original image by NathanaelB used under CC License
What is it?
Burn out is exactly that- burned out. Like a wick that has exhausted itself, the flame dies often leaving the shell of the candle.
How it happens to you
As you enter the office on Monday morning, you’re excited to begin the new week. You have new marketing ideas, lists of existing marketing efforts to check and tweak, you’re set in your priorities. Having stopped for a Starbucks and being well rested, you’re amped up for a full day- it’s time to hit those goals.
As you enter the office, and set your things down on your desk, up pipes Sally about how roughly her weekend went- a lost client and then this morning a canceled listing. That’s really too bad for Sally, she’s had a horrible last couple of months. You reassure Sally that she’s going to be fine, but in your mind you know that Sally may not make it.
As you log on to your computer to check your emails, you find a few negatives yourself, nothing you cannot handle, but this time you’ve lost the first hour of your day to Sally and dealing with small fires of your own. You begin to check the RSS reader to see what’s new from the weekend and you find nothing but negative nellies in markets all around the country, bickering over observations and opinions and how the real estate world has stopped spinning- the market is a mess.
Nearly noon now, you’ve lost all focus on what you had set out to accomplish today. For some reason you’re spun, and you’re feeling the need to leave the office- it seems all the energy you left the house with is gone.
Welcome to burn out
Many times I’ve been exactly where I just described, it’s human and natural. But the biggest part of beating burn out is in how long it takes you to recognize it. Knowing immediately that your enviornment is getting you down allows you to change your enviornment. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the office, it could be the gloomy weather, the piles of snow outside of your door that keeps you from getting from point A to point B, but even here, there are solutions.
Here are a few solutions
- Avoid negative Sallys.
- Team up with like minded thinkers in your office.
- Never let weak players play on your team.
- If you’re stuck in the house- take a shower, get dressed, and put on your professional face.
- Create a success first thing. Complete two or three tasks first thing.
- Turn off the RSS feeders for a few days until your goals are reached.
- Create marketing tasks that return quick results. Looking too far into the future can leave you exhausted.
- Get control over something, even if it is organizing and cleaning your home office.
- … Stay at Starbucks. A laptop in a happy place where you can exchange smiles and positive feelings can keep you humming. Who says you have to sit at a desk to be a Millionaire Agent?
The facts about me
I’ve never subscribed to motivational books, speakers, or anything of the sort. I’m a logical and analytical thinker and often rely on my understanding and knowledge of myself and successes I’ve had. But that’s me. I realize that not everyone has such a handle on how they’re feeling to make quick changes before they’ve fallen too far down the slope of gloom. So I hope these common sense reminders help you or someone you know.
Oh yeah, the right advice to give Sally? Advise Sally to take a few days off- get away. This will not only free the office of a negative burden, but might give your Sally a chance to put together a plan of her own.
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Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist
Marketing columnist
Magnificent – You just made my day!
May I have your permission to reprint this and distribute to my agents?
“Team up with like minded thinkers in your office.” – change office to around the world & you’ve nailed the heart and soul of why we twitter.
Sometimes I just leave the computer off and try not to even think about real estate. Two days of that and I’m almost always better.
Benn, GREAT post. All things I strive to do to stay positive and avoid burnout, but at times it’s nice to see a well-stated list to remind me or keep myself in check.
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@Bill absolutely!
@andy you have great heart and soul, I always enjoy being in your office
@Chris that’s because your other name is Sally. =]
@Ryan sometimes you just don’t realize you’ve landed in a rut
Awesome post! Many folks in our area are going through this, as the market is pretty tough. It’s very catchy. One folk get’s frustrated and then frustrates others. I tend to abandon work and PC’s for a day or so and get reconnected with my family. I needed to do that just this past weekend. I was glad that I did.
Thanks for passing along your wisdom!
Great friggin’ article.
I got burnt out and took one year off to write a book and keep my toes in the sand. I realized that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. In fact, I was really bored and looked forward to getting back to the office. The experience was good for me, though, because it will save me from retiring later on. I may cut back in my later years, but retirement will be too boring for me. One way to deal with burnout is to realize that being productive is fulfilling, although it doesn’t always feel like it in the moment. Doing nothing (retirement) may sound good, but it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. When you feel yourself getting burnt out, remember that the alternative might not be as good as what you are already doing.
I always surround myself with positive people – those couple of days did you good my friend
Benn,
I am only a little late…. great post. I am passing on to agents….
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Laura, ag posts live on forever because of great commentators like yourself!
Burn out comes and goes … at my old office there was a whiteboard with sales and listings for the months. When things were extremely slow last year I avoided the office because I just didn’t need to see it. I didn’t need the feeling that I wasn’t busting my ass.
Much better is the whiteboard at my house with a list of everyone in my pipeline running a couple of dozen deep, a half-dozen listings (or soon to be listings) and properties in escrow.
You often can tell my mood by the number of unread items in my RSS reader. When times are a bit tough, the posts stack up because I don’t need to see doom and gloom or pithy pissing contests.
I have had a very strong 18 month run. I hit a few bumps this first quarter and now I don’t want to play anymore. This post is giving me some daylight to gear up for the rest of the year. I was thinking that maybe I need to take a vacation? I really have not had a real vacation in a few years.