You’re on day 4 of a well-deserved 7-day getaway and the one thing that keeps going through your mind is, “I wish I had more time.” The fact is you aren’t ready to go back. It’s not that you don’t like owning your own business or that you don’t realize that this getaway is possible because of the money you make. It’s just that, well, it felt so good to get away. You needed this vacation because you have worked so hard and needed the rest, the fun, some time for you.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing.
A vacation should be a celebration of the life you are living, not an escape from it.
The idea of “work hard, play hard” sounds gratifying until we realize there is a lot more working than playing in that equation. And there is nothing wrong with hard work. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with smart work either. But what does it mean to work smart so that we can create a life we don’t need a vacation from? A life that when we go away, it is a celebration not an escape.
Here are a few tips.
Work for the calendar, not the clock. Too often we say there isn’t enough time in the day. As a result, we are stressed out trying to get things done before the day ends. If we look at what we MUST do over the course of a week and minimize the “shoulds” each day, we will be more focused, less distracted, and yes, less stressed!
Have a To BE list instead of a To DO list. Too often, we check things off a list based on what we feel “needs to be done.” A To Be list, however, focuses on those things that contribute to who we are and want to become. There is an old saying that, if you want to BE-come someone, act as if you already are. Work on things that pull you forward, not hold you back.
Create a red velvet rope. A red velvet rope is often something you will see at an event where only the VIPs get access. Well, in the real estate business, we want to work with people that know, like, trust and respect our efforts and commitment to them. After all, every time you work with someone who doesn’t respect you, you are taking that time away from working with the right people who will.
No life is perfect, and we can’t control everything that happens to us in the real estate business. That said, we can create a life that we don’t need an escape from, but instead one in which that getaway is just one more reward for a life we celebrate every day. A life that we chose and created by prioritizing ourselves so we can serve others better in their lives, too.