Donald Duck courtesy of Flickr user SavannahGrandfather
Recharge Your Batteries
It’s been a long year already. This industry has been rough on us all. In the lovely Pacific Northwest, we’re gearing up to go into our 8 months of rain and gloom, so I don’t have much to look forward to in that respect. Watching the market do it’s thing has been depressing. Watching friends get laid off due to market conditions hasn’t been fun. I watched my old college football team’s highlights and I wanted to punch our mascot.
Your Customers Can Tell
I’m sure you’ve heard of the idea of forcing a smile when you’re on the phone because the person on the other end can tell. If this year has been rough on you (it’s okay to admit it) and your face is getting sore from forcing a smile (mine was), it may be time to get away from it all. I like to refer to this as “recharging my batteries”. My tolerance for the phone ringing, my patience level and my temper are all like a rechargeable battery (see how green I am?), over time, my energy gets drained and I need to be recharged.
Where is Your Happy Place?
For me, it’s all of the long camping trips over the summer with great friends. It reminds me that there is good in the world and that we all do make a difference in other peoples lives. I make time to take a few extra-long weekends throughout the rest of the year too just for mini-recharges.
Force Yourself to Get Away
On my last trip, a good friend who is a very successful Realtor commented about how nice it was to finally be in a location where the laptops and cell phones just didn’t work. She couldn’t work if she wanted to. She was forced to forget about these market conditions, the rougher lending conditions, all of it. We normally chat up a storm about real estate marketing and such, but we didn’t even mention it once because none of it mattered.
My Customers Could Tell
I held my first class since I came back on Wednesday and the people in the class could tell I was enjoying this and was ready to help again. We all work with people who have their own sets of problems. When we can’t downplay our frustrations any more, it comes out and can make a bad situation worse. They key is to realize you need a recharge and to find that place or those people who can make it happen, then just do it.
Have a perfect weekend.
