This or Better: The Delusional Little Mantra That’s Actually True
There’s a line from the Rolling Stones: You can’t always get what you want... but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.
Which is basically the polite way of saying: failure is part of the deal, especially in sales.
It always cracks me up when people are shocked they didn’t get a listing or lost a deal. Not because it isn’t disappointing, but because, honestly? This is what we signed up for. Failing.
A client of mine once said this little phrase: “It’s either this or better.”
I’ve completely stolen it. It’s mine now. And I use it constantly.
Didn’t get the deal? This or better.
Client ghosted? This or better.
Dropped your phone on your face in bed? Honestly... maybe not better, but still. You get the point.
It might sound delusional, but the alternative is spiraling into doom because one thing didn’t go your way. I’ll take delusional optimism over performative despair any day.
Recently, I had buyers moving to NYC who fell in love with a brand-new development that wasn’t ready to be shown when they were in town.
By the time they flew back two weeks later, the building was nearly sold out.
Tragic.
They were devastated. But I kept whispering, “This or better,” like I was trying to manifest an apartment out of thin air.
We kept looking. Other neighborhoods. Other options. Nothing hit.
And then? The penthouse in the original building came on the market.
More expensive. Bigger. More than they had asked for. But available. It had been in contract, but then fell out of contract.
They bought it sight unseen.
Flew back to see it before signing a contract, and they loved it as suspected.
And now we laugh about it.
Because if they had gotten what they wanted, they would’ve missed out on what they really needed; they just didn’t know it yet.
Sometimes the universe is just on a delay.
