A Winning Morning Routine for Successful Real Estate Agents
Life hacks: techniques and strategies used to manage daily activities in an easier, more efficient manner.
Show us someone who doesn’t love a good life hack, and we’ll show you a liar.
How good does it feel when you discover a new way to remove pomegranate seeds or some weird-but-awesome way of using your iPhone? Game-changer! You feel like you just unlocked a secret.
Those “a-ha!” moments are bigger and better when you start applying life hacks to your schedules and systems. Like your morning routine.
How you begin each day can have a powerful effect on your day as a whole.
Wake up late and rush out the door without time for coffee can leave you feeling stressed and rushed until you get home that evening. Start the day with intention and purpose, and you might find a new sense of focus and energy.
For REALTORS®, creating a winning morning routine and sticking to it can deliver tangible business results.
Here are six elements of a kick-butt morning routine for successful real estate agents.
1. Nighttime Planning
Make your to-do lists at the end of the day instead of the beginning. This has several benefits:
• The current day’s events are fresh in your mind, so you know exactly what needs to get done the next day
• By getting your to-do list out of your head and onto paper, you can help prevent any of those anxious, hamster-wheel, sleep-robbing type thoughts at bedtime
• You have the time to prioritize the next day’s tasks and schedule your time accordingly
• Knowing you’ve already plotted out what needs to be done can create a sense of calm in the morning
How you order your to-do list should depend on the urgency of the task, as well as what you know about your own productivity levels.
If you know that you’re at peak productivity in the morning (psst: a winning morning routine can help you get there), then schedule the most difficult or annoying tasks for first-thing. You’ll be at your best, ready to take them on, when you’re feeling most energized and productive.
If you know you get sluggish and uninspired in the mid-afternoon, set aside that time for menial but easy items, like responding to emails and engaging with followers on social media.
2. An Early Rise Time
Head to Google and search “morning routines of successful people.” You’ll notice a couple things: one, the Internet loves this stuff; and two, almost no successful person sleeps in.
Seriously. Everyone from Elon Musk to Oprah gets up early. Studies even show that getting up early is linked to career success.
But waking up early also provides you with something else, something rare: time that belongs solely to you. It’s a time when you don’t have to show houses, make calls or drop your kids off at school. You get to decide what you want to do with it.
Of course, we have some ideas on how you should spend it if you want your morning routine to help improve your real estate business. More on this in a sec.
Forgive us for pointing out the obvious, but this is important: if you’re going to wake up early, you’ve also gotta go to bed early.
You are not going to feel primed for real estate success if you’re hitting the sheets at 2 a.m. and rolling out of them at 6 a.m. Adjust your nighttime routine as necessary.
3. Physical Movement
You probably already know the benefits of regular exercise. Decreased stress, improved mood, increased energy, better self-esteem, blah blah blah…
Making exercise a part of your regular morning programming means that you get to reap those benefits all day long. And how could those side effects be anything but great for your job performance?
If you don’t already have an exercise routine (no judgment here), this might feel like a difficult adjustment. In that case, you might need to lower your expectations.
While an all-out sweat sesh will probably result in a greater endorphin rush than gentle stretching, the point of incorporating physical movement in your morning is just that — to move your body.
Whether it’s following along with a YouTube yoga video or going for a walk around the neighbourhood or sprinting on your basement treadmill, try adding a form of exercise to your morning routine for a couple weeks and see how you feel.
4. Something Personal
Read your favourite blog. Listen to a podcast. Boot up a mediation app. Do a quick face mask.
Whatever your thing is, incorporating a just-for-you activity in your a.m. routine can help transform the wee hours of the morning into a time that feels pleasurable, relaxed and within your control.
Many people find podcasts to be an especially powerful tool.
You can queue up an episode while doing your makeup, prepping breakfast or getting dressed. You can opt for entertainment (comedy, true crime, science) or education (real estate advice, business coaching).
5. Nourishment
No more hitting up the drive-through on your way to the office.
Make a smoothie. Have a banana and peanut butter on toast. Or hop on the Pinterest train and try an overnight oats recipe.
Eating something healthy at home — before you open your inbox and listen to your voicemail — cranks up your energy levels and fires up your brain, meaning you’re primed for maximum productivity.
6. Visualization
Sure, visualizing your day might sound hippy-dippy. But picturing how you want your day to go, imagining achieving your goals for the day and maybe even whispering the odd real estate affirmation to yourself (such as “My expertise attracts business”) can help put you in the right mindset.
What parts of your morning routine are key to your success at work?
