Are you running on empty? We Realtors, agents and sales people in general, run on "people-fuel".
When we run low on it , it shows up in our attitude, performance and reactions vs. responses.
It's simple, schedule a go hard 6 day week, then take a day off. Unplug from the business and recharge with family, hobbies, exercise, rest, a book, a date, the game on TV, whatever relaxes you.
I truly believe most sales people do not take a day off out of guilt. They don't feel they deserve it, because they know what they did (or didn't) do with their day. If you were more on purpose with your 8-10 hours, you would have no issues with getting home by 6 pm or 7 pm each night, you'd know after 6 on-purpose days, you'd deserve a day off.
The time you stop and the day you take off, is totally up to you, choose what works best...what has the least challenges to begin with. But, make no mistake, you'll need to fight for it to happen in the beginning & defend it when you have it. I've taken Sundays off for 10 years and I still battle for them occasionally.
If you do not recharge, you are cheating:
your clients,
your family
and your health.
Give them the best of you, not what's left of you.
Would you go to a heart surgeon that never takes a day off? That answers his phones? Sets his own appointments and preps the patients? Preps the operating room? Runs to Office Depot? His office littered with Red Bull cans and empty coffee cups?
Your clients, your family, your own health can have the best of you or what’s left of you;
how are you showing up?
Down Tools: (daily) aim for a set time to shut off the phones & e-mail each night. You won’t hit this every evening, that’s OK. Have a target time, regardless. You’ll spend more time at home than not, because this becomes the deadline to stop work and begin rest. (Voice-mail & e-mail auto-responders help out great with this, “if it’s after 6pm, I’ll make you a high priority return call tomorrow morning”)
Weekly Day Off: no checking in, no work calls, texts nor e-mails; it’s not a day off if your preoccupied with work; if you are still plugged in. Have a plan for your day off, just like you do for your days on. If you have trouble telling your clients, "that's my day off", just say "I'm sorry I'm completely booked that day, I can offer you X or Y instead." (Just don't bust yourself on Facebook or Twitter, etc.).
Annual Vacations: set them up to win. Have people cover for you while you are away or you can simply prep your clients well in advance, that you’ll be gone from Oct 1- Oct 10. It’s not a vacation if you do not un-plug! I have my assistant and a trusted Realtor partner cover for me. It's business as usual for my clients and I do not check in once. I checkout for 7-14 days and "drink the nectar out of my vacation". In 17 years, nothing has imploded. In fact, I think things run smoother when I'm away.
“Your most expensive possessions are your excuses.” Rick Itzkowich "the linked in guy"
. Image courtesy of [ratch0013] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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