Michael DiMella

Most people get the definition of #positiveattitude all wrong.

Even #chatgpt gets it all wrong:

"𝘈 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭."

𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.

❌ It's not focusing on the good in every situation.

❌ It's not finding the "silver lining".

❌ It's not smiling and assuming things will get better.

❌ It's not being happy go lucky.

❌ It's not ignoring the bad that inevitably occurs.

❌ It's not acting hopeful and being grateful it's not worse.

❌ It's not just believing things will turn out ok.

I got it wrong for too long believing the above. But I've changed my thinking.

Truth is, sometimes situations suck. Stuff goes wrong. You make a mistake. You have a terrible day. It happens to all of us.

You don't have to be happy to have a positive attitude.

Positivity isn't slapping on a happy face and being hopeful. Fake pollyanna positivity is actually toxic.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬. 👇

Being positive means being smart enough to identify issues, being empathetic to know you may be wrong, being responsible and admitting mistakes, and being confident you can solve any problems and overcome any challenges.

Positivity is resilience.

Positivity is fundamentally about being a problem solver - deep confidence that you are a problem solver and a willingness to take action to solve problems.

Especially this time of year, as we all are setting goals and plans for 2023 at CHARLESGATE, here's what I remind myself:

More than just being hopeful and happy, be confident that when you get punched in the face (and you will), you can fix problems and overcome challenges.

Set big goals, work your plan, and be positive. 💪

#positivemindset #problemsolving #goals #systems #growthmindset

Preparing for what may be ahead of us, I've been thinking about how we adapted and adjusted to previous downturns, in 2008, and during covid in 2020.

And I quickly thought about one of my favorite buildings we've leased up and now manage, which came online during the initial surge of Covid in spring/summer 2020, when most of the multifamily and leasing market was getting crushed.

One Chestnut Place is a gorgeous hi-rise in Quincy Center (Quincy's tallest building).

But with so much uncertainty and 140 apartments to lease-up, we had to get creative and pivot quickly.

Here's a snapshot of what we did:

➡️ We went from hard-hat and model unit tours to live virtual presentations with our leasing team. We created a brand-new leasing playbook that we still use today.

➡️ We completely revamped the property website, messaging, and advertising, on the fly.

➡️ We shot videos of all available layouts and of the views to make renting remotely as easy as possible.

➡️ We stayed in constant communication with both the developer and general contractor to ensure safety protocols were being met and all of our timelines and goals were aligned.

We bucked all trends and market forces to achieve 50% pre-leased before occupancy and over 75% leased within 3 months of opening! And had strong continued leasing momentum to fill the building on target with initial pro formas (planned before covid).

This was a bright, shining example of adaptability and great teamwork (including a fantastic developer who made it their mission to deliver an incredible product) - and was a major success for new development marketing & lease-up in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic 2020.

More importantly, it was another confidence booster that we at CHARLESGATE can handle just about anything the market can throw at us.

Our experience throughout the long great recession aftermath post 2008, and through the shock recession (and rapid recovery) of covid, has given us many lessons that we practice in our business today and serve us well in good times and tough times.

That critical experience is very difficult to get unless you've lived it. It wasn't easy either time, but I'm glad we did, and can now use that experience to better guide and advise clients over the next couple of years as the economy slows again.

❓Has your property management or new development marketing and sales partner survived and thrived through previous economic down-cycles?

Might be time to lean on someone who has.