It doesn’t matter what role you work in real estate you’re going to be Busy with a capital B.
You need to bring the best version of yourself each day to meet the expectations others have of you and those you put upon yourself.
But success isn’t just measured in the number of sales you make or the amount of properties you manage.
Taking care of yourself and your relationships outside of work can make a major difference in your success and satisfaction levels too.
Last edition, we looked at how incorporating small mindfulness and meditation practices into your daily routine can lead to big results.
Today, I’m going to take you through how reconnecting with yourself, your family, friends and colleagues can have a similar impact.
Create space for connections
Extending beyond ourselves and our focus is the idea of connecting with others.
COVID-19 has shown us a lot about what real social isolation feels like. And it has an impact.
- Loneliness has been linked to premature death, poor physical and mental health, and general dissatisfaction with life.
- Social isolation has also been linked to mental illness, emotional distress, suicide, the development of dementia, premature death, poor health behaviours, smoking, physical inactivity, poor sleep, and biological effects, including high blood pressure and poorer immune function.
Disconnect from the day to reconnect at home
In a past relationship, I was with a paramedic.
At one point in our relationship, he was selected to do an intensive two-year course to work in high-grade emergency scenarios.
Before starting his course, the ambulance service put on a session for the applicants and their partners about the gruelling study they would be doing and working a full-time job.
The psychologist talked about how important it was to have the support of the students’ partners and families, and how important it was to ensure they were taking many opportunities to connect with their partners.
He suggested students use their commute from work to home to proactively plan what they were going to do and say to their partner when they walked through the door: “Hi darling – I’ve missed you, how was your day?”
By doing this – they were walking out the door of their work life mentally and physically – and drawing their attention to what was important.
Connect to build family or community over a meal
One of the teams in our business meets almost every day to share a meal. Sometimes they’ll even take turns cooking for each other.
In our business, they’re one of our closest-knit and highest-performing teams.
At the end of last year, I hosted the 12 members of our leadership team for a pre-Christmas dinner.
We put on traditional food (and drink!) from Russia – where our family is from.
This act of switching off and connecting with the team at home probably did more for our morale and cohesion as a group than any number of internal meetings or team-building events.
There’s some science behind the practice.
“Children who eat dinner with their parents five or more days a week have less trouble with drugs and alcohol, eat healthier, show better academic performance, and report being closer with their parents than children who eat dinner with their parents less often, according to a study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University,” it said in The Atlantic.
“Eating together also led children to report better relationships with their parents and surely relationships between adults can similarly benefit.”
What’s good for kids is surely just as good for adults.
How often do you have dinner at home as a family?
How often do you create a sense of family by doing dinner as a team?
Part of your job – whether you’re an administrator, an office principal, an agent or a buyer runner – is bringing your best self to your work and to your relationships.
Giving yourself the space and time to reconnect with yourself, with your environment, with your friends and colleagues isn’t just good for you – it’s good for everyone around you.
Besides the practical side – you deserve it!
