscles may be out of shape.

Test your resolve

Pick ONE of these mental exercises and do it to completion. Or better still, make a commitment to doing something each day to keep your brain and change mentality in shape. If you can do it, then you can answer "Yes!" to this first and most important question - "Do you really want to do it?"

Test whether you want to do it- by testing whether you are prepared to do what's required to change. These brain exercises are a 'dummy run' - and they're good for you - the more you use your brain, the more you benefit!

Please note! This is a long list, full of ideas!

Don't try and do more than one thing! After a while when that stops being a challenge you can move on to something else, but the point of this exercise is not to give you a long list of things to do - it's to incorporate a single simple mental exercise into your day to day life.

It can take 30 seconds or 10 minutes or just keep you occupied in the traffic. If sudoku drives you mad and takes an hour, choose something else! Add up the numbers on car number plates instead - it's just as good for you AND it turns a negative experience (traffic jams) into a positive one (brain fitness)!

Choose one activity from the list below. Choose the one that fits best with your daily schedule.

Choose active interactions in your daily life, not passive ones.Substitute TV for reading; aimless Internet surfing for educational material. Evaluate what you read. Fiction works as well as non-fiction - but stay away from the obvious best sellers if you want real value from this exercise.

1. Play a game. Physical or mental. Checkers, scrabble, chess, crossword puzzles, sudoku, but not to obsession. Cricket or rugby on the lawn. Tennis. Golf. If you already play these games, approach them differently.
2. Work on your weak areas. Realize how quickly we humans tend to find out what we're best at and then do that only, neglecting the rest. Realize how fast we choose to form a habit that turns a challenge into a rut and so reduces the benefit.
3. Reverse the usual approach. Start your day with the right attitude - read a short paragraph or just a line or two of any book - upside down. Set a precedent for the day - you will not be doing it the same old way!
4. Tackle something you find hard. Anything. Big or small. Physical or mental. Threading a needle. Working out a sum in your head. Memorizing phone numbers rather than relying on your cell phone. Memorizing shopping lists. Find ways to help you - pictures, pat terns, reminders, landmarks.
5. Do mental arithmetic. At the till, work out what change you will get before the cashier does. Keep a running total of the items in your basket. Multiply, divide, add and subtract figures as you go along. Set yourself maths problems - little ones - and do them on the way to work.
6. When you drive, think of the names of the streets you pass - before you get there. Do without a map. If you've been there once - rely on your memory next time. Or get lost - find yourself in a different part of the world that daily life does not take you past, and explore it.
7. Break a habit. Try a new shop, restaurant, hobby, sport, activity. If you've never understood what people see in golf - take a lesson or two. If you've always wanted to sing - find a teacher and take a few lessons. Watch life open up. Discover a whole new world that has always run parallel with your own - but you never knew it.
8. Listen to educational tapes and books on tape if you spend long hours in the car, rather than the radio. Or think through a problem and give yourself a deadline to solve it (the water tower, the freeway off ramp, the top of the next hill).
9. Make it a habit to be mentally active. Ask questions about what you see around you and then make it your business to find answers.
10. Try and remember what you did two days ago. Five days ago. This day last year
    Get out of your rut! If anything's become routine, find a new approach to re-energize it. Or leave that comfort zone altogether and try something quite different.
11. Spend time with people who also do some of these things. Avoid people who don't ask questions and aren't curious about the world around them.
12. Take a course to improve yourself.

If you have taken just ONE of these suggestions and made it a part of your life - and it has stuck - then you have proven your resolve.

If, after that, you can say you are prepared to develop the qualities we spoke of in the beginning, then you can honestly, thoroughly, and having done your homework ... say:

"Yes! I really want to do it!"

If you have done all of this, well done! You are the kind of person I hope will accompany me further, not only to successful property investment, but also on this exciting journey of self discovery and wealth creation!