an article i thought was worth reading
Burn Bright Or Burn Out?
by Dirk Zeller
Are you burning bright or heading for burn out? Many people are heading fast toward burn out or just recovering from burn out. Burn out is a real happening for many Realtors. We get calls from agents daily that are struggling with this dilemma. Burn out occurs when reality and our expectations don't align over time. Burn out can also trigger anger. The anger is seeded in the feeling that life is not working out the way we had thought it would. We also feel powerless to make the changes needed, or we don't know the changes that we need to implement.
There are seven key factors that can cause one to experience burn out.
Failing to pace ourselves: We all have a pace we need to work and take life at. Often we exceed that pace. We can only exceed our pace for a short period of time. It's when we fail to slow and re-establish our pace that trouble sets in. Are you pacing yourself effectively? What is the pace that you are most effective at work and home?
Trying to do it all ourselves: We often take on the whole world single handedly. It's me against the world. Are you delegating all you can to others? Are your affiliates, lenders, title, escrow, or home inspectors doing all they can to help you succeed? Are there services you could have your broker provide and pay them a fee for performing it?
Accepting everyone else's problems: Too often we accept problems that are out of our control, for example, the client that "needs" a certain price for their home, the other agent's emotional or financial problems that they try to make yours, or the repair cost the seller didn't anticipate.
Majoring in minor things: It's really easy to get worked up by the little stuff. The skill is allocating the right amount of energy and time based on the size of the challenge. There is a good rule to follow, if it deals with the health of yourself or your family or if it deals with the quality of life and relationships between you and your family it's big stuff. It's a major everything else is a minor it's the small stuff.
Having unrealistic expectations: We are a world filled with instant everything. We have been trained by society to want it all yesterday with no effort on our part. A recent study showed that 80% of the late night infomercials deal with instant weight loss or instant financial success. There are few examples of instant success in life. Most people toiled for years perfecting their abilities. Work for measurable progress in reasonable time. That's the barometer we need to gage our results by.
Not properly prioritizing the important accounts of life: We often are so busy living we don't have time to create our abundant life. What is the most important area of your life? What area has more value than all others? Does your time, energy and passion reflect the priority you need to have in that area? If you cannot answer that with confidence, what changes do you need to make to elevate that area to its proper place? I see this point being one of the biggest challenges for Realtors. We can often neglect our family for income opportunities.
Remaining in poor physical condition: Without a strong body, our needed energy and mental focus escapes us. When we are in a regular exercise routine we can relieve some of the stress that causes burn out. We have an opportunity to prepare for the day if it's early in the morning or we have a mid-day break before resuming our day, or an end of the day stress reliever before we go home to the family.
One of the major steps in avoiding burn out is to know yourself. We can often burn out if we lose touch and focus with ourselves. There are 3 skills in knowing oneself. They are to know:
Your behavioral style or DISC style
Your purpose
Your passion
Those three areas make you an original. There is none like you before or after you.
Your behavioral style or DISC style: DISC is a universal behavioral style evaluation system. DISC stands for Dominant, Influencing, Steady, or Compliant.
Dominant: If you have a high Dominant score you will be competitive, quick to make a decision and very results oriented.
Influencing: If you have a high Influence score you will be people oriented, warm, caring, active in charge, trusting of others.
Steady: If you have a high Steady score you will be non-confrontational, stable, wanting to get along with all people.
Compliant: If you have high scores in compliant you will be systematic, accurate numbers and data oriented, facts are facts.
These styles will determine your communication patterns and how you process information. The style you are will effect formality, pace of speech and body language. Finding out what style you are will drastically improve your effectiveness in relationships with your spouse, children and in your business life. Lao Tse Chinese philosophy once said “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise.”
Understand your purpose: My belief is we have all been blessed with skills and purpose to fulfill while we are here. The question is, what is yours? What is the ultimate outcome that you are trying to create in your life?
Mary Kay Ash describes her purpose this way, “To provide unlimited opportunity to women.” The interesting thing is her purpose has nothing to do with the sales of cosmetics. Purpose adds stability to life when you hit turbulent waters or when you have more opportunities than time to do them. At this point you have to be careful to select the opportunities that are in alignment with your purpose.
Your passion: What causes you to get excited? What are you willing to stay up day and night for? What would you rather do than anything else in life? When you are tired what gets you charged back up? Passion helps keep you on the track. Passion also snaps you back on track when you get off track. The day-to-day pressure and wear and tear can overwhelm us when we don't have passion.
Burn out is a reality we all can face again and again, if we are not vigilant in watching the seven key factors on; proper pacing, doing it all ourselves, accepting others' problems, majoring in minors, unrealistic expectations, proper priorities and our physical conditions. We must take action on each of these areas. Invest the time to know yourself, define your purpose and tap into your passion. Life is meant to be spent in abundance. Are you moving toward abundance or burn out?
by Dirk Zeller
Are you burning bright or heading for burn out? Many people are heading fast toward burn out or just recovering from burn out. Burn out is a real happening for many Realtors. We get calls from agents daily that are struggling with this dilemma. Burn out occurs when reality and our expectations don't align over time. Burn out can also trigger anger. The anger is seeded in the feeling that life is not working out the way we had thought it would. We also feel powerless to make the changes needed, or we don't know the changes that we need to implement.
There are seven key factors that can cause one to experience burn out.
Failing to pace ourselves: We all have a pace we need to work and take life at. Often we exceed that pace. We can only exceed our pace for a short period of time. It's when we fail to slow and re-establish our pace that trouble sets in. Are you pacing yourself effectively? What is the pace that you are most effective at work and home?
Trying to do it all ourselves: We often take on the whole world single handedly. It's me against the world. Are you delegating all you can to others? Are your affiliates, lenders, title, escrow, or home inspectors doing all they can to help you succeed? Are there services you could have your broker provide and pay them a fee for performing it?
Accepting everyone else's problems: Too often we accept problems that are out of our control, for example, the client that "needs" a certain price for their home, the other agent's emotional or financial problems that they try to make yours, or the repair cost the seller didn't anticipate.
Majoring in minor things: It's really easy to get worked up by the little stuff. The skill is allocating the right amount of energy and time based on the size of the challenge. There is a good rule to follow, if it deals with the health of yourself or your family or if it deals with the quality of life and relationships between you and your family it's big stuff. It's a major everything else is a minor it's the small stuff.
Having unrealistic expectations: We are a world filled with instant everything. We have been trained by society to want it all yesterday with no effort on our part. A recent study showed that 80% of the late night infomercials deal with instant weight loss or instant financial success. There are few examples of instant success in life. Most people toiled for years perfecting their abilities. Work for measurable progress in reasonable time. That's the barometer we need to gage our results by.
Not properly prioritizing the important accounts of life: We often are so busy living we don't have time to create our abundant life. What is the most important area of your life? What area has more value than all others? Does your time, energy and passion reflect the priority you need to have in that area? If you cannot answer that with confidence, what changes do you need to make to elevate that area to its proper place? I see this point being one of the biggest challenges for Realtors. We can often neglect our family for income opportunities.
Remaining in poor physical condition: Without a strong body, our needed energy and mental focus escapes us. When we are in a regular exercise routine we can relieve some of the stress that causes burn out. We have an opportunity to prepare for the day if it's early in the morning or we have a mid-day break before resuming our day, or an end of the day stress reliever before we go home to the family.
One of the major steps in avoiding burn out is to know yourself. We can often burn out if we lose touch and focus with ourselves. There are 3 skills in knowing oneself. They are to know:
Your behavioral style or DISC style
Your purpose
Your passion
Those three areas make you an original. There is none like you before or after you.
Your behavioral style or DISC style: DISC is a universal behavioral style evaluation system. DISC stands for Dominant, Influencing, Steady, or Compliant.
Dominant: If you have a high Dominant score you will be competitive, quick to make a decision and very results oriented.
Influencing: If you have a high Influence score you will be people oriented, warm, caring, active in charge, trusting of others.
Steady: If you have a high Steady score you will be non-confrontational, stable, wanting to get along with all people.
Compliant: If you have high scores in compliant you will be systematic, accurate numbers and data oriented, facts are facts.
These styles will determine your communication patterns and how you process information. The style you are will effect formality, pace of speech and body language. Finding out what style you are will drastically improve your effectiveness in relationships with your spouse, children and in your business life. Lao Tse Chinese philosophy once said “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise.”
Understand your purpose: My belief is we have all been blessed with skills and purpose to fulfill while we are here. The question is, what is yours? What is the ultimate outcome that you are trying to create in your life?
Mary Kay Ash describes her purpose this way, “To provide unlimited opportunity to women.” The interesting thing is her purpose has nothing to do with the sales of cosmetics. Purpose adds stability to life when you hit turbulent waters or when you have more opportunities than time to do them. At this point you have to be careful to select the opportunities that are in alignment with your purpose.
Your passion: What causes you to get excited? What are you willing to stay up day and night for? What would you rather do than anything else in life? When you are tired what gets you charged back up? Passion helps keep you on the track. Passion also snaps you back on track when you get off track. The day-to-day pressure and wear and tear can overwhelm us when we don't have passion.
Burn out is a reality we all can face again and again, if we are not vigilant in watching the seven key factors on; proper pacing, doing it all ourselves, accepting others' problems, majoring in minors, unrealistic expectations, proper priorities and our physical conditions. We must take action on each of these areas. Invest the time to know yourself, define your purpose and tap into your passion. Life is meant to be spent in abundance. Are you moving toward abundance or burn out?