E63: Silencing Distractions and Staying Focused: Daniel Del Real on Risk, Preparation and Achieving Goals

How do you go from immigrant roots to becoming the #1 real estate team leader in California? In this episode, Eric Scovill sits down with Daniel Del Real to discuss managing money from a biblical perspective and his journey of faith in business. 

As the #1 team leader in the state for over a decade, Daniel discusses how living a life of service and accountability has allowed him to achieve extraordinary success while staying grounded in his faith. Daniel also reflects on risk, preparation, and staying focused during challenges through applying the lessons of his faith to both his personal life and highly ranked real estate team.

Here are some topics from today’s discussion:

• Importance of accountability in goals and one's faith walk
• Daniel’s approach to hiring: values over faith
• Why sometimes progress doesn’t look like progress
• The 4 C’s of learning
• Reframing risk to withstand adversity
• Communicative knowledge versus revealed knowledge

Episode Highlights:

[09:08] The Power of Gratitude and Service

While it is amazing to live life with an attitude of gratitude, actively serving others in humility with a spirit of servitude "kicks doors down" and opens up greater opportunities for success and accomplishment. Channeling your gratitude outward through meaningful service towards others takes it to a higher level and allows you to achieve more by helping people.

[10:00] The Power of Accountability

Statistics show that having specific accountability with someone increases the likelihood of achieving one's goals from 20% to 95%. Daniel notes that the highest level of accountability comes from one's relationship with God. He also focuses on creating measurable commitments for employees and scheduling regular check-ins to provide clarity on steps to stay on track.

[13:33] Hiring Based on Core Values Over Faith

When hiring for his team, Daniel says he does not directly screen for faith but rather looks for people whose core values and principles align with the organization's culture, rooted in biblical teachings. Through leading by example and answering questions about how challenges are addressed, the faith of some originally non-believing employees has deepened. Daniel's priority is protecting the culture by ensuring new hires fit with their shared vision and methods of operating.

[18:51] When Progress Doesn't Look Like Progress

Daniel talks about how progress may not always look obvious. He uses building Legos as an example, where daily steps seem repetitive but are making forward movement. Daniel stresses staying faithful to your vision and plan, as progress involves times where it doesn't look like any advancement. But persevering each day through invisible steps will lead to achieving your goal, even if the end result isn't visible yet. His message: keep working, even when progress feels invisible.

[26:30] The 4 C’s of Learning

1. Commitment - Committing to do something bigger
2. Courage - Earning courage by walking in some form of fear
3. Capability - Learning what you're capable of through facing fears
4. Capacity - Discovering your limits and how far you can go

Daniel explains these four stages are something we go through both in business and in our faith walk. Committing to a goal means facing fears, which helps us learn what we're capable of and build up our capacity through challenging ourselves. 

[35:17] The Difference Between Hearing and Experiencing: Communicative vs. Revealed Knowledge

Daniel emphasizes the importance of developing "revealed knowledge" through directly experiencing difficulties and having one's faith tested, rather than solely gaining "communicative knowledge" from others. He explains revealed knowledge provides true understanding that can be relied on when facing challenges, as it has been strengthened through personal trials, unlike knowledge that is simply heard but not lived out.

Resources Mentioned:

https://www.thedelrealgroup.com/