Hoagies and grinding

Successful people often point to the habits they incorporate into their routines. They:
Automate, Delegate, Execute, Focus, Invest, Listen, Network, Persist, Reflect, Simplify, and XYZ.

I like to Grind.

It’s my way of saying: get stuck in. Get my hands dirty. I need to dig into the details—the work, the issues, the challenges—to truly understand the scope, potential obstacles, and concerns stakeholders may face.

Recently, I was looking at a four-building cooperative and wanted to understand the typical floorplan. Why? Because I’ve built a valuation model—and knowing which units are located where impacts critical variables like amenities, orientation, and more.

When I searched for reference materials, all I found was a low-resolution, hard-to-read graphic. So, I went on a field trip and mapped each of the towers myself:

That’s three towers across four buildings with 20 floors each… or so I thought.

Turns out, while all four buildings had nearly identical layouts, two had 21 floors, and the other two had 20. One of the 21-floor buildings even had an “extra” unit on the 20th floor.

The key takeaway?

The grind gave me deeper insight into the building, helped me map a typical floorplan I could truly understand, and allowed me to create a more useful visual—all of which made my valuation model smarter and more accurate.

Connect with Alex to unlock 10002, NYC, and the Empire State.