We’ve all had those days where we feel like absolutely nothing is going right. It starts off with hitting every red light on your way to work and slowly trickles into a downright miserable day. Sometimes the cause of a bad day is straight up failure. Maybe you lost a client, or maybe your clients were outbid on a property they really loved or maybe you simply forgot it was your friend’s birthday. Whether the feat be big or small, how you choose to handle it can be the key to moving on.
Take it from me first hand – I’m probably one of the most sensitive people you will ever meet, and the term “don’t take it personally” doesn’t register with me. So when I make a slip with a client or have a less-than-perky discussion with my boss I really have a bad habit of letting it ruin my day. So while going through my normal rounds of social media this morning, I stumbled across an article that explains how to deal with failure. As real estate agents, your job brings the best of times and the worst of times – and as your real estate virtual assistants, we want to make sure you’re prepared for both. Here’s some things we can do during those rough times.
No Blame Game: Instead of looking for someone to blame for the problem, look for the cause of the problem. All too often we make things harder on ourselves than they need to be, and this only causes unnecessary grief and self-destruction. When we find the underlying cause of a failure, we can organize a way to prevent similar failures from happening again in the future.
Take a Walk: So you’ve just gotten settled into work when you decide to check your voicemail. That is when you receive a message from an irate client who is wondering why you haven’t returned their call for three days (for most of us this would never happen but we’ll use it for the time being). Dumbfounded and embarrassed, you wrack your brain thinking of an appropriate response for an inexcusable action. Slow down. Take a deep breath. When something like this happens, taking a break may be the best thing to do. Take a walk around the block; grab a cup of coffee, work on another project to take your mind off of the current issue. When we deal with issues like this immediately, we could end up making the problem worse. Instead of calling back with excuses, give your brain some time to refocus – you’ll be amazed at how much better you will handle the situation.
Talk it Out: Feeling down is normal, and sometimes it takes more than just Me, Myself and I to make us feel better. If you find that you’re having trouble snapping out of the “down” mode, take your thoughts to someone you trust. Whether it is a friend, co-worker or a loved one, talking to someone who is un-related to the situation can really help put it in perspective. After all, things could always be worse – but for some reason you might not believe it until someone else says it.
Regroup and GO: Ok. So you’ve accepted the fact that you’ve made a mistake, you took a walk and you talked it out. Now what will you do to push forward? Formulate a plan of action and be specific about what you’ll do to achieve your new goals. While we can’t go back in time and take back what happened, we can always take action to better ourselves in the future.
While much of what we teach you is all about how to succeed, it’s important to have a solid plan of action for when we fail. Some people are awesome at dealing with setbacks and have a natural knack for implementing these strategies when needed. If you’re one of these people, look around you and help those who tend to take it hard. You might be just the person to cheer them up. You can always give your real estate virtual assistant a call, too. After all, we are here to make your life easier. From blogging, social media, listing marketing and more, let us know how we can help!
Remember - you’re awesome.
Lauren Wille
Marketing Coordinator
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