I learned many things in graduate school. While I’m not a psychologist with a PhD, I am a person with a Masters degree who happens to know a little about something that can help the most noncreative person be more creative. It’s called free association, a term coined and developed by Sigmund Freud.

Free association is the term used to describe talking alot out loud. In a nutshell, that’s what it is, talking alot. In a therapeutic environment with a clinically trained psychotherapist, the patient talks out loud for a given amount of time, continuously, up to 45 minutes, with no interference from the therapist. the therapist listens, usually from behind (or out of the view of) the patient. Afterward, the therapist might comment on what was said and the two make inferences and develop whatever it is they need to, in order to make the experience effective for the patient.

Okay, breathe. Too much psychobabble has the effect of making one’s head swell. So, I’m not suggesting to anyone that they run out and find a therapist and start free associating. For me, talking out loud when trying to solve a problem or be creative works wonders. It helps me to clear my mind and accomplishes two things. One, it helps me to formulate and organize my thoughts and secondly, by listening to my thoughts, I’m physically hearing what I’m thinking. This can have a profound effect on the learning cycle and ones ability to process information.

I studied like this in graduate school. I would read, type my notes and then review them by reading them aloud to myself over and over. I had a 3.9 average in college, so something worked (not bragging, just pointing out a fact). When I’m at home, I talk out loud and cover topics like, ideas for presentations, my schedule, pros and cons of an idea, deadlines, property listing notes, and much more. If you feel funny talking to yourself, get over it. How? Just do it. If you just roll with it and talk aloud,you’ll get usd to it eventually. The important thing is to not stop when you’re talking. Try not to pause. Pausing causes you to think in your mind. What you want to do is think aloud. If you’re thinking it and it’s not coming out of your mouth, then you’re not free associating. This is important to remember.

The last time I did this, I came up with the idea of going out and getting my real estate license. Living in New York, Long Island, presents multiple challenges for a new real estate investor. Through my free associating, I was able to deduce that while I wanted to buy real estate for investment purposes, I was up against a gigantic challenge of dealing with real estate agents and attorneys who basically have a strangle-hold on how the business of real estate is conducted in new York (in my humble opinion of course).

With over one million homes in Suffolk and Nassau County, and 27,000 real estate agents on Long island alone, the slogan, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em,” flew out of my mouth while I was free associating. Not that I wanted to “beat” or fight working with agents. What I decided was to become a real estate agent to learn and earn.

Through my free association frenzies, it became crystal clear that in order to become successful in real estate, i had to go with the flow (join’em) or move to an area of the country where real estate investing with the amount of cash I had then would be more effective. i also learned through these frenzies that I am a control-freak. I am not one to pay high interest rates, make someone else’s organization wealthy while struggling to collect $200 cash flow from a rental or sweat out a holding period, paying 11% interest to a hard money lender during rehabilitation of a property that cost over a quarter of a million dollars. Not for me. And moving away is not an option. I love Long Island.

So getting back to my original point, free association helped me to make a great decision. So sooner or later, if you’re feeling up to it, go to a place where you can talk and feel free to talk to yourself!

“A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind.” Robert Bolton

2007 noobdogs.com

My name is Thomas McGiveron. I write the articles on noobdogs.com. I hope you enjoy them and visit sometime. I’m also a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Bellbrook Realty, Inc. Visit our teams website at teammusso.com. We specialize in commercial and residential real estate and relocations.