{"id":2914,"date":"2008-04-07T13:05:33","date_gmt":"2008-04-07T20:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2914"},"modified":"2008-04-07T13:07:55","modified_gmt":"2008-04-07T20:07:55","slug":"the-odysseus-medal-it-makes-no-difference-what-has-happened-that-is-the-past-live-in-the-future-create-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2914\/the-odysseus-medal-it-makes-no-difference-what-has-happened-that-is-the-past-live-in-the-future-create-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Odysseus Medal: “It makes no difference what has<\/em> happened. That is the past. Live in the future. Create it.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think I have a pretty good track record at picking contributors for BloodhoundBlog. The people who write here are a cut above, clearly, but I think what sets them apart is that they are all so interested in getting better<\/em>. We’re all constantly reading, learning, thinking, inventing, re<\/em>-inventing, and we all end up driving each other to new ideas. I love<\/em> this, as you might guess, since it pushes me<\/em> to do better, also.<\/p>\n

Here’s a true confession: When Russell Shaw approached me to write with us, I wasn’t quite sure what to do about him. It was still just me and Cathy in those days. We knew of Russell, of course — no one who lives in Phoenix does not know of Russell Shaw. I have no idea what Russell’s firing clause looks like, but I built our firing clause from the literal words on his radio commercial: “Fire me at any time.”<\/p>\n

Even so, I would not have thought to trust the Russell Shaw I knew through the radio. I had no reason to dis<\/em>trust him, nothing except the generalized mistrust in which I hold all Realtors I don’t know. In truth, there are a lot of genuinely nice people out there, but our business attracts more than its share of crooks, misanthropes and morons. I had no<\/em> reason to think ill of Russell, but I had no reason to think well<\/em> of him, either.<\/p>\n

Two facts swung the balance for me. Second was Russell’s having mentioned that he had read Hugh Hewitt’s book on weblogging. Anyone who actually prepares for a new undertaking can’t be all bad. But first, I had read in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent<\/em> that Russell knew that in the previous year his team had gotten 519 listings from 912 listing appointments. My impression of Russell was changed from then on — not the production, but the presence of mind to have tracked the statistics.<\/p>\n

You can laugh at me, if you want, for having been so careful about what has turned out to be such a great decision. BloodhoundBlog is what it is because we don’t Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I have a pretty good track record at picking contributors for BloodhoundBlog. The people who write here are a cut above, clearly, but I think what sets them apart is that they are all so interested in getting better. We’re all constantly reading, learning, thinking, inventing, re-inventing, and we all end up driving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,6,5,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blog-carnivals","7":"category-blogging","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-the-odysseus-medal","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1900,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1900\/you-can-use-the-no-hassle-iphone-to-hang-up-on-the-nar-but-first-attend-to-those-odysseus-medal-nominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":0},"title":"You can use the No-Hassle iPhone to hang up on the NAR, but first attend to those Odysseus Medal nominations","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Wanna hear something amazing? Twenty-one months into the downturn, and the NAR is still adding new members. Not much growth, mind you -- not cancerous growth -- but growth is growth. I want to get back to the idea of alternatives to the NAR, but I've been busy -- that's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2347,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2347\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":1},"title":"The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Fifteen nominees this week, mostly about big ideas. Vote for the People's Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy. Voting runs through to 12 Noon MST Monday. I'll announce the winners of this week's awards soon thereafter. Here is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2474,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2474\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":2},"title":"The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A total of 15 entries on the short list this week, out of a long list of 55 posts. Vote for the People's Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy. Ahem: Please don't spam all your friends to come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2963,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2963\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-26\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":3},"title":"The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We have 17 entries on the short list this week, out of a long long list of 60 posts. This week I'm showing nothing but Black Pearls, practical hard-headed ideas for working better, faster and more profitably. Vote for the People's Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2261,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2261\/the-odysseus-medal-competition-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":4},"title":"The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Twenty-five nominees. I confess that it's faster for me on Sunday if I'm not too picky, but this week saw a surplus of very good posts. Vote for the People's Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy. Please don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1863,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1863\/the-odysseus-medal-keeping-pace-with-a-very-fast-crowd\/","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":5},"title":"The Odysseus Medal: Keeping pace with a very fast crowd","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I am in love with this idea, The Odysseus Medal competition. We judged ordinary Carnivals several times, and I was persistently underwhelmed with the overall quality of the entries. We judged hard, so the winners were truly worthy of their honors. But too many of the also-ran entries were just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}