Walking the Tightrope: Balancing Your Home Life and Life as a Realtor

"Oh, wow, you get to work on a flexible schedule? That's so COOL!" Usually, any Realtor who hears this manages to dredge up a ghastly smile from somewhere as they agree that, yes, it is nice to be able to buy your quadruple-espresso-with-an-added-shot-of-caffeine at any time during the day instead of being cruelly confined to the lunch hour. However, they may add, it also means that you can get swamped by work when your friends are gaily preparing for the bar after their jobs end at 5 PM.

To avoid the wonderful world of burnout and the if-you-only-knew speech that you feel obligated to give people who rave about your supposed freedom, it is imperative that you start giving yourself as much time as you give your clients... or more. In order to be a good Realtor, you need to take care of yourself and what is important to you. Cozy condos, palatial properties and stunning views can only take you so far.

Throw off the yoke of dull care and become worthy of your friends' and acquaintances' envy! Scheduling your time is one way to not hate your chosen career. The nature of a lot of Realtors' work is that the very flexibility their friends envy them for makes them prey to a plethora of demands outside of normal working hours unless they put caps on their work time. Your work is, to some extent, your life... make it as pleasant a part of your life as possible.

When making time for the important parts of your life, you're going to find that scheduling really helps. By 'really helps', I mean 'saves your life'. There's a reason the 9-5 jobs have scheduled work times, meetings, breaks, etc. It's so things keep going and you don't have people wandering around, trying to disseminate information to random individuals or fainting over their time clocks because they haven't had anything to eat since 7 AM. But even the independent businessperson can find comfort and regular meals using this strategy.

You may be familiar with scheduling appointments to show houses to clients and making time to meet with co-workers, but scheduling your leisure time and time with family is also important, especially when you're working on a 'flexible' schedule. Scheduling time means that you can tell yourself and others, "Sorry, I already have an appointment at that time", even if that appointment is taking your kid to Little League (and Realtors have closed houses for people they met at their child's soccer practice or basketball games).

Treat your family and friends like important clients. They are significant parts of your life; treat them that way. Would you cancel an appointment with an important client for anything less than the prospect of imminent death or amputation of a limb? Then don't do it to your family and/or friends for anything less than the most stringent circumstances. This is the whole point of scheduling, so you can make sure that you have enough time in your day/week/month/year to do the things that are most important to you.

Despite the joys of eating on the run and working late into the night, try to adhere to a reasonable schedule of sleeping, eating and exercising. Walking from your home to your car doesn't count. You need enough sleep, regular exercise and a proper diet to maintain a healthy body, without which you will be prey to some of the more popular ailments available today. Also, a healthy lifestyle means that you will feel better and have more energy for the things you want to do.

Guard your time like it's a well-rotted bone and you're a starving junk yard dog. While your clients can reasonably expect that you will communicate with them in a timely manner, they don't have the right to call you at all hours of the day and night. You don't have to leap up from the family dinner table to show a home in under an hour's notice. Set regular business hours and regular times when you answer calls and email. Making your limits clear in this respect can stop a lot of problems before they start.

Your time is the most valuable commodity you have. Once you've spent it, you will never get it back. To ensure that it is well-spent (or well-wasted; there's nothing like an hour tormenting the Sims you've made in your clients-from-hell's image to get you into your happy place), set reasonable limits on the amount of time you give your work and play. Make sure you schedule the time you have for your family and friends as carefully as you would appointments with your clients. You'll end up being a better Realtor and able to eventually respond to envious comments about your freedom with something like, "Yeah, isn't it great?" and enjoying the fleeting sour expressions.

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Marci McFarland is a Sarasota real estate agent with a broad professional approach. Her unique insight into the various lifestyle requirements of her clients, combined with an intimate knowledge of Sarasota real estate, make her an ideal choice for families and investors alike.

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