October 18, 2024 • 20 mins
Unlock the secrets to thriving in the demanding world of real estate without sacrificing your health or happiness. Join me, Sumina, as I draw from my 17 years of experience in Austin, Texas, to tackle the pervasive issue of burnout among real estate professionals. We confront the glorified hustle culture that pressures us to always be on the go and discuss how it can drain our enthusiasm and clarity. This episode is your roadmap to recognizing those personal burnout signals and reclaiming your well-being while continuing to deliver top-notch service to your clients.
Our journey doesn't stop at identifying the problem—we equip you with practical strategies to maintain equilibrium in your work and personal life. From setting boundaries and managing client expectations to the art of saying no, you'll learn how to handle the unique demands of the real estate industry with grace and resilience. Insights from mentor agents offer valuable lessons on leveraging support systems, delegating non-essential tasks, and taking intentional breaks to recharge. This isn't just about surviving in real estate; it's about thriving with a balanced, fulfilling career that leaves room for joy and rest.
You can find me on instagram @rested.real.estate.agent, and you can sign up for my newsletter to keep up with upcoming workshops and other offerings on my website www.suminabhatti.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to the Rested Real Estate Agent, a podcast
that helps you navigate life asa real estate professional,
while finding some rest andbalance along the way.
I'm your host, sumina, an agentwith 17 years of experience in
the Austin, texas area, and Ibelieve there's a better way to
do our business serve ourclients and not get burnt out.
(00:42):
I help agents get from chaos toclarity.
In this episode, we are goingto talk about being tired in our
industry, burnout, how itaffects us, why it affects us
(01:02):
and, of course, most importantly, what we can do about it.
How we can find and seek restin our industry, specifically as
real estate agents, so that wecan show up better for our
clients, our families andourselves.
I know that, as people in thereal estate field who have a
non-traditional career path withnon-traditional hours, there
(01:25):
are so many demands on our time,our attention, our energy.
This is from buyers that areactive and sellers that are
active.
Buyers that are coming in,managing your warm clients,
keeping in touch with people,planning events, doing the
marketing for your business,social media, accounting,
(01:46):
paperwork and let's not forgetthe recent NAR lawsuit
settlement and all the changescoming around with that.
So, talking about why, why arewe like this?
So, just like every industryhas people it attracts, so does
real estate.
When you think of an accountant, you likely have a specific
(02:08):
kind of person in mind who wouldbe attracted to that field with
a particular set ofcharacteristics that make them
great at their job.
Same when someone tells youthey're a chef or a dog walker
or an engineer.
In real estate we haveparticular personality types
that are drawn to this careerand of course I'm making
generalizations here, but theseare traits that I've noticed
(02:31):
that show up a lot in the 17years that I've gotten to know
other real estate professionalsand, of course, myself as well.
You know we get a lot of clientrequests that I for one can
never seem to get a handle on.
An inbox that's overflowing,people that need comps to fight
property appraisals, things thatare maybe not directly related
(02:53):
to the day-to-day running ofyour business, but you know past
client calls and wants aplumber recommendation.
I definitely want my clients todo that, and so there is some
way where I have a process toget back to them on that.
Needless to say, the to-do listgoes on and on and on.
I've realized a coupledifferent things that yes, there
are things that we can changeout there.
There are some externalcircumstances we can change
(03:17):
delegating things and we'll getinto some of the external things
here in just a bit and there'salso some things we have control
over in here, right.
So there's stuff out there andthere's stuff kind of in here in
my head, in my mind, in myviewpoint, that I also have
control over and that maybethrough talking it through or
(03:37):
thinking about it, I can have adifferent lens on how I see
these demands that are being puton my time and we as a group of
real estate agents like tohustle.
We don't like to be tied to adesk job.
You know, we're kind of in lovewith the non-traditional aspect
of the freedom we have fromthis work.
I use the word freedom looselybecause, as most agents will
(03:58):
tell you, working on contractswhen you're on vacation doesn't
exactly feel like freedom.
Or working on the weekends orlate at night Now that sometimes
means on a Tuesday afternoon Ihave time free to go grocery
shopping and go to the bank.
So it is a trade-off and mostof us who of you who are
listening to this podcast havechosen this career and are in it
(04:20):
for an extended amount of time.
This is not just a flash in thepan career choice for you.
Then there are also thesocietal expectations.
These are some of the kind ofI'd say these are both internal
and external factors, right?
This idea of being crazy busyor work hard, play hard or I'll
rest when I'm dead, and thesethings that we're told a lot in
(04:42):
our culture.
Uh, no, thank you, I'd rathernot rest when I'm dead, I'd
rather rest now.
I think so many of us arefeeling the burn of these
messages of working hard, andit's showing up, right, showing
up in our lives with poorattention spans, with our phones
.
We escape into our phones whenwe need a dopamine hit because
(05:06):
we're just so stressed withwhat's going on in our world.
It's showing up with highstress levels, which translate
into health issues, lack ofsleep, et cetera.
So a question I want you tocontemplate and which I assume,
if you're listening to thispodcast, you already know the
answer to, and which I assume,if you're listening to this
(05:26):
podcast, you already know theanswer to which is do you think
you are better able to serveyour clients when you are well
rested, have a calm and steadymind, or when you're scattered
and harried and disorganized andin a rush.
Obviously, I have my leaningson this question, so let's talk
about how do you even know whenyou're tired and burned out.
(05:50):
Right, the signs for you maylook different than the signs
for me.
One thing that I'll share withyou that is a little bit
embarrassing but also kind offunny is that I can tell when
I'm reaching the stage ofburnout and just beyond being
tired, when, for example, a newbuyer comes to me and they, you
(06:11):
know, like, hey, we got yournumber from so-and-so, we are
looking to buy a home in theAustin area, and my first
thought is, oh God, and I justfeel depleted and not what I
want to feel, which is excitedand engaged and whatever.
And that is kind of a big flagto me to be like hey, pay
(06:33):
attention, you need to assesswhat's going on in your life
right now so that you can showup for these clients well, so
that you can be excited fortheir joy.
And generally, working withclients I am excited about, but
it's when I find myself feelingreally worn down, when someone
comes to me, that I know thatit's time to reassess what's
going on.
So it's one of the little flagsthat I'm like huh, okay, it's
(06:55):
time for me to stop, take abreath and see what's going on
here.
But what is it for you?
Do you have issues sleeping?
Do you feel tension in yourshoulders and your jaw and your
eyes and your neck in a way thatnever seems to go away?
How do you know that you'rereaching that point of burnout
(07:15):
in your business?
The other thing that happenswith me, too, is that I start
missing little details.
Is this the client who wantedthat shed gone before closing,
or was it the other one?
Did I just forget thatsomewhere, or what happened?
So missing those details isanother cue to me that there's
something going on with my levelof work and that I'm not at a
(07:36):
good place with balancing thatout.
So once you know what yoursigns are, which are going to be
different than mine anddifferent than your other
colleagues and different thanyour partners what do we do
about that?
So, if we're looking at some ofthe, what do I do out there in
the external world?
Here are some things that I'vecome up with over my time in
(07:57):
this industry.
So one of them is if a newclient comes in, do I have the
place in my business where I canjust say no, maybe of the
client load.
I currently have this clientwho is far away from where I
live or is looking for a type ofproduct that is not my
specialty like.
(08:17):
Maybe they're looking for farmand ranch or they're looking for
downtown condos and that's notmy area of expertise.
Could I hand them off to anexperienced colleague, collect a
referral fee and get some of mytime back?
Can you plan a vacation?
When's the last time you wenton a vacation?
When you go on a vacation, doyou leave more tired when you
(08:39):
come back?
If so, you may need a type oftrip that is free of agendas and
to-dos and more hustling andrunning around.
And, to be clear, I don't thinkgoing on vacation solves the
problems.
If you don't, if you're notintentional about what you plan
to do with your time on vacation, and do you set boundaries for
(09:02):
yourself with your clients, howdo you do that?
Do you let clients know thatyou're typically not responding
to work messages, whether that'stext or email, after a certain
time?
Do they know that you are offon Sundays?
If so, how and where and whenis that communicated?
Do they also know that someoneis in place to help take care of
them.
(09:23):
If they do need something on aSunday, is there a colleague you
can partner with, or a junioragent in your office who doesn't
mind working Sundays that couldlet someone into a house or
whatever if that were the case.
So that's another way to knowwhat to do once you figure out
that you are burnt out or arejust beyond tired with how work
life balance is going.
(09:44):
The other thing that I wouldoffer is talking to a mentor
agent.
So one of the most helpfulthings I did when my career was
starting to grow quite a bit andI was feeling just completely
overwhelmed every moment of theday and had no idea how I would
ever get a grasp on anything, isI met with a couple of my
mentor agents who had the kindof business that, who did more
(10:07):
business than I did, whose workstyles I appreciated because
they seem like they.
When they came to the officethey didn't seem frazzled and
harried and just running around.
They seemed like there was somecalm and some steadiness there,
and so I reached out to themand said hey, can I take you out
for coffee?
I'd love to pick your brain onwhere you're at with your
business and if there's someblind spots I'm missing in my
(10:28):
business at the stage that I'mat, that you might be able to
see.
And it's like seeing atherapist or just talking to
someone who's outside of asituation, a friend or somebody
who can kind of look at some ofthe gaps you may have in your
business and say, hmm, based onwhat you're telling me, have you
tried X, y or Z?
And that was super helpful tome In the before times in BC,
(10:49):
before COVID, in the beforetimes, probably back around 2016
, when I talked to my mentor,one of the pieces of advice she
gave me was to stop takingbuyers in my car when we went
out and looked at property.
Now, this was antithetical toeverything I had been taught in
my real estate career up untilthat point.
I had been taught you alwaystake the buyers in your car,
(11:11):
right, it helps build rapport,you can point out the parks and
the schools and you can chatwith them, et cetera.
So this idea that I wouldn'ttake buyers in my car just
seemed kind of crazy to me andit took me a little while to
wrap my head around it.
And her point was um, knowingalso that I'm an introvert was
that you can get a little bit ofquiet time in the car.
(11:34):
When your clients are not withyou, you can allow your brain to
just sort of.
You can allow your brain torelax a little bit because
you're not kind of on in thesense of pointing things out or
whatever.
If somebody calls, you havesome space to call somebody back
, you can return calls, checktext messages etc.
And it saves you time becauseyou're not having to go back and
take your client back to theircar.
(11:56):
So once I started implementingthat, I was like oh, I see this,
I see this makes a lot moresense Now, obviously in this, in
the COVID era, we weren't doingthat anyways, but it was
helpful to get someone else'sviewpoint on my business in that
way.
I maybe not I wouldn't haverealized that ever and I
certainly probably wouldn't haverealized it at that moment in
time.
The other piece of advice I gotwas to start delegating some of
(12:19):
the tasks that other people cando.
There are tasks that only youcan do, that are specific to you
, right, like they're only tasksthat I can do, because my
clients expect that relationshipfrom me.
I want to be in charge of thosethings things like buyer
appointments and listingappointments and talking through
negotiations and things likethat but there are a lot of
(12:42):
things that somebody else can dofor me.
I remember a point in my careerwhere I would be going to
Target and getting closingbasket supplies and assembling
those closing baskets in my homeoffice.
And figuring out that I couldhave a courier go do that for me
or a door dash person orsomething like that saved me a
huge amount of time.
(13:02):
Some of the people who workedwith me would also just put the
baskets together.
I had pictures from when I'ddone them before.
They would just assemble them,so they're pretty much ready to
go at my house Now.
There are probably a lot ofexamples.
If you don't do closing baskets, of things that you do in your
world that easily somebody elsecould do.
Now are you having to pay forthis?
Yes, but you know what.
(13:23):
You're already paying for it.
You're paying for it with notjust your money but also your
time.
I don't want you to hiresomeone to go do these things
and then fill your schedule withmore stuff.
What I want you to do at thattime is rest or go for a walk or
yoga class or just somethingthat has no agenda attached to
(13:44):
it Play with your dog or yourkiddos.
It's not another to-do list.
It is the opposite of a to-dolist, a not to-do list.
It's just it's free time.
Don't fill it with more work.
And then the other sort of pointI would offer you is see where
you can find many moments ofrest in your day already.
(14:07):
So, as I mentioned at the introof this episode, I am also a
meditation teacher and I think alot of people get caught up in
thinking that you have tomeditate in a certain way and
you have to sit on a cushion andit has to be 20 minutes and all
these kinds of things.
And I'm here to tell you, as acertified meditation teacher,
(14:27):
that is not true.
You can meditate whenever youwant.
30 seconds of mindfulness is 30seconds of mindfulness.
That is a totally valid amountof time to spend focusing your
attention.
So my encouragement would be totry to find these many moments
of time in your day already.
So when you're getting in yourcar to get ready to go meet with
(14:50):
the buyer, you put your seat,buckle your seatbelt in pause,
take three deep breaths Off, yougo.
That's it.
That's your mini moment ofmindfulness.
Let's say your client texts youand says they're running five
or 10 minutes late.
You get to the property.
Do not get on your phone or onsocial media.
(15:12):
Instead, walk around theneighborhood or sit in your car
and do some deep breathing, orjust look outside and look at
the trees.
I mean it's trying to work inthese moments of mindfulness
where you can find them, ratherthan saying, oh, there's yet
another thing I have to findtime to do which is only going
to stress you out more.
I'm trying to get you to doless.
Where can you squeeze in thosemany moments of mindfulness?
(15:34):
How can you build them into theroutine you already have going?
I got some of those tips fromthe book Atomic Habits by James
Clear.
He talked about, I believethat's called habit stacking,
where you are already doing aparticular thing and you stack a
little habit along with it.
That sort of flows seamlesslyinto what you're already doing.
Now I'm going to give you alittle bonus one here too, a
(15:57):
little bonus one I learned Ican't remember from where
probably about 10 years ago, andaround the end of the year,
usually in the week afterChristmas and before the new
year.
It's kind of dead time, thosefour or five days no one's
really doing much.
It's a time I kind of go intolike planning in for 2025, the
next year, etc.
And one of the practices Istarted doing around that time
(16:20):
was to take everything off mycalendar all my appointments,
all my recurring, you know, gymthings, meetings, etc.
And really assessing why eachone is there, what purpose they
serve, why each one is there,what purpose they serve and what
my intention is with them.
(16:43):
So you know, if I have arecurring workout appointment on
my calendar for two or threetimes a week and I look at that
and I'm like, hmm, am I stillcommitted to this activity?
Does this still fit with mygoals for the coming year?
Do I still have the time andthe capacity and the money to
spend toward this?
Because often for me when Istart looking at it, you know
door to door for me to go leavemy house, get to workout class,
(17:04):
do the workout and come back canbe two, two and a half hours
between traffic and everythingelse.
That's a fair chunk out of aday, right, an hour for the
class, 30 minutes on either endto get there, 30 or 40 minutes
to get there, stretch, get setup, et cetera.
So does that still fit withyour life in the coming year?
Is that going to be a goal ofyours?
(17:26):
Take everything off and reassesseach thing Now.
A lot of them might go back onlike, yes, that is important to
me, I feel connected to that.
Yes, that thing stays.
And yes, that is important tome, I feel connected to that.
Yes, that thing stays.
And same thing with teammeetings and work meetings.
Do these still fulfill thepurpose that they were intended
for?
And, if not, is that somethingyou're able to discuss with your
team lead or your manager tosay, hey, you know, instead of
(17:46):
coming to these meetings everyweek, I may be coming every
other week and just make surethat's okay with whoever your
manager is and if they're opento feedback, maybe letting them
know why that's the case.
Right, like, hey, I don't findthat I'm getting the value out
of this.
I'd rather be out in the fieldor, honestly, you don't have to
tell them this but resting,because resting allows your mind
(18:09):
to think more creatively, tohave more space to just rest and
be so.
That's our episode for today.
Thank you for joining me.
Today we covered what we knowabout what makes us, as real
estate professionals, feelstress, what are the signs of
feeling that and burnout.
What does that feel like foryou in your body and in your
(18:30):
mind?
And then some practical tipsfor what we do about that your
body and in your mind.
And then some practical tipsfor what we do about that, how
we can use some external toolsto use that, and I may do a
future episode where we talk alittle bit more about our
internal tools, which is thingslike our mindset, realizing that
we are in a system that pushesus to work all the time, and
what we can do about those kindsof things, and what we can do
(18:52):
about those kinds of thingsfinding some mini moments of
rest as well.
I hope you found this podcastuseful and, if you'd like a list
, I also do have a list of themini moments specifically for
real estate professionals.
If you want that list, justshoot me an email and I will get
that over to you, and if youhave any additional thoughts or
(19:13):
comments, you can find me on allthe socials.
I will link everything in theshow notes.
I appreciate you joining me onthis call and we look forward to
the next time.
Thank you again so much forjoining me on this episode of
the Rested Real Estate Agent.
If you found this episodeuseful, it would mean a lot to
me if you would share it withcolleagues in your office.
And if you're interested indiving deeper on this work, you
(19:37):
can set up a one-on-one sessionwith me.
Just send me a message and wecan chat.
If your office or your localboard of realtors are looking
for speakers for team meetings,group coaching et cetera, I am
available and happy to travel.
Please have them reach out.
Thanks again and until nexttime be well.
Welcome to the Rested Real Estate Agent, a podcast
that helps you navigate life asa real estate professional,
while finding some rest andbalance along the way.
I'm your host, sumina, an agentwith 17 years of experience in
the Austin, texas area, and Ibelieve there's a better way to
do our business serve ourclients and not get burnt out.
(00:42):
I help agents get from chaos toclarity.
In this episode, we are goingto talk about being tired in our
industry, burnout, how itaffects us, why it affects us
(01:02):
and, of course, most importantly, what we can do about it.
How we can find and seek restin our industry, specifically as
real estate agents, so that wecan show up better for our
clients, our families andourselves.
I know that, as people in thereal estate field who have a
non-traditional career path withnon-traditional hours, there
(01:25):
are so many demands on our time,our attention, our energy.
This is from buyers that areactive and sellers that are
active.
Buyers that are coming in,managing your warm clients,
keeping in touch with people,planning events, doing the
marketing for your business,social media, accounting,
(01:46):
paperwork and let's not forgetthe recent NAR lawsuit
settlement and all the changescoming around with that.
So, talking about why, why arewe like this?
So, just like every industryhas people it attracts, so does
real estate.
When you think of an accountant, you likely have a specific
(02:08):
kind of person in mind who wouldbe attracted to that field with
a particular set ofcharacteristics that make them
great at their job.
Same when someone tells youthey're a chef or a dog walker
or an engineer.
In real estate we haveparticular personality types
that are drawn to this careerand of course I'm making
generalizations here, but theseare traits that I've noticed
(02:31):
that show up a lot in the 17years that I've gotten to know
other real estate professionalsand, of course, myself as well.
You know we get a lot of clientrequests that I for one can
never seem to get a handle on.
An inbox that's overflowing,people that need comps to fight
property appraisals, things thatare maybe not directly related
(02:53):
to the day-to-day running ofyour business, but you know past
client calls and wants aplumber recommendation.
I definitely want my clients todo that, and so there is some
way where I have a process toget back to them on that.
Needless to say, the to-do listgoes on and on and on.
I've realized a coupledifferent things that yes, there
are things that we can changeout there.
There are some externalcircumstances we can change
(03:17):
delegating things and we'll getinto some of the external things
here in just a bit and there'salso some things we have control
over in here, right.
So there's stuff out there andthere's stuff kind of in here in
my head, in my mind, in myviewpoint, that I also have
control over and that maybethrough talking it through or
(03:37):
thinking about it, I can have adifferent lens on how I see
these demands that are being puton my time and we as a group of
real estate agents like tohustle.
We don't like to be tied to adesk job.
You know, we're kind of in lovewith the non-traditional aspect
of the freedom we have fromthis work.
I use the word freedom looselybecause, as most agents will
(03:58):
tell you, working on contractswhen you're on vacation doesn't
exactly feel like freedom.
Or working on the weekends orlate at night Now that sometimes
means on a Tuesday afternoon Ihave time free to go grocery
shopping and go to the bank.
So it is a trade-off and mostof us who of you who are
listening to this podcast havechosen this career and are in it
(04:20):
for an extended amount of time.
This is not just a flash in thepan career choice for you.
Then there are also thesocietal expectations.
These are some of the kind ofI'd say these are both internal
and external factors, right?
This idea of being crazy busyor work hard, play hard or I'll
rest when I'm dead, and thesethings that we're told a lot in
(04:42):
our culture.
Uh, no, thank you, I'd rathernot rest when I'm dead, I'd
rather rest now.
I think so many of us arefeeling the burn of these
messages of working hard, andit's showing up, right, showing
up in our lives with poorattention spans, with our phones
.
We escape into our phones whenwe need a dopamine hit because
(05:06):
we're just so stressed withwhat's going on in our world.
It's showing up with highstress levels, which translate
into health issues, lack ofsleep, et cetera.
So a question I want you tocontemplate and which I assume,
if you're listening to thispodcast, you already know the
answer to, and which I assume,if you're listening to this
(05:26):
podcast, you already know theanswer to which is do you think
you are better able to serveyour clients when you are well
rested, have a calm and steadymind, or when you're scattered
and harried and disorganized andin a rush.
Obviously, I have my leaningson this question, so let's talk
about how do you even know whenyou're tired and burned out.
(05:50):
Right, the signs for you maylook different than the signs
for me.
One thing that I'll share withyou that is a little bit
embarrassing but also kind offunny is that I can tell when
I'm reaching the stage ofburnout and just beyond being
tired, when, for example, a newbuyer comes to me and they, you
(06:11):
know, like, hey, we got yournumber from so-and-so, we are
looking to buy a home in theAustin area, and my first
thought is, oh God, and I justfeel depleted and not what I
want to feel, which is excitedand engaged and whatever.
And that is kind of a big flagto me to be like hey, pay
(06:33):
attention, you need to assesswhat's going on in your life
right now so that you can showup for these clients well, so
that you can be excited fortheir joy.
And generally, working withclients I am excited about, but
it's when I find myself feelingreally worn down, when someone
comes to me, that I know thatit's time to reassess what's
going on.
So it's one of the little flagsthat I'm like huh, okay, it's
(06:55):
time for me to stop, take abreath and see what's going on
here.
But what is it for you?
Do you have issues sleeping?
Do you feel tension in yourshoulders and your jaw and your
eyes and your neck in a way thatnever seems to go away?
How do you know that you'rereaching that point of burnout
(07:15):
in your business?
The other thing that happenswith me, too, is that I start
missing little details.
Is this the client who wantedthat shed gone before closing,
or was it the other one?
Did I just forget thatsomewhere, or what happened?
So missing those details isanother cue to me that there's
something going on with my levelof work and that I'm not at a
(07:36):
good place with balancing thatout.
So once you know what yoursigns are, which are going to be
different than mine anddifferent than your other
colleagues and different thanyour partners what do we do
about that?
So, if we're looking at some ofthe, what do I do out there in
the external world?
Here are some things that I'vecome up with over my time in
(07:57):
this industry.
So one of them is if a newclient comes in, do I have the
place in my business where I canjust say no, maybe of the
client load.
I currently have this clientwho is far away from where I
live or is looking for a type ofproduct that is not my
specialty like.
(08:17):
Maybe they're looking for farmand ranch or they're looking for
downtown condos and that's notmy area of expertise.
Could I hand them off to anexperienced colleague, collect a
referral fee and get some of mytime back?
Can you plan a vacation?
When's the last time you wenton a vacation?
When you go on a vacation, doyou leave more tired when you
(08:39):
come back?
If so, you may need a type oftrip that is free of agendas and
to-dos and more hustling andrunning around.
And, to be clear, I don't thinkgoing on vacation solves the
problems.
If you don't, if you're notintentional about what you plan
to do with your time on vacation, and do you set boundaries for
(09:02):
yourself with your clients, howdo you do that?
Do you let clients know thatyou're typically not responding
to work messages, whether that'stext or email, after a certain
time?
Do they know that you are offon Sundays?
If so, how and where and whenis that communicated?
Do they also know that someoneis in place to help take care of
them.
(09:23):
If they do need something on aSunday, is there a colleague you
can partner with, or a junioragent in your office who doesn't
mind working Sundays that couldlet someone into a house or
whatever if that were the case.
So that's another way to knowwhat to do once you figure out
that you are burnt out or arejust beyond tired with how work
life balance is going.
(09:44):
The other thing that I wouldoffer is talking to a mentor
agent.
So one of the most helpfulthings I did when my career was
starting to grow quite a bit andI was feeling just completely
overwhelmed every moment of theday and had no idea how I would
ever get a grasp on anything, isI met with a couple of my
mentor agents who had the kindof business that, who did more
(10:07):
business than I did, whose workstyles I appreciated because
they seem like they.
When they came to the officethey didn't seem frazzled and
harried and just running around.
They seemed like there was somecalm and some steadiness there,
and so I reached out to themand said hey, can I take you out
for coffee?
I'd love to pick your brain onwhere you're at with your
business and if there's someblind spots I'm missing in my
(10:28):
business at the stage that I'mat, that you might be able to
see.
And it's like seeing atherapist or just talking to
someone who's outside of asituation, a friend or somebody
who can kind of look at some ofthe gaps you may have in your
business and say, hmm, based onwhat you're telling me, have you
tried X, y or Z?
And that was super helpful tome In the before times in BC,
(10:49):
before COVID, in the beforetimes, probably back around 2016
, when I talked to my mentor,one of the pieces of advice she
gave me was to stop takingbuyers in my car when we went
out and looked at property.
Now, this was antithetical toeverything I had been taught in
my real estate career up untilthat point.
I had been taught you alwaystake the buyers in your car,
(11:11):
right, it helps build rapport,you can point out the parks and
the schools and you can chatwith them, et cetera.
So this idea that I wouldn'ttake buyers in my car just
seemed kind of crazy to me andit took me a little while to
wrap my head around it.
And her point was um, knowingalso that I'm an introvert was
that you can get a little bit ofquiet time in the car.
(11:34):
When your clients are not withyou, you can allow your brain to
just sort of.
You can allow your brain torelax a little bit because
you're not kind of on in thesense of pointing things out or
whatever.
If somebody calls, you havesome space to call somebody back
, you can return calls, checktext messages etc.
And it saves you time becauseyou're not having to go back and
take your client back to theircar.
(11:56):
So once I started implementingthat, I was like oh, I see this,
I see this makes a lot moresense Now, obviously in this, in
the COVID era, we weren't doingthat anyways, but it was
helpful to get someone else'sviewpoint on my business in that
way.
I maybe not I wouldn't haverealized that ever and I
certainly probably wouldn't haverealized it at that moment in
time.
The other piece of advice I gotwas to start delegating some of
(12:19):
the tasks that other people cando.
There are tasks that only youcan do, that are specific to you
, right, like they're only tasksthat I can do, because my
clients expect that relationshipfrom me.
I want to be in charge of thosethings things like buyer
appointments and listingappointments and talking through
negotiations and things likethat but there are a lot of
(12:42):
things that somebody else can dofor me.
I remember a point in my careerwhere I would be going to
Target and getting closingbasket supplies and assembling
those closing baskets in my homeoffice.
And figuring out that I couldhave a courier go do that for me
or a door dash person orsomething like that saved me a
huge amount of time.
(13:02):
Some of the people who workedwith me would also just put the
baskets together.
I had pictures from when I'ddone them before.
They would just assemble them,so they're pretty much ready to
go at my house Now.
There are probably a lot ofexamples.
If you don't do closing baskets, of things that you do in your
world that easily somebody elsecould do.
Now are you having to pay forthis?
Yes, but you know what.
(13:23):
You're already paying for it.
You're paying for it with notjust your money but also your
time.
I don't want you to hiresomeone to go do these things
and then fill your schedule withmore stuff.
What I want you to do at thattime is rest or go for a walk or
yoga class or just somethingthat has no agenda attached to
(13:44):
it Play with your dog or yourkiddos.
It's not another to-do list.
It is the opposite of a to-dolist, a not to-do list.
It's just it's free time.
Don't fill it with more work.
And then the other sort of pointI would offer you is see where
you can find many moments ofrest in your day already.
(14:07):
So, as I mentioned at the introof this episode, I am also a
meditation teacher and I think alot of people get caught up in
thinking that you have tomeditate in a certain way and
you have to sit on a cushion andit has to be 20 minutes and all
these kinds of things.
And I'm here to tell you, as acertified meditation teacher,
(14:27):
that is not true.
You can meditate whenever youwant.
30 seconds of mindfulness is 30seconds of mindfulness.
That is a totally valid amountof time to spend focusing your
attention.
So my encouragement would be totry to find these many moments
of time in your day already.
So when you're getting in yourcar to get ready to go meet with
(14:50):
the buyer, you put your seat,buckle your seatbelt in pause,
take three deep breaths Off, yougo.
That's it.
That's your mini moment ofmindfulness.
Let's say your client texts youand says they're running five
or 10 minutes late.
You get to the property.
Do not get on your phone or onsocial media.
(15:12):
Instead, walk around theneighborhood or sit in your car
and do some deep breathing, orjust look outside and look at
the trees.
I mean it's trying to work inthese moments of mindfulness
where you can find them, ratherthan saying, oh, there's yet
another thing I have to findtime to do which is only going
to stress you out more.
I'm trying to get you to doless.
Where can you squeeze in thosemany moments of mindfulness?
(15:34):
How can you build them into theroutine you already have going?
I got some of those tips fromthe book Atomic Habits by James
Clear.
He talked about, I believethat's called habit stacking,
where you are already doing aparticular thing and you stack a
little habit along with it.
That sort of flows seamlesslyinto what you're already doing.
Now I'm going to give you alittle bonus one here too, a
(15:57):
little bonus one I learned Ican't remember from where
probably about 10 years ago, andaround the end of the year,
usually in the week afterChristmas and before the new
year.
It's kind of dead time, thosefour or five days no one's
really doing much.
It's a time I kind of go intolike planning in for 2025, the
next year, etc.
And one of the practices Istarted doing around that time
(16:20):
was to take everything off mycalendar all my appointments,
all my recurring, you know, gymthings, meetings, etc.
And really assessing why eachone is there, what purpose they
serve, why each one is there,what purpose they serve and what
my intention is with them.
(16:43):
So you know, if I have arecurring workout appointment on
my calendar for two or threetimes a week and I look at that
and I'm like, hmm, am I stillcommitted to this activity?
Does this still fit with mygoals for the coming year?
Do I still have the time andthe capacity and the money to
spend toward this?
Because often for me when Istart looking at it, you know
door to door for me to go leavemy house, get to workout class,
(17:04):
do the workout and come back canbe two, two and a half hours
between traffic and everythingelse.
That's a fair chunk out of aday, right, an hour for the
class, 30 minutes on either endto get there, 30 or 40 minutes
to get there, stretch, get setup, et cetera.
So does that still fit withyour life in the coming year?
Is that going to be a goal ofyours?
(17:26):
Take everything off and reassesseach thing Now.
A lot of them might go back onlike, yes, that is important to
me, I feel connected to that.
Yes, that thing stays.
And yes, that is important tome, I feel connected to that.
Yes, that thing stays.
And same thing with teammeetings and work meetings.
Do these still fulfill thepurpose that they were intended
for?
And, if not, is that somethingyou're able to discuss with your
team lead or your manager tosay, hey, you know, instead of
(17:46):
coming to these meetings everyweek, I may be coming every
other week and just make surethat's okay with whoever your
manager is and if they're opento feedback, maybe letting them
know why that's the case.
Right, like, hey, I don't findthat I'm getting the value out
of this.
I'd rather be out in the fieldor, honestly, you don't have to
tell them this but resting,because resting allows your mind
(18:09):
to think more creatively, tohave more space to just rest and
be so.
That's our episode for today.
Thank you for joining me.
Today we covered what we knowabout what makes us, as real
estate professionals, feelstress, what are the signs of
feeling that and burnout.
What does that feel like foryou in your body and in your
(18:30):
mind?
And then some practical tipsfor what we do about that your
body and in your mind.
And then some practical tipsfor what we do about that, how
we can use some external toolsto use that, and I may do a
future episode where we talk alittle bit more about our
internal tools, which is thingslike our mindset, realizing that
we are in a system that pushesus to work all the time, and
what we can do about those kindsof things, and what we can do
(18:52):
about those kinds of thingsfinding some mini moments of
rest as well.
I hope you found this podcastuseful and, if you'd like a list
, I also do have a list of themini moments specifically for
real estate professionals.
If you want that list, justshoot me an email and I will get
that over to you, and if youhave any additional thoughts or
(19:13):
comments, you can find me on allthe socials.
I will link everything in theshow notes.
I appreciate you joining me onthis call and we look forward to
the next time.
Thank you again so much forjoining me on this episode of
the Rested Real Estate Agent.
If you found this episodeuseful, it would mean a lot to
me if you would share it withcolleagues in your office.
And if you're interested indiving deeper on this work, you
(19:37):
can set up a one-on-one sessionwith me.
Just send me a message and wecan chat.
If your office or your localboard of realtors are looking
for speakers for team meetings,group coaching et cetera, I am
available and happy to travel.
Please have them reach out.
Thanks again and until nexttime be well.
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