Start With A Win - Investing in Long-Term Success with Maggie Contos

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

Our special guest on this episode of the Start With A Win podcast is Adam’s daughter, Maggie Contos. She is a freshman at Oklahoma University majoring in psychology on a pre-law track. Her long-term goal is to move to New York City, go to law school, and then work for the FBI. Anyone who knows Maggie would say that she is well on her way to reaching that goal, and after this episode, you will likely see why.Unlike most college freshmen, Maggie hits the gym almost every morning at 5:00 am, time blocks her day, and has a running list of tasks she wants to get done when she has free time. She is intentional about priorities—getting her schoolwork and studying done before hanging out with her friends and seeing things through completion. She is very aware of her big goals and the smaller goals she needs to achieve on the way to the bigger ones. This type of thinking helps her make necessary changes and marginal gains along the way and consistently seeing progress. In conjunction with her commitment to getting enough sleep every night and drinking plenty of water, her routines and habits reduce her stress and help her take on more responsibilities while maintaining a healthy balance.Adam points out that the way Maggie approaches every day demonstrates emotional maturity and an internal locus of control. Maggie shares how her mindset of choosing the pain of discipline over the pain of regret helps her make those daily decisions. This mindset sets her apart from most 18-year-olds and gives her the margin to enjoy the small things while experiencing the realization of her goals. To those who may be listening who tend to get overwhelmed or burned out, Maggie says that the key is to remain focused on the goal and block out the time you need to get there every day. Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ Leave us a voicemail:888-581-4430

Every day is filled with choices. You're here because you're choosing to start with a win. Get ready to be inspired, learn something new, and connect with the win nation. And from the bunker here at Fort Contos, we are coming to you from Start With A Wind Studios. Adam Contos, CEO of Remax here. Producer Mark on the other end of the video. And I have a lovely young lady sitting right next to me here. Oh, Maggie Contos is in the house.

Whoa! We got Maggie Contos, my daughter, daughter. There you go. So, you know, everybody's like, Oh, who is that? Why is she there? Well, I want you to talk about creating success, creating success. And Maggie has done an amazing job of doing that herself. So I want to kind of dig into that particular aspect of some of the principles behind, I mean, what you've seen me talk about, but also what you've implemented to kind of seen is I see a younger and younger generation, you know, kind of defying what we typically think about as, you know, like the millennial. I remember when I was coming in, you know, I'm a millennial. And so it was like, oh, you know, they're lazy, they're irresponsible, they're late all the time. And, you know,

they're always making excuses and they just want to, you know, work for nothing and all these other kinds of things. And so it's, I think it's, there's a new generation coming on board that wants to achieve things that they want to work hard. They want to, you know, create routines and disciplines in their life so that they can have that success. And so I'm glad, Maggie, that you're on the show. And two, I think about a lot of, I feel like I've seen a lot of young agents too, like real estate agents coming into this space. Typically it's been a 55 or older kind of, you're retired, what should I do now? But I think there's a lot of young people coming in to the space as well. Young entrepreneurs,

young people who want to start businesses and, um, there, it takes a level of dedication and motivation in order to be successful. And so I'm curious to hear, uh, Maggie, your, um, you know, your, your freshman in college. And so I think this will be a great conversation. So I'm excited, Adam, thanks for bringing her on the show. Well, we're, we're setting up the show and you're like, what's a really good interview. We could do them. And I look at Maggie and I'm thinking she can like give a lot of these people in life a run for their money.

I mean, this is somebody who's like got it established and goes after it every day. So, um, I mean, this is, there, there are a lot of lessons here. Um, you know, in Marcus, Mark, you're absolutely right. We need to be on our game, folks, because she's 18 and she is hitting it hard. This is the kind of person that's going to take over the world here. So, you know, there's a lot to learn, a lot that we can learn from other generations. So I think this will be fun. So, Maggie, what do you, you're going to OU.

Yes. And you're 18 years old. You're a college freshman. Just finished your first semester. Now you're actually doing classes in between semesters because you're such an overachiever. But what are you studying? What's your major? I am majoring in psychology on a pre-law track. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with everything, but also I would say that I am a very indecisive person, so it would not surprise me if it changed along the way. So what does that target right now? What does that look like? If you said, okay, I graduate, I'm done with college tomorrow. What, what would you be going to do? Oh, I tell you this every time we sit down for dinner,

I want to move to New York city and I want to go to law school. Okay. All right. And, uh, and then what, after you go through law school, um, after law school, it's a little, I don't know, it's a little bit of a stretch dream, but I feel like it would be super cool to be in the FBI. I watched a lot of criminal minds. That was sort of my go-to binge show. So I could really attribute all of my want to that, but it's a big dream. Okay. And they go after, Oh, it's very achievable, but it's like, Hey, you know, it's like, if you put your mind to something, set a goal, work backwards from it, like

man, I don't think it's that stretch at all. I could totally see you in a suit, you know, just breaking down some doors like, hey. Right? That's the goal. That's the goal. You ought to see her in a shooting range, Mark. I mean, it's like she's out there with law enforcement

officers because, you know, I'm still involved in law enforcement and she's like yeah i want to go shooting with them it's she gives them a run for their money and uh she's done uh you did an internship with the sheriff's office here i did that was kind of fun that was a really exciting experience there was so much that i got to learn from that opportunity. What's the weirdest thing you saw in law enforcement so far? Well, I'm going to have to go with one of my internships was at the drug vault and they did hand me a bag to hold like a little baby. And I was cradling three pounds of crystal meth. So that was pretty interesting. Wow. Definitely something not all of my friends can say that they've done. Oh, nice.

Hopefully none of them. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Remember on the podcast when we got that search warrant served on us? So, okay. You came home when COVID started hitting in 2020. So you're at school, COVID's hitting things like that. And you come home and you kind of realign your life in several different

perspectives. And I mean, you were hitting it hard in college to begin with. But I want to break this down a little bit into achievement. People on this show want to learn about, okay, how can I be a better human being tomorrow? And you have a lot of distractions going on. Everybody has a lot of distractions going on. But a freshman in college has probably more distractions than anybody else. I mean, is that safe to say? I would agree with that.

There's a lot going on. You're in a brand new environment, surrounded by more people than you've ever been around in your whole life. Exactly. So, I mean, but you don't sleep till noon and get up and go, you know, have some pizza and move on with your life. I mean, it's what do you think causes what are the fundamentals of success from your perspective? Because and I'm just going to leave that as an open ended question that I'm a throw at you because I want to hear your perspective of how you created success. And, uh, and then we'll dig into what your results have been over a year here of, you know,

implementing different success principles. But I mean, what, what does success look like to you? For me, I began by just realizing the little changes in my life that I wanted to make. I set my big goals and I had smaller goals along the way that helped me attain the bigger goals. And I would say I tried to spend most of my time, whether it was at the gym studying or reading a book, something that would improve myself or better myself that way. It just made me feel good about myself. And it made me feel that sense of I was being productive and I was working towards goals and building these healthy habits that I know I'm going to use for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter what you are working on. Specifically, you can carry those habits and those procedures that you make through everything that you do. And I think that that was

really important for me. And a lot, that was a big habit that I developed over quarantine because so my senior year, I was in this class where I had to do this big project. It was a whole semester long. That's where I was doing my internship and I was doing volunteering. I had to do this big project. It was a whole semester long. That's where I was doing my internship and I was doing volunteering. I had to do a research project and I had to do there were a bunch of aspects of it. And we had to give an hour long presentation at the end of it. it shut down our senior year that all the teachers in the classes were like hey you don't really have to like if you do something it will help your grade but if you don't it's not going to hurt you and my mindset was kind of I made it this far I've worked so hard and I got this internship that I never thought that I could get I was literally the youngest person in the sheriff's office there because I just pried until I found the people that gave me the connections and got me my way in. But once I kind of set my mind to, I've started this,

I'm going to complete it. I'm going to give it my all. That was sort of like what started snowballing all of these habits that I started to build. Okay. So you, you talked about your health and going to the gym. I mean, I'll tell you, you know, we're at the gym, you're at the gym with me in the mornings. So I get up at four 30. I think we roll out to the gym at five and you're there. I don't see anybody else that's 18 years old necessarily. There may be one or two other people, but for the most part, the other 50 people there are like, like me or they're, you know, 30 to 60 years old, typically. Why did you decide to do that? I mean, it's a, that's a big lifestyle commitment. What was going through your mind when you're like, Hey,

maybe I'll go work out. I mean, cause I mean, do a lot of your friends work out? I know one of them does, but I mean, is that common? I would say that a lot of my friends live a fairly healthy lifestyle. It would, what you would imagine of a college freshman for the most part, but everybody's pretty active, but I wouldn't say to the point of being specific about how they feel their body and being specific about training and doing things like exercising every day and all of that stuff. Okay. So you use a couple of technical terms here, fueling your body training, things like that. It's more than just lifting weights, right? Oh, for sure. There's so much that goes into it. And what, what else goes into it? Well, your sleep is so important, which is hard to I think that's what scares a lot of the people my age is because they say like, oh, I have to be up so late studying and doing all this thing.

I can't possibly work that in and get eight hours of sleep and maintain a healthy lifestyle and work out and do all my homework and still have fun and go out with my friends. I'm like, you can, though. You just have to prioritize your tasks. And I think a lot of people will get stressed out about just the idea of it, which is almost worse for you because stress is so bad for you. But if you prioritize your tasks and you manage them, you can reduce your stress levels. My stress reducer a lot of the time is the gym and just feeling my body and eating

and drinking enough water and getting the right amount of sleep. It just makes me feel happy and confident about myself. And it makes me know that I'm doing something for me and me only. And I think that once you start seeing the long-term benefits of that, it's so much easier to keep going along with it. Awesome. There we go. And, uh, that was pretty motivating. Thanks. You're welcome. We spent a lot of time together. So I feel like I'm picking up on all of your personality traits. It's like turning everything into like, do you listen to start with a win? How you can better

yourself? I do. Okay. Sometimes I'm in a podcast mode at the gym, but sometimes I just listen to like really aggressive music to get me Going What are we talking like Pantera here Or something like that or Metallica You know heavy metal or I mean What do you listen to More modern stuff

I listen to like some aggressive rap That probably Like Pitbull and stuff like that I don't know if i categorize pitbull as aggressive she's talking like takashi 69 and like riffraff okay gotcha right on um shout out to any of those those uh bands that maggie listens to if you want to follow the podcast be sure to check us out all right so i mean, I mean, and I watch you eat, I mean, you eat more healthy than I do. Uh, I mean, you're like broccoli is your best friend. Um, how your age, I remember when

I was your age, I was eating pizzas and, and I mean, I was in the Marines, but I was eating pizza and beer a lot. But, um, I mean, realistically you do a, a really strict job of watching your diet. Tell us briefly about that. Why did you start doing that and what were the results? Well, this is a lot what we were talking about the other night and how the people you surround yourself with are the people that like define almost who you are. And I spent most of my time with you and mom. We all live in the same house under the same roof. And I'm sure you saw my mom on the Christmas episode but she's just does not look her age she looks phenomenal and she's so she's so fit and she's so athletic and she eats so well

and you get up every single day and you go to the gym at five o'clock in the morning we're even trying to bully him into taking more rest days because he still gets up and goes even when he's like, but I think that for me, it's just seeing the people around you and wanting to have that same sense of accomplishment. And also I feel like people, everybody to each their own when it comes to eating like what works for me isn't obviously going to work for you we are built very differently but it's just finding the things that you enjoy and then

really like carrying those like I love broccoli as he said and I don't know why I used to be like a big vegetable person but I love like snacking and I mean I'm telling you used to be like a big vegetable person, but I love like snacking. And I mean, I'm telling you,

you put some red pepper flakes on anything. Phenomenal. There you go. Mark cooking tip for Mark Labriola's cooking show. That's right. Red pepper flakes, buddy. That's it.

I mean, and seriously, she, I mean, there's like chicken breast with red pepper flakes. There's, um, green beans with red pepper flakes,

broccoli. I even put on my avocado toast. I make the morning. There you go. You like the heat, huh? I love it. Maggie's like got this. She can do a gourmet cooking show for healthy people.

It's, it's fun to sit there and watch her put it together. So, Hey, let's get into your, your daily routines. Cause you, I mean, I've never seen somebody and maybe it's just because I see it every day and we live together and things like that. But I mean, the reality is you document everything you do. You plan your day. You execute your plan. And if somebody starts to jump in front of that, you're like, no. How do you say no so easily to these things?

And I know it's hard for you because it's, it's gotta be hard for everybody to do that, but you find such a kind way of telling people, no, I, I'm not going to go to that party with you or darty, whatever the daytime parties are that you guys call them. But how do you, you know, tell us about your, your day and your daily routine, because that's where most people in their life drop the ball. They just allow the, the immediate thing that flies in front of them to take over their schedule. And they're like, what I wrote down what I was supposed to do today. I mean, even if they did do that, which most people don't. So, um, how do you map your course and state of that course? What, what are the disciplines that

you find are necessary for that? So I typically follow the same routine every day. I like to get up and I like to start my day with my workout. That way I'm energized to get anything really done that I need to get done. And then I map chunks of my day. And I know that like from 1030 to 1230, I'm going to be working on all of my history notes, taking the quiz after that, and then reading like however many pages I need to read from my chapter. And then let's say like that afternoon I have A, B, and C, I need to get done for this class and this. So I think what I follow the same schedule in terms of when I wake up and when I get everything done just for that sense of consistency.

And then I block out the chunks of my day for the things that I want to do, like just hang out with friends, go out and do something, maybe get ahead on some homework, clean, all of those things. And I fill in those gaps. But then on a day that I'm feeling very overwhelmed and very stressed out about things that I need to be getting done, I find it very helpful to block out my day by like the hour and the minute. So I'm like, I need to spend this much time on this and then I can have this much time for doing this. And just having it all down and looking at a schedule and having that sort of structure helps me feel more ready and relieved when I have to do the bigger things. And when it comes to what you were saying earlier about turning people down and that sort of thing,

it's just really prioritizing your tasks. And it's one of those things that it becomes so much easier when you start seeing the results from it. So like the time that you're talking about, about like this darty that one of my friends that I made in college and I didn't go to because we were studying for our first psych exam. And we had heard from everyone that the psych exams were super hard. And so I know two other girls that ended up going that were also in the class. And I didn't really do great.

But me and my friend that stayed here did really, really well. And so it's just seeing like the results of your hard work. And I know that like that little grade, maybe not, didn't mean that much. And I'm still going to let myself go out and have fun. But in the longterm, I know that if I need, if I need to get into law school, I need the good grades to do that. And that one test could affect my whole grade for that whole class, which could derail my future. So you're planning, you're planning five or six years ahead right now by making your decisions.

It's easier when you have big goals because you know that you have to be working at them every single day, even if it's the smallest little task. Okay. I love that. I mean, this is really inspirational here. So, um, and by the way, you are an incredibly emotionally mature person. I mean, your,

your ability to make decisions is super strong. A lot of people just kind of waffle on stuff. And I know you think through it and, and, and you have that internal conflict as well, but you look at so many people out there and they're like, eh, I'll put it off, but I don't see you putting things off. You, you look to them and you go, all right, what do I need to do? Um, and it's, it's fascinating because, uh, I mean, I brought it up the other day, locus of control, you know, internal and external locus of control. And for everybody that doesn't know, understand what locus of control is, it is, you know, external locus of control is basically you allow your environment to dictate your decision. So you're like, oh, it's raining out. So I'm not going to go running. Well, wait a second. You're, you can't give up

exercise because it's raining out. It's, it's on you to go do something. Internal locus of control is taking control of yourself and making the decision based upon your intent to do the decision as opposed to other factors that will try and prevent you from doing the decision. So, um, I mean, how do you look, do you think about who's in control when you're making these decisions? Do you make tons of decisions every day, especially you, when, you know, you've got a bunch of classes to go to, you have a bunch of studying to do, you have a huge friend group, you're in a sorority and you know, there's, there's a lot of decisions to make. How do you factor into, or what do you think about to get to that point? I mean, yeah, you got your big goal, but we can overlook the big goal easily.

I think that it's just like the enjoyment of the small things. So I know that I would rather get everything done throughout my day, get it all out of the way so that if I were to go out that night and go hang out with friends or do whatever it is, I cannot be stressed out about all the stuff that I have to be getting done because at that point, I'm not even enjoying myself. I'm just sitting there worrying and thinking about everything that I have to do. So just my prioritization and really plays a large role in my decision making because that helps me to not stress myself out. And there were multiple times where I called you and I was like, I don't know how I'm going to do this. There's too much

to do and not enough hours in the day. And you were always able to talk me down. And I think just having structure and priority will help you know that you are in control of everything and you can do it all without any really external conflicts. And obviously there are things that are going to get in the way and that's just the way that life happens. But if you just are able to have those basic structures, then I think that it'll be easier in the end and it'll stress you out more. And then you can do the things that you enjoy. I love it. So the pain of discipline, the pain of doing the thing right now saying, yeah, I'm going to do this instead of that versus the pain of regret of having to go back and redo it after it's that much harder. Right. Like why wouldn't you just get out of

the way and then go enjoy yourself? Have it done. Have the weight lifted off of your shoulders. There you go. I love that. This is like, this is like self-coaching here self-reflection mark so uh i i'm enjoying this conversation so we we've gotten to the point where okay maggie is um let's just say maggie's kicking ass in life okay yes all right i Mark, is that safe to say Maggie's kicking ass? Yeah, it's extremely safe to say and take a name. She's stacking bodies. So, you know, it's like a cowboy movie where here comes Maggie rolling into town and everybody's like, poof, they're gone.

This is so flattering. You guys are really boosting me up way higher. No, I mean, I need to take my ego down a couple notches after this episode. Okay. Yeah. All right. We love you, Maggie. So the big question is what advice do you have? You know, you hear this, you've gone in and built, you've faced unknown challenges going off the college. You've taken like this massive course load. I mean, it, it's a ton. And then you decided, Oh, I think I'll take some more on break by the way. So Maggie's sitting there for three or four hours a day, you know, reading books and writing papers

right now. Um, which kudos to her because she could find other things that are a lot more fun to do. But, um, but you're trying to set yourself up for long-term success, which everybody kind of looks at. We're a short-term society. We want instant gratification and we don't look into investing for long-term success. And if you take anything out of this, take a look at how she's doing that. But Maggie, what advice do you have? If, if you're, you know, if you're looking at those people right there on start with a win and those of you listening to the podcast, I'm pointing at the camera right now, but I mean, what advice would you have for people who are like, ah, I'm overwhelmed. I'm burned out. I don't know how I'm going to get things done tomorrow or what I need to, what I need to get done. How do I do it? Where do we start? I would say always focus on the goal, whether it's a short term or the long term goal and fill the way you achieve that goal with what makes you happy.

And that's going to keep you motivated. It's going to keep you with your drive. If you are staying happy through like the whole process, then there's no reason that you would want to quit. And obviously I get down on myself. I mean, it's human nature for everyone to do that, but you kind of have to take the time to just really cool down, reflect, and remember why you are working so hard and find the things that you love that drive you to work that hard. I love that. And Maggie, um, I have a question I ask every guest that's on the show.

And I think we, we have a pretty good idea as to what you're going to say because we've talked about it here. But you're killing it. But you start by winning. So can you tell our listeners, how do you start your day with a win? That's a loaded question. It totally is a loaded question. What do you mean? What gives you a win?

First thing, out of the chutes I know your alarm goes off Because I can hear it when I'm drinking coffee But what happens when you open your eyes And you're like, I need to win What do I do as Maggie Contos? I think I just kind of get up And I'm like,

if I live this day, like it was my last day, I better live it. Like it is the best day. And then I think my win is just building that attitude and starting off strong. Wow. That's one of the best answers I've ever heard. Mark,

let's go. All right. Maggie Contos. Um, I, I love you to death and I am honored to have you on my podcast. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so honored to finally be here. You don't know how many times at dinner we sit down and I'm like, when are you going to feature me? Well, guess what? Here you go. It's February, 2021 and maybe March. I don't know. We're into February, first of March here when

this one's going out the door. So you are featured, my sweet Maggie Cantos. I made it. Kicking ass in life, taking names. And everybody who is out there listening, this is what you're up against. We have an entire generation of people coming on strong like this. They don't take no for an answer. They go really hard and they're organized for success. So that's what we got. Thanks for being here, Maggie. Thank you for having me.

Hey, and thank you guys for listening to Start With A Win. If you'd like to ask Adam a question or tell us your Start With A Win story, give us a call and leave us a message at 888-581-4430. Don't forget to go into iTunes, subscribe, write a review, rate the show. It helps us get the word out and reach more people. And for more great content, head over to startwithawin.com. Follow Adam on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, like Maggie Contos, start with a win.