Real Estate by Debbie Reynolds

The Balancing Act

Jeff Dowler is hosting a challenge for us to share how we cope between work and living life to the fullest. Work Life Balance for a real estate agent is much different than for other professions. I have been working on it for years and have mastered some aspects and others I have not.

The challenge is I never seem to have enough time to just sit, rest and reflect.  Planning for creative thinking time is so important and it never seems to make it into my work plan. My husband calls doing nothing, reflection time "veg time" meaning you let the mind rest and by doing this the body rests, too. I am not good at this as I always see and think about something that needs to be done. Working in my garden allows me time away from work but doesn't give me physical rest that I need.

The problem is I like everything to be in order, clean and neat and don't stop until it is done. As you would expect, it never gets done as something new always pops up. Getting out of town for a little vacation is the closest I get. My brain does get some rest and I come up with new ideas at this time. I would like to master how I can do more traveling and let go of things at home and delegate my business to others.

In the work setting, I am really lucky that I do not get many calls at night. I set these expectations with clients and get most things done during regular work hours and stay in touch. I have very good systems in place which allows me to do a lot of business and with only a part- time assistant. If I didn't have both of these in place I would be drowning. 

Anaggravation is I don't like having to track down lenders and other agents for answers on my transactions. I like to stay on top of what is happening and when I don't hear or they avoid me, I feel something isn't right. If there is a problem we usually can correct it but we have to work on it together and I have to know about it.

I do schedule my personal appointments and family time just like work appointments. You have to do that with 4 children and 4 grandchildren or you will miss important life events. I don't have specific days off and let my schedule float. This doesn't mean I drop everything at a moments notice to go meet a client. I schedule appointments for that, too. What it does mean is there are some pockets of time I can capture unexpectedly to do projects or something spontaneous.

My husband and I like to go out to dinner and these dinners are when we really get to talk. I don't take calls when we are out to dinner. My phone goes on silent and calls go to voicemail for a short period of time.

My goal is to free up more time to get away, check off items on my bucket list and to do more "veg time".  Though this may not be the year to accomplish this goal since I am our Board President, next year I will have a lighter load and am beginning to think about some great trips to take. I have no interest in growing my business. I do want to work smarter and more efficiently to reap the benefits of decades of hard work.