Without fail, my husband’s little dog jumps on me while I’m getting his food around. Twice a day, for five years, he has jumped on me. FIVE YEARS. It’s annoying. But as annoying as it is, I’ve never recognized it as an annoyance until recently. One morning last week, he jumped on me, I had had enough, and in my just-barely awake stupor, I yelled, “SIT!” And guess what? He sat. And that was that. Five years of dealing with this unregistered annoyance and I fixed it in one word.
When you spend days and eventually years on edge always anticipating the other ball to drop- whether it be a bad appraisal, rejected financing, or crazy client feelings- it’s no wonder we are in a constant state of discomfort. We just may not realize that we are feeling this way. It simply becomes a way of living over time. We’ve become so desensitized that major problems are merely bumps in the road, and annoyances go completely unregistered.
But these little annoyances start to build up, and eventually you become aware that something is amiss. It’s like having a headache all day and not realizing it until you lay down at night. At that moment the pain is registered and you realize that this is why you were feeling impatient and irritable. It’s like that. You’re unconsciously uncomfortable.
Until this level of discomfort is recognized, you can’t begin to fix it. So to recognize it, think about the phone calls, text messages and emails you get from buyers, sellers, and other agents. Are there any recurring issues, questions or annoyances that could be addressed? Is there anything that can be eliminated by either being a little more thorough upfront, planning better, creating lists, or in some cases, asking for help?
Here are some scenarios and possible solutions to get you thinking:
Scenario 1: A buyer keeps texting you listings they found online that already have accepted offers.
Solution: Give all new buyers a written tutorial on “Pending”, “Active” and “Active-contingent” statuses.
Scenario 2: You are spending a rare night out with friends, and a buyer’s agent wants to write an offer on your listing and needs the seller disclosures Right. Now.
Solution: Provide all pertinent information on a listing upfront (either online or at the property) such as disclosures, utilities, survey, inspections, etc. The goal is to never make someone wait to write an offer.
Scenario 3: You have a 10 am appointment and plan on preparing for it at 9 am. But then at 9, an appraiser calls saying he can’t access a house, and you have to go open it. Now you’re feeling rushed and unprepared.
Solution: Schedule a little time in your calendar today to get ready for tomorrow’s appointments. In other words, don’t procrastinate because something always comes up.
Scenario 4: You’ve got a million tasks running through your mind, and you don’t know where to begin.
Solution: “Purge the Brain”. Make a list of everything on your mind, no matter how small or insignificant. Once it’s on paper, it’s not nearly as overwhelming. Do the same thing for repetitive tasks. I have checklists for new listings, facebook ads, etc. It eliminates the need to think, and in turn makes me feel less drained.
These are just a handful of annoying situations that can be easily fixed. And it’s amazing how much better you’ll feel when these daily discomforts are gone. Isn’t that something we all want? Don’t we all want to feel a little less on edge, a little less stressed, a little less tired, and a little more in control? By eliminating these time-sucking annoyances, you’re able to preserve energy for those things that actually need it, when they need it.
Now excuse me while I clean out my kitchen cupboard that rains water bottles on me every time it’s opened. That’s only been an unregistered annoyance for a year.
Hey, that’s progress!
Amy Gilpin, Realtor, Associate Broker, Manager, ABR, SRES.
Fourteen years of helping clients. Six years of helping agents. All for this crazy thing we call real estate.
Production Realty 517-879-4141 Jackson, MI Amy@ProductionRealty.com
