It’s no secret that real estate can be a volatile business with a VERY high rate of failure. All you can do is give it your all every day as you build your personal brand and sphere of influence. Before you build anything, you have to ensure you have a solid foundation – use these 8 tips to reduce stress and build that solid foundation!
1. Positivity
It sounds hokey and cliche, but real estate can be a tough business filled with rejection, failure, and loss if you let it be. You need to be going into every conversation, meeting, and prospect interview with a smile and the attitude of ‘Yes, I can!’. Negativity is not only toxic, but it’s also contagious – and once you start infecting others, they’ll start to gravitate away from you. That’s just basic human psychology.
If you’re in a slump, it just means that you’re due for a break. But remember, you’re not OWED that break – you identify an opportunity and you make it for yourself! More importantly, it’ll better prepare you to handle rejection and failure by helping you see the benefits of the lessons gained in failure. These are key in developing strong real estate agent motivation and resiliency.
Visualize, Strategize, Realize, Energize.
2. Set Time Aside For You
Humans are by our very nature social animals. We require socialization and community as part of our basic psychological needs. That’s not to say that alone time doesn’t possess benefits. You NEED time to recharge your mental batteries; work this into your weekly plan.
Even an hour to 90 minutes of uninterrupted ‘You’ time can yield dramatic results on your health and well-being.
“Researchers from Texas A&M found that group brainstorming hinders productivity due to “cognitive fixation.”
Cognitive fixation is the tendency for people working in groups to get stuck on other people’s ideas, reducing their ability to come up with anything new, and the bigger the group, the more fixated everyone becomes. Spending time alone not only eliminates distractions but also ensures that you don’t have trouble with “too many cooks.” Entrepreneur.com, 2017
A key to optimal real estate agent motivation and satisfaction is rooted in a sense of overall well-being. Taking time for yourself promotes that greatly!
3. Practice Breathing Exercise
When you’re stressed, anxious, or nervous, your brain reverts to lizard brain functions, and you get locked into ‘fight or flight mode’ which has literal physical implications for you – none of which are good on a longer timeline.
There’s a muscle in your core called your Psoas (pronounced so-iss); the Psoas is THE main core muscle, and it’s what anchors your legs and hips to your spine – it’s so important that in yoga, it’s referred to as “The Muscle of the Soul”! It is also directly adjacent to your adrenal gland.
When stressed, your Psoas actually tightens in an evolutionary response to prepare you to run if need be. In tightening, it affects how you breathe because of the impact it wreaks on your diaphragm. It forces you into shorter and shallower breaths as part of the ‘fight or flight response’.
Left tense for too long, it will cause you an obscene amount of pain and discomfort which takes a long time to heal. Just being mindful of your breathing in times of stress provides enough gentle stretching to ensure the Psoas stays flexible and malleable. Also, it has been scientifically proven to help reduce situational stress. If you’re serious about real estate agent motivation and vitality, you need to be able to de-escalate yourself in tense situations. That begins with breathing and keeping “The Muscle of the Soul” content.
Bonus: Headspace Is a great app to help meditate and improve breathing techniques for a stress-free life.
4. Stretch – Don’t Be Idle For Too Long At One Spot
There is no debate among medical professionals. Regular stretching (and not just before exercise) yields positive benefits for the human body. Not just in keeping you feeling loose and reducing your chance of injury, but it helps with posture and circulation as well. A lack of energy/feeling of fatigue is the most detrimental factor affecting real estate agent motivation. There’s a chance your under-used muscles are contributing to that cycle!
“Studies show that regular stretching can help reduce neck and shoulder pain and they also show that regular breaks to stand and stretch increases productivity at the office. Not only do you reduce pain and tension, but those flexibility breaks allow your eyes to rest and your entire body to feel more comfortable.” Verywell.com, 2016
If you’re spending a great deal of time daily sitting down (at your desk, in the car, on your couch)heed this. You NEED – I repeat NEED – to stretch your legs and lower back to avoid some serious long-term health implications.
5. Disconnect From The Internet Every Day
Set aside an hour every day (not during sleep) when you turn off your phone. The benefit of this doesn’t really need to be explained. Your phone owns you if you let it. You need to be able to function like you did not even a decade ago.
“Around 11% of people in Western countries are thought to suffer from some form of technology addiction. But researchers have found that some of us actually experience real, physical withdrawal symptoms when we’re not using the internet. Swansea University researchers measured the heart rate and blood pressure of 144 volunteers before and after using the internet. They found that heavy users had a spike in heart rate and blood pressure when they stopped – and feelings of anxiety.” Metro.co.uk, 2017
A major factor in real estate agent motivation is being able to build an effective work/life balance. That begins with you taking your time back from your smartphone.
6. Talk to Yourself To Increase Confidence & Relax At The Same Time
Have a big meeting coming up? Why not take some time to go over what you’d like to say? Actors run lines and rehearse to give the best performance, athletes practice – why would you not hone your craft?
Want a secret? That person who has impressed you with their ability to deliver a great speech/presentation? Who just seems so well-spoken and collected? THEY REHEARSE! Sure, there are some phenoms who can just stand and deliver. Most likely the person you’re thinking of isn’t one of them.
A great rule to live by: If you’re going to say something important, it should NEVER be the first time you say it. Practice your delivery, your wording, how you emphasize, how you pause – EVERYTHING.
Never surprising yourself (negatively) when speaking is a core principle in real estate agent motivation and readiness; you want to feel prepared and confident – that starts by talking to yourself!
7. Do A Good Deed Without Telling Anyone About It
But here’s the catch: DON’T TELL ANYONE.
It doesn’t matter what your good deed is, just do it and keep it to yourself. There is NOTHING worse than people bragging about good deeds; it completely devalues the deed by talking about it.
There is a physiological benefit that comes from the satisfaction of a good deed. Reap it and keep it (to yourself). To attain optimal real estate agent motivation, you have to be willing to do for others who may not be able to reciprocate.
8 .Be Inspired By Something or Someone
Take time to appreciate the hard work and accomplishments of others. Extend your positivity to the efforts of others, and put that energy out into your life! It’s important to connect with the stories of others. Learning how to connect with these stories will make you better at talking to people.
Be open to people, and find inspiration and strength from their journey! Support others and others will support you.
