Put worry in its place

There’s plenty to worry about right now.

• Will you get sick?
• Will someone you love get sick?
• Will the economy collapse?
• What if you can’t sell any houses this year?
• How will you pay your bills?
• Will we become a police state?
• Is the Constitution a goner?

And on top of that there are the other worries that were around before any of us heard of Coronavirus.

But worrying all day is dangerous.

If you spend all day worrying, you probably WILL get sick. Your business probably WILL fall apart. That’s the danger of worrying – it can take over your life and cause everything to go wrong.

I forget who said it, but I believe it’s true that “Worrying is like praying for something you don’t want.” And unfortunately, such intense prayers are too often answered.

At the same time, I know a lot of folks think it’s just plain wrong NOT to worry – especially if someone they know is sick or in trouble. They think they have some sort of duty to pay attention to that, and feel that they’re being uncaring if they try to go on with life.

The fact is:

• Worrying will not keep someone safe.
• Worrying will not help the economy.
• Worrying does not have any positive benefits.

With everything that’s going on, you can’t help but be concerned.

But you can also put worry in its place, by giving it a place – in time, that is.

Try a technique I read about years ago.

Set aside ten or fifteen minutes once a day – or 2 or 3 times if you must – for worrying. Put it in your planner: “10:45 a.m. – worry for 10 minutes.” Then set everything else aside and just focus on the worry until your time is up.

I know – it sounds pretty goofy, but some people swear it works. If it works for you, you’ll be able to get back to the business of keeping your career alive. Then stop and get back to work.

Whatever else you do, keep marketing and prospecting!

Remember – when this crisis has passed, people are going to be eager to buy and sell homes again. The agents who have stayed in touch are the agents who will get those calls saying “I’m ready!”

If you’re not sure how to market or prospect right now…

Check out the two letter sets I wrote to address the COVID crisis. These are letters to use alone, or in conjunction with other letters / newsletters / reports you’re sending.

The COVID-19 This Too Shall Pass Letter Set

The COVID-19 Postcard sized prospecting letters.

One more thing…

If most of your potential clients are waiting around (which is addressed in the letters), use your free time to work on making yourself even more valuable to them.

I stole this idea from an email from Graham McGregor, but I don’t think he’ll mind if I share:

“Come up with 10 ways to positively differentiate your business from all your competitors.

Put 3 of these into action in April.”

Graham shares many good ideas – so why don’t you write him and ask to be put on his mailing list?

We WILL get through this crisis...

And just maybe we'll come out of it with smarter, better methods of taking good care of our clients.

My other hope is that we'll come through it with better awareness of how to take care of ourselves and our families. More hand washing - using the wipes on grocery carts - keeping a little distance during flu season.

I've wished for a long, long time that sick people would stay home from work - and that schools would encourage parents to keep sick kids at home.

 Graphics courtesy of stuart miles @freedigitalphotos.net