The Balancing Act: Being a Realtor and Having a Life

How busy-ness can affect your personal life

What is the busiest you’ve been in your Real Estate Career? This could result from a variety of reasons depending how you choose to answer the question. Busy, by definition, means: Having a great deal to do, occupied with or concentrating on a particular activity or object of attention. In our case, most of us being Realtors, we are known for always being busy to the point where others think we work all the time or perhaps you are a Realtor who claims they work all the time. One thing for sure is if you work all the time and have no life balance, you will get sick either emotionally and/or physically. I am speaking from experience, but that’s another story for another day.

Financial well-being

My question to you, if I could bring you value, is this: Are you genuinely happy with your production and the quality of your life? Another question is: How are your finances and how does your future look at this point in your career? Since most of us live a lifestyle based off commissions, we can either be stressed out by what bills to pay off first or we are living a great financial life. We have no debt because we’ve earned more money than we can manage, we’ve finally established a savings account (that has money in it), and not to mention, we have set aside enough to pay our taxes, too.

Balancing act

What does this all have to do with life balance? In my professional opinion, finances play a crucial role in how successful we are as Realtors, as well as the individuals we are in our own homes. Who lives under your roof? Perhaps you have a spouse or partner, a friend, your parents, four-legged family members, or just yourself….in any case, you are responsible for first and foremost…. yourself. After you take care of yourself, you can then take care of others such as your children, etc. Life Balance seems to be easier when everyone under our roof are ALL doing their part and working as hard as we do. If everyone is balanced, our homes are healthy and run smooth. If any member is off balance in regard to their health or financially, the balance in the home will be thrown off, wouldn’t you agree?

The Miracle Morning

People ask me, “How do you do it, Bernadette?” My answer is simple: I wake up by or before 5:00am every day. I learned about Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning” three years ago when I first started coaching. From there, I’ve established a routine of practicing the Miracle Morning. The basic of the Miracle Morning is the acronym S.A.V.E.R.S. I enjoy the V the most which stands for – Visualization. Aside from having a Vision Board, I make it a habit to go on my Pinterest EVERY morning shortly after waking up. This ritual gets me going and excited about what’s to come in my day. I can discuss the details of my daily morning on another blog.

What tools do you use to keep on top of your appointments and schedule?

Most importantly, how I stay balanced is using my google calendar. I’ve tried time and time again to use planners where I can write my schedule down. It works for a week or two then I keep finding myself resorting back to my google calendar. I time block various activities such as my weekly meeting with the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) Rally & Ride Pitch Session EVERY Wednesday from 9am to 10am, where we share each other’s newest listings, upcoming listings, buyer needs, etc. I also block out my son’s Jiu Jitsu classes too as he deserves the attention of his parents as he trains, so he knows we are his biggest supporters and will always cheer him on. Regardless of what system you choose to block off time, blocking off time is crucial when working on maintaining life balance between being a Realtor and having time to be the other roles you signed up for whether it be – being a parent, being a spouse, a dog owner, being President of the Parent association or booster club, exercising at your CrossFit gym or your preferred form of exercise (if any), etc. Using a time blocking system is key to life balance.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself

To wrap things up, let’s take a look at the question and ask yourself… HOW do I take care of myself in the midst of working 40 to 50+ hours a week and trying to maintain a personal life? As mentioned in the paragraph above… time blocking. Also mentioned above, did you notice the time I wake up every morning? For me, time for myself means going on a hike or going to a spa. Taking vacations is another way to care for your soul, although, taking vacations is another blog. My focus is to share how I manage to take care of myself in the day-to-day.

First, hiking is what heals my mind, body, and soul. Something about hiking in the mountains and making it to the top is rewarding and leaves a sense of accomplishment. My hiking partner and I meet up at 5:30AM in the morning and normally hit the mountain at 6AM. We spend an average of 2 hours hiking the local mountains in San Diego County. We’ve been doing this for 4 years now. Waking up early is better than sleeping in to me. Secondly, I take care of myself by checking into a spa. I take my time using the pool, sauna, steam room, and sit around some of the tranquil areas. I also take time to enjoy a massage treatment. A day of pure relaxation and pampering. In my opinion, everyone needs to treat themselves to a “SPA DAY” at the least once a year and set aside at minimum 8 hours to spend there.