From Fear to Freedom: How Consistent Goal Setting Drives High Performance in Real Estate

What separates high performers from everyone else isn't natural talent or luck—it's consistency, vision, and the courage to overcome fear. In my recent podcast conversation with Anton, founder of REI Call Center and a successful real estate investor, we explored how his immigrant journey from Uzbekistan shaped his relentless drive for success, and the daily habits that have transformed his life.

After making $100,000 on his first real estate wholesale deal while still working a $200,000/year corporate job, Anton has built a company approaching $5 million in annual revenue with nearly 300 employees. But his path wasn't straightforward—it was paved with consistent action, powerful goal-setting practices, and the courage to step beyond comfort.

Let's explore the key principles that have guided Anton's extraordinary journey and how you can apply them to your own pursuit of high performance.

Redefining High Performance: The Power of Daily Consistency

For Anton, high performance isn't about occasional heroic efforts—it's about consistent daily improvement:

"High performance for me literally means being better than you were yesterday, you were six months ago, you were a year ago. If you're looking in the mirror and you're seeing the same person that you saw even last month, that means you're doing something wrong and you're not pushing yourself to where you eventually would want to be."

This perspective shifts the focus from grand achievements to the small, daily actions that compound over time. Anton references the domino effect he learned about in his morning reading routine:

"The first domino was so small that you have to use tweezers to pick it up. The last domino was three feet tall, 100 pounds... you can actually knock down a 100-pound domino just by force of consistency and action—small action taken every single day."

This principle guided Anton's entry into real estate wholesaling. Despite earning over $200,000 annually in his corporate job, he committed to making 25 cold calls to property owners every day after work—regardless of rejection or exhaustion. Six months of consistent action led to a $100,000 payday on his first deal.

The Non-Negotiable Daily Habits

Anton credits his success to five daily non-negotiables inspired by his mentor Dan Martell:

1. Morning gratitude journaling: Writing three things he's grateful for
2. Daily reading: Ten pages minimum
3. Physical training: 45-minute workout plus cold plunge
4. Meditation: Focused mindfulness practice
5. Goal review: Reading personal goals three times daily

Anton has strategically anchored his goal review to specific daily activities:

"The first five-seven minutes [of my workout] I just get on the treadmill, put my phone in front of me, and just read through my goals... The second time is right after lunch... The third time, I like to do yoga stretching before bed... Right before the yoga, before bed, I read [my goals], do my yoga, go to bed, pass out."

This structured approach ensures that his vision stays top-of-mind throughout the day, reinforcing his belief in what's possible.

Transforming Fear into Motivation: The Immigrant Mindset

Anton's drive wasn't born from privilege but from profound adversity and fear. Born in Uzbekistan during the collapse of the Soviet Union, his family sold their apartment for just $2,000 in 1994 and fled to Russia, where they lived in extremely cramped conditions:

"We were living in a room like I'm standing in right now. We had a bunk bed on one side—my father and I would sleep on top, my mother and my sister would sleep on the bottom. Across it was a couch that would fold out, and my grandma and my brother would sleep there... To go to the bathroom, you had to go outside in like negative 30° weather."

Later moving to the United States with just $60, Anton's family struggled to adapt. When his father eventually left, 16-year-old Anton felt responsible for supporting his family. This experience created what he calls his primary motivator:

"The fear, now it's easy for me to talk about. Back then, I didn't really dig deep into it, but now it's the fear that I do not ever, ever want to end up back there."

Rather than allowing this fear to paralyze him, Anton channeled it into purposeful action:

"Every single day I want to get up... and do crazy things because I want to push myself every single day, look at myself and say, 'You know what? Today you're better than yesterday.' And that's all I want to do."

This mindset of intentionally pushing beyond comfort zones has become central to his approach to life and business. He regularly relocates to new cities and countries to avoid complacency, and is planning a move to Colombia with his growing family.

The Goal-Setting System That Creates Results

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of Anton's success formula is his sophisticated goal-setting system, which combines clear vision with unwavering belief.

"You have to set big goals, but unless you really believe in your big goals, it's pretty much just like reading a novel or watching a movie. You have to believe that you can accomplish those things."

Anton structures his goals in timeframes ranging from 25-year visions to quarterly targets:

Long-Term Vision

He keeps visual reminders of his biggest dreams, including a model jet on his desk representing the Gulfstream G650 he intends to own, and a written goal of achieving a $1.7 billion business exit in 25-30 years.

Annual Goal Setting

Every January, Anton and his wife conduct a thorough planning session to establish their yearly targets, which are documented in a journal called "Rich Habits."

Quarterly Breakdown

Annual goals are then broken into quarterly milestones to create manageable action steps.

Daily Affirmations

Inspired by the book "Happy Pocket Full of Money," Anton phrases his goals in present tense, as if already achieved: "I am at 10% body fat today" or "We have hit $5 million in revenue with REI Call Center today."

This approach has produced remarkable results—sometimes in unexpected ways. Anton shared a story of writing down a goal to fly on a private jet, something he had never experienced and had no obvious pathway to achieve:

"I set a goal, I believed in it, I read it every single day... I visualized it, I really wanted to achieve it, and this guy calls me out of the blue: 'Hey dude, I have a private jet for the weekend. Do you want to come join us and have dinner in Mexico and then come back the next day?'"

Through a series of coincidences that aligned perfectly with his schedule, Anton was able to experience his goal within months of setting it—reinforcing his belief in the power of visualization combined with consistent action.

Building a Team: From Hustler to CEO

Despite his individual drive, Anton emphasizes that solo entrepreneurship is a limiting approach:

"One of my most favorite quotes that my mentor used to tell me a lot when I started REI is that 'For CEO to be born, the hustler must die.' And when he told me that for the first time, I didn't understand it. 'What do you mean the hustler must die? We're hustlers! We have to be working, we have to be pushing!'"

Over time, Anton learned that true scalability comes from building systems and teams:

"You have to have people on your team that help you accomplish this. I have directors of operations, I have finance, I have marketing. I have, like I said, close to 300 people. It's insane how you can let them run the business and I can focus on things like this."

His key principles for team building include:

1. Find complementary skills: "Definitely don't get somebody who has the same strengths that you do. Find somebody who has completely different view on things."
2. Start with executive support: Following Dan Martell's advice, Anton recommends getting an executive assistant early to free up mental bandwidth.
3. Create clear systems: Documented processes allow the business to function without the founder's constant involvement.
4. Partner with the right people: Anton credits much of his success to his supportive partner of 8.5 years who encouraged him to pursue entrepreneurship even when it meant leaving his lucrative corporate career.

Conclusion: The Courage to Become Antifragile

Anton's journey exemplifies what he calls "antifragility"—a concept from Nassim Taleb that describes things that get stronger under pressure, rather than breaking:

"The more you put force on it, the tougher it gets. The more you go through [difficulties], the tougher it gets... Don't be afraid of going through unfortunately it's really hard for me to come up with a better word than going through [challenges] for a really long time until you succeed and become a better version of yourself."

His story reminds us that high performance isn't about avoiding difficulties or seeking comfort—it's about consistently facing challenges that force growth. By combining daily discipline, clear goals, visualization, and the willingness to build teams, Anton has transformed from a struggling immigrant to a thriving entrepreneur.

As you consider your own path to high performance, remember Anton's three key principles:

1. Don't try to do it alone: Build a team with complementary skills.
2. Dream bigger than seems reasonable: Set goals that stretch your belief in what's possible.
3. Step outside your comfort zone: Intentionally create challenges that force you to grow.

These principles, applied consistently through daily habits, can help you transform your biggest fears into your greatest achievements.