Stress Management for Real Estate Agents

During good times and bad, real estate can be a hectic business to get into. Often involving weekend and evening open houses, eleventh hour contract negotiations, and difficult to manage clients, real estate agents can quickly find themselves feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. To prevent this from happening to you, it’s important that you work hard to manage your stress in a healthy way, which you can do by making a few simple changes to your lifestyle.

Delegate what you can to others

Many of us try to manage every aspect of our businesses ourselves. We think we know best and that we can do a job faster and better ourselves than if we were to ask someone else to do it. The problem with this type of thinking is that we end up biting off much more than we can actually chew. By delegating tasks to others, we ease the burden on our shoulders, empower our workers to take on more responsibility, and we can ensure that the job is done with care rather than being rushed.

Delegating is a learned skill, one that can be intimidating at first to new agents. It will however, be an invaluable skill throughout your career as a real estate agent. Start with small tasks and increase their complexity and importance as your trust level rises. Soon you’ll find that good delegation can make everyone’s lives easier.

Break projects into small, actionable steps

When taking on a project, break it into pieces rather than focusing on it as a whole. This will make the job much more manageable for you. When formulating a to-do list, make sure that each job is small in terms of time commitment and effort. And make sure that they’re actionable steps rather than vague statements like “work on website.” Be specific and action-oriented. Change “work on website” to “upload market stats onto the Downtown page.” This task is doable in a short period of time, and will leave you feeling like you’ve accomplished something when you’re done. Be sure to mark off your tasks as you complete them so you can bask in the glow of having been very productive. If you were to leave it as “work on website,” it’s hard to check the item off because the task is so large and non-specific. It can feel daunting and is easier to procrastinate when a job is big or unclear. Because you know that uploading the market stats will only take a few minutes, it’s easy to take care of between appointments and will bring you one step closer to having reached your website goals.

Establish clear boundaries between your work life and personal life

It’s extremely important to have uninterrupted time with family and friends. Not only will the time benefit you in terms of mental health, but it will also strengthen your relationships.

Real estate agents have a bad reputation for putting work before family. If you take a phone call from work during your son’s softball game, you’re sending a message to him and to yourself that work is your priority, not him. This can hurt your family members greatly, even though they may not always express it. It’s critical that you set aside time where you won’t take phone calls or think about transactions you have in the works.

In addition to being very beneficial for your relationships, setting a clear boundary between work and home will also help you to focus 100{ef6a2958fe8e96bc49a2b3c1c7204a1bbdb5dac70ce68e07dc54113a68252ca4} on what’s in front of you. The time you spend with loved ones will invigorate your mind and body, and enable you to go back to work with a fresh, creative perspective. If you focus on work all the time, you’ll quickly burn out. It’s much better to establish boundaries early so that no part of your life feels cheated.

Nourish your body; nourish your mind

Don’t eat on the run. While fast food and frozen meals are convenient, they lack in nutritional value. They may make you feel full, but in the long run you’ll end up depleted of essential vitamins and minerals. You’ll have sugar crashes, fatigue, and your mind will start to lose focus. If you combine stress with poor eating habits, you’re setting yourself up for a number of health conditions that can be prevented by taking better care of yourself in the present.

Doctors are always praising the benefits of physical exercise for their positive effect on our muscles, cardiovascular system, and general sense of well being. Exercise releases pleasure-inducing endorphins that result in increased energy and mental focus. To keep you on top of your game in the real estate business, physical activity every week is imperative.

In addition to being excellent for your body, taking a walk everyday or doing some other athletic activity gives you a break from the stresses of the day. You’re able to reflect, meditate, and decompress from the activities that came before. This mental vacation greatly reduces stress, and can sharpen your mind when you get back to work. It can also be part of your ritual for transitioning between work and home life. If you play squash or go for a walk after work, you’re giving yourself the precious time needed to get grounded in the present. This will help you connect more meaningfully when you see your family, as you won’t still be caught up in the stresses of the day.