Your Income Potential is Limitless
As a real estate agent, you can earn as much money as you want, set your own hours, and enjoy personal freedom. However, this comes at the price of being unemployed every day.
If you don’t hunt, you will not have food to eat and this will cause hunger and starvation.
Real Estate is a 45 Day Cycle
If you set high sales goals but don’t see results right away, you might get discouraged and lose motivation.
When you don’t see results from your real estate sales it can be exhausting having to get up and take action every day.
If you miss a day of work, it will affect your future income.
You Need a Plan
You need a plan to build your business and create clients, but it can be overwhelming to have a long and detailed system to follow.
In order to stay motivated in your real estate career, you need to come up with a plan and stick to it.
If you’re struggling to find motivation in your real estate career, you’re not alone. It’s a common issue, but there are ways to overcome it. Check out our strategies and resources to help you get your motivation back and start conquering your goals.
1. Slow Down & Take a Break
We don’t want you to give up on your real estate goals just because you’re facing some challenges. We believe that you have the motivation to overcome these obstacles.
The fact is that happiness drives work satisfaction more and more as research shows. Shawn Achor, author of “The Happiness Factor,” argues that optimism, social connections, and how you perceive stress predict 75% of success.
The burnout and quality of life are significantly correlated. Therefore, when people are overwhelmed with work, they should be careful about taking on more tasks as it could worsen their feeling of exhaustion and fatigue.
Instead, do the opposite.
The main point of this text is that reducing stressors in your life can help you to improve your motivation and begin hitting your goals.
2. Identify & Solve Your Most Pressing Problems
Your problems don’t seem as bad when you write them down.
These nagging issues are like anchors, holding you back and keeping you from being motivated. The solution is to develop actionable, concrete plans for each problem.
Don’t put off going to the doctor if you have a medical issue.
If your friends are toxic and only bring you down or stress you out, it’s time to cut them loose.
Not all stressors in your life will be apparent, and you may not be able to fix them immediately. That’s okay, just do your best and make a plan to address the ones that need more attention.
When you are not weighed down by negativity, you can view the world more optimistically and handle stress better. This allows you to focus on more complicated problems.
3. Divide & Conquer Your Schedule
After you’ve addressed some of the sources of stress in your life, it’s time to take a look at your schedule. Many people feel overwhelmed and hopeless when they try to plan their own time, because it’s something that isn’t usually taught. Being in charge of your own time can be daunting, especially if you’re running a business.
To better manage your time, get specific about the tasks you need to complete. Instead of “lead generation”, for example, schedule something like “email three warm leads.” Put these more specific tasks into particular time slots and try to stick to them. You may find it helpful to do your most challenging tasks first thing in the morning.
In addition to trying to limit distractions and interruptions, try breaking up work into specific tasks and scheduling them early. Research indicates that this will help you get more done and reduce the amount of time you spend procrastinating. Achieving small goals will help you regain your motivation.
4. Make Time for Relaxation & Fun
It may sound counterintuitive, but taking time out of your work day to schedule time for your personal life can actually make you better at your job. Whether you want to catch up with a friend, get back into a hobby, or try something new, making time for these things will improve your work performance.
Instead of selling a house, build one. This will help your community, give you a chance to work some muscles, and make you feel a sense of accomplishment. It may also give you a new sense of purpose.
5. Lean on the Experts
There are a lot of great resources available from agents and brokers who have been in your shoes before. Videos, TED Talks, books, and even inspirational quotes can help you find a bit of wisdom or a tip to help you keep going when you lose motivation.
If you want to regain your lost motivation for real estate, a great place to start is by learning from the experts. You can get tips and insights from them, and see that you’re not the only one who feels this way.
The following is a list of books that are great for building motivation, including “Grit” by Angela Duckworth and “Outrageous Authenticity” by Leigh Brown. These are books that we keep coming back to.
6. Be Receptive to New Ideas
Although you may be taking in expert advice, you still have a lot of control over how you interpret and use that information.
People have one of two different kinds of mindsets, either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset, according to Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford. People with a growth mindset see challenges as something exciting, focus on the process of building, and keep track of what works and what doesn’t, developing grit and persistence along the way. Those with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, believe that traits are something simply have and can’t change. Dr. Dweck’s research shows that people with growth mindsets are more likely to take risks and be successful.
When you’re looking for ways to get motivated to succeed in real estate, remember to focus on having a growth mindset. This means that you’re always looking for ways to improve and grow, instead of getting discouraged by setbacks.
7. Revisit Your Goals & Set Some New Ones
We predict that at some point during your career you will set goals for yourself regarding where you want to be in one year, three years, and five years. It is possible that you will also set financial and personal goals.
It’s important to occasionally revisit your goals to make sure they are still achievable and relevant. For example, if you have a goal to increase sales by a certain amount, you need to break it down into smaller, more actionable tasks. If you hit your goal of making 100 calls per week, congratulations!
8. Level Up With a Checklist
We strongly discourage you from piling on work for yourself when you need a reset, but there may be opportunities for challenging yourself that feel manageable. Ask yourself if you see any ways to be challenged or stretch yourself.
Here are some actionable step-by-step guides that could help you bump up to the next professional level and reach some of your loftier objectives, that we at The Close love.
9. Tap Into Your Creative Side
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the business side of things, take a break and focus on something that is both business-related and creative. For example, you could create a new logo, business card, or infographic. Use your right brain to have some fun with our guides, templates, and generators for branding and marketing.
10. Consider Taking a Course With Actionable Content
There are many real estate courses that stand out from the rest and we recommend spending time finding the right one for you.
Ryan Serhant has created a course called “Sell It Like Serhant” which is a crash course on branding and sales. The course is actionable and comes with a step-by-step guide and an in-depth workbook.
Although it is not inexpensive, if you are sincerely seeking something to change your whole professional strategy, this course could be a good option for you.
Here are 20 Fun and Easy Ways to Get Motivated in Your Real Estate Career.
- Pick something you believe in. Find your something greater than money so you are led with purpose and your motivation will come from within. Without having to push yourself by doing something that you don’t believe in, you have a much higher chance of success.
- Have an accountability partner. If you have someone to answer to- someone who is going to give you shit if you don’t do what you said you would do, you have a higher immediate price to pay for getting lazy.
- Make a schedule. If you plan out the important tasks on your daily schedule, then it is easy to get up each morning and do them. If you wait till you wake up to decide how to spend your day, it’s easy to pass your time reacting rather than acting.
- Make your goals public. Declare them so you are forced to follow through or face up to the fact that you didn’t try. You can declare it on social media as a personal challenge and invite people to hold you accountable and share in your wins.
- Write it down. Put your goal on a post it and stick it on the mirror. As corny as it sounds, it works. Post it on the mirror or wherever you will see it and be faced and reminded of your goal. Cover your house in sticky notes. Get creative.
- Positive reinforcement. Use an affirmation app- I like I AM. I get free reminders throughout the day to stay positive and believe in myself- and to go for my dreams.
- Make a Dream Board. You can do it the old fashioned way on poster board or go digital and make it on Pinterest. Find photos that inspire and motivate you to kick ass in your real estate career. Whether you create a poster for the wall or a virtual board, visualizing your dreams is an important step in making them come true.
- Pay it forward. Encourage someone else- call or text someone to encourage them to go for their goals. Aim for once a week and see how it shifts your energy and motivates you by encouraging someone else. You can motivate someone in real estate or whatever their passion is, the topic isn’t as important as the action.
- Begin each day with gratitude. When you open your eyes, before you reach for your phone, think about what you are grateful for. Waking up, being healthy, the warm house you are in and the ability to get up another day and reach for your goals are a few that might resonate. At the beginning of the stay at home order, I bought a mug with Cup of Gratitude on it. It’s a great reminder each morning as I drink my coffee.
- Have stretch goals. Preview houses that you can’t afford. Nothing motivates me more than showing houses to clients that I wish I could live in. If I need some real estate motivation, I simply scroll through dream houses on MLS and go preview them. I will stand in the kitchen or look out the window and imagine living the life I want to live. I leave there ready to tackle my goals.
- Harness the power of yet. I haven’t hit my goal is self-defeating. I haven’t hit my goal yet sets your mind up for success. I’m not where i want to be is a way to beat yourself up. I’m not where I want to be yet is a way to encourage and motivate yourself.
- Clean out one drawer, closet or shelf. Clearing out clutter allows space for new, fresh ideas to enter. As insignificant as it may seem, it is a step in the right direction and can energize you and get you motivated in life and your real estate career.
- Shift your mindset. Read a book or listen to the audio. 3 of my top choices are You Are a Badass, and No Excuses. The beauty of mindset work is that it is a subconscious shift. It can happen gradually and you might not even notice it at first, but eventually your mindset will change and you won’t have to keep thinking about it and expending energy. You won’t have to actively try to switch your mindset- your brain will just do it, easily and naturally.
- Visualize success. Make a wall calendar and put a big X on each day that you worked toward your goal. Once you start a chain of X’s, it will be hard to skip a day and break the chain. The visuals work to keep you motivated.
- Avoid pain. Look at something you have already accomplished that was difficult or took a lot of work. Relish in how good it feels that you did it! Now imagine that you hadn’t done the work and think about how you might feel today without that accomplishment under your belt. Reach for that painful feeling when you are confronted with the choice to skip doing the activity that will lead to your goal. It will be much easier to do the thing when you think of the pain of not doing it.
- Limit your time on social media. Seeing other people and their accomplishments can either motivate you or make you feel like crap about yourself. Use the motivation to propel you into action. If you end up feeling envious or down on yourself, then stay away entirely. It isn’t serving you. Either way, aim to spend less time on the platforms and more time working toward your goals.
- Banish negative talk. Don’t let people speak negatively about you. I am talking to you about the way you speak about yourself. Do you often call yourself stupid or lazy? Do you find yourself apologizing all day? Stop. Would you talk that way to someone you love? Is it kind? Start with you and be kind to yourself and unapologetic for who you are.
- Surround yourself with successful people. Join a group or volunteer to serve on a board or organization with motivated, like minded people. The good habits and positive energy will rub off on you.
- Move your body. Exercise is good for your mind and health and it can be the first step in getting you unstuck. Pick some activity that you enjoy, or a task that needs to be done that requires physical activity and see what it does for you body, mind and motivation.
- Post one of your goals in the comments below. Putting it out into the universe is the first step in making it happen. Plus, we will get to cheer you on and keep you motivated!
To stay motivated in your real estate career, try following these simple steps. They can help improve your energy and outlook. Do whichever ones feel right for you.
Reach for things that make you feel good and positive so your dreams have a better chance of coming true.
