By Denise Lones M.I.R.M., CSP
"Denise, I don't know if I want to stay in this business anymore."
"Denise, I'm thinking about quitting real estate. I'm not sure it's for me."
"Denise, I'm burned out!"
These are actual quotes from emails I have received over the past few weeks. I have been both shocked and amazed at who some of those emails have come from. Not rookies. Seasoned professionals.
Why would such talent even consider something so drastic when they're so good at what they do?
Because burnout is killing their spirit. Regardless of how fun and lucrative real estate may be, it's a stressful job. I admit that. This is exactly the reason I spend so much time helping people make it less stressful.
Everybody-and I mean each and every one of us-reaches a point of burnout. It's normal. It's natural. It's human. Doing one thing incessantly for too long can cause a serious buildup of tension in our souls. One of the first signs of suffering from burnout is the thought "I want out."
Some motivational coaches will tell you to "Stick with it. Push yourself harder. Force yourself through it. It will pass."
No it won't.
If you try to work through burnout, you will get scattered. You will lose your ability to think clearly. Your former confident self shrinks into a mere imitation of you. You find yourself going through the paces like a robot, not fully present with your clients. You lose your spirit.
I speak from experience. Yes, I too occasionally suffer from burnout. But I have a much better cure for it: Embrace it. Run with it. Take time off. Get away from the office. Focus on something else.
I have suffered burnout a number of times in my career and I know when it is happening. Burnout is caused either by being overworked or by not being able to catch up with other things in your life that need attention. For example, this has been a stellar year for The Lones Group, and everyone at my office has worked very very hard, including me! I realized earlier this summer that burnout was settling in because I was facing my upcoming move to my new home. I needed to break away from focusing on work and give myself over to something else. My something else became the new home I just recently moved into. I know enough about burnout to know that if Denise is not focused then there is no point in being there. If I have a home to move, then I must put my 100% energy into that and allow myself to enjoy it.
And enjoy it I have!
I've spent the last two weeks 100% focused on the big move. I haven't been trying to be 100% in both places and 50% in both places just wouldn't be effective for anyone. I had to shut it all off. It would have been too much to do both. Whatever I do, I embrace it and put my full effort into it. So, I embraced my burnout and I've been totally home-focused.
But a curious thing happened. I got antsy. That creative part of my mind has been sleeping for the past few weeks and it's slowly stretching, yawning, and waking up. Burnout is lifting like morning fog.
Every few minutes as I'm putting the finishing touches on the house, I'm jotting down notes of spontaneous ideas that are coming from the creative part of my mind. New projects. New solutions. I'm feeling that excitement of wanting to get back to doing what I love best-helping people succeed in their businesses while still having a life.
This is the power of embracing burnout. Throw your arms around it. Give over to it 100%. Love it. Let burnout burn itself out. When you allow it to do so, you give it power to recharge itself. Then, you suddenly begin to get that "fired up" feeling growing inside your belly. That feeling that you can't wait to get back into the office and back into the swing of things.
Now, I don't necessarily recommend that you pack up and move. But I do recommend that you take some time off and do something else you love. Go to the gym. Go to the spa. Go to the beach. Take a vacation. Or even just a long weekend at a bed-and-breakfast in a tiny little town in the mountains.
Whatever we do-working, spending time with our family, eating, sleeping, driving-should be the main focus of our attention. We should be fully present in whatever we do. Otherwise, it's not worth doing.
When burnout sets in, it robs us of our ability to be fully present in our work. And we all know that in order to succeed at real estate, we need to be squarely focused on it. If we begin to slack off and run our business halfheartedly, then it will slip through our fingers.
"But Denise, I can't just pack up and take a vacation. I have too much to do."
Then you need to implement systems in your business so that you can take vacations (or even just get away for a day) without a loss in productivity. Do you think The Lones Group closed its doors and put a "Gone Fishin'" sign on the front door while I've been out? (Hey wait a minute, that sounds like fun!)
Just the opposite. Not only do I have the best staff anyone could ever employ, I've set my business up to run almost completely on autopilot. That's the power of systems. For everything The Lones Group does, I have procedures in place that run whether I'm there or not. This is exactly what you need in your business so that you too can embrace burnout when it rears its ugly head.
Don't have systems in place so you can take off without everything falling apart? Call me at (360) 527-8904 or shoot me an email at denise@thelonesgroup.com and I'll be happy to give examples of what I'm talking about. You don't need to be a slave to your business. You own it. Not the other way around.
Whatever we resist and fight will eventually overtake us. Stop resisting. Stop fighting. Embrace your burnout and get back your spirit.
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