“Twenty-two days,” my son says this morning over a bowl of cereal.

He’s been counting the days. Every single morning.
Twenty-five. Twenty-four. Twenty-three. Now twenty-two…days until spring. Monday, he stopped counting. 

It’s the last week of February in New York, and there’s over a foot of snow on the ground. This winter has been relentless, to say the least. The snow, the ice, the dirty snow, the dirty slush. Blizzard upon blizzard. The gray that lingers just a little too long. Even when the sun is out, it’s just, well, arctic.

And I get it. This week, everyone is bargaining with the calendar.

I just need to get through this. Spring will be better.

Winter exposes something about us. Our tendency to live slightly ahead of reality. To emotionally relocate to May.

In real estate, I hear the same rhythm.

“I’m just waiting for the market to pick up.”
“Once rates drop…”
“Let’s see what Spring brings.”

It sounds measured. It sounds sensible. But it’s still waiting. And waiting has a cost.

There’s comfort in believing the real version of your business will begin when conditions improve. When buyers feel confident. When inventory expands. When momentum is obvious.

But what if this is the moment that counts?

Not the rebound. Not the comeback cycle. This one.

Markets are never neutral. They are shaping you whether you like it or not. The only question is whether you’re shaping yourself in response.

When you anchor your energy to a future shift, you hedge. You soften. You keep one foot lifted, ready for when things “really” start.

When you accept that this is the environment, something steadies. Less commentary. Less forecasting. More ownership.

You stop asking when it will change. You start asking who you are becoming inside it.

The agents who grow in transitional markets are not the ones who predicted the turn. They’re the ones who built discipline before it arrived.

They do not romanticize what’s ahead. They refine who they are right now.

Composure.
Conviction.
Restraint.
Follow-through.
The ability to tolerate slower cycles without losing your center.

Those aren’t temporary skills. They’re identity.

This season is not a pause. It’s a proving ground.

Coaching Corner: Stop Borrowing From the Future 

When reality feels uncomfortable, the mind drifts forward. It borrows hope from a better version of circumstances.

“If I can just get through this…”
“When things normalize…”
“Once we’re back to…”

It feels motivating. It’s also an escape.

Try this.

Notice every time you say “when.”

Replace it with “given.”

Given where rates are…
Given buyer psychology…
Given this inventory…

Then ask:

Given this, who am I choosing to be?

That question pulls you out of fantasy and back into the now, back into leadership.

It’s the last week of February. Spring will come. It always does. But the only market that matters is the one you’re standing in. So stand in it.