Do More By Doing Less

How doing less makes you more productive!

Did you know that those who work 46 weeks per year actually outperform those who work all year without a vacation?  Even just taking one week off may not be enough. The trick for loan originators is most of you are only paid for the loans you close. So taking time off may feel like your watching money blow by, but is it really? 

 

Here are some benefits of carving out time to get away from the daily grind of originating reverse mortgages or managing those who do.

 

First, vacations give you something to look forward to. This force you to get serious about your time management, schedule your tasks, and get laser-focused. 

 

Second, taking a break improves your health. Is it really worth skipping taking some me or we time only to get run down and sick. Stressed out workers are 63% more likely to take sick pay and miss time at the office. I guess that trade-off wasn’t such a great deal after all.

 

Third, vacations improve your long-term health reducing your likelihood of a heart attack, stroke, depression, or anxiety. Let’s book that flight. 

 

Fourth, stepping back from work duties allows you to clear your mind and boost your creativity. Are you working on a big project? Taking a break may actually improve the quality of your work.

 

Fifty, just planning a vacation improves your mood. My wife and I found several informative YouTube videos with travel tips before our trip to New Orleans last December. The building excitement of what we would see and do boosted our spirits.

 

After putting your nose to the grindstone and cranking away there’s something special about relishing time away from the hustle and bustle of your everyday work life. Plan a vacation or stay-cation but make it happen. You’ll thank yourself later.

5 Ways to Beat the Sales Doldroms

 

Are you familiar with the word doldrums? In our modern lexicon it describes a slump, loss of motion, lack of productivity, or listlessness. For sailors the doldrums were no laughing matter before the advent of steamships and diesel powered vessels. Mariners used the term to describe a windless and potentially deadly zone near the equator where ships could get stuck or days, weeks, or longer as the sails hung slack. 

 

Today many mortgage and real estate professionals are in this windless limbo and consequently may find themselves with empty sails feeling uneasy, bored, or fearful.

 

So how do we start paddling back to where the wind can fill our sails? Here are five strategies for your consideration.

 

1. Be Consistent

 

Habits and routines may seem boring but they can serve us well. Practice consistent routines for outbound sales calls, mining your client and prospect data in a CRM, and meeting with area professionals who interact with potential borrowers. To ensure you don’t fall off the wagon schedule each of these as recurring events on your calendar. 

 

2. Use the Stockdale Paradox

 

The Stockdale Paradox embodies two elements: confronting the brutal truth of your current situation while maintaining an unwavering faith or belief that you will prevail in the end. This principle is named after Vietnam prisoner of war James Stockdale who was imprisoned in the infamous Hanoi Hilton where he developed several psychological tools of survival. Take stock of where your business stands today and boost your perseverence by envisioning where you want to be.

 

3. Adjust your message

 

Is your typical sales approach effective with homeowners? Is your marketing producing results? If not, take the time to dive deep into what motivated your past clients and take the pulse of your local market. Have conditions changed? Is the standard pitch of eliminating required mortgage payments working? If not, work to develop a relevant message.

 

4. Keep the essentials

 

There are some expenses that should be eliminated and others that shouldn’t. If you find yourself with fewer closings and less income resist the temptation to fold the tent. Folding the tent is eliminating those key services and tools that are essential to you continuing to market, engage, and followup with potential borrowers.

 

5. Stay in touch

 

When business slows take advantage of your time by getting on the phone. Professionals across all industries find that the more personal contacts they make the more likely they are to find a deal. Call your past borrowers and check in on how they’re doing. Ask for a referral. Meet a local advisor or realtor for coffee. No matter what- keep building relationships.

What do you do during a slow business season? Share your experience in the comment section below. 

Do These 5 Things for a Happier 2024



I usually blather on about New Year’s resolutions. That’s okay and we should set some goals for the new year. Why not? But how about something new? A happier state of mind in 2024? Here are five things each of us can do right now for a happier new year. 

First- stop worrying about what other people think about you. Most are engrossed in their world and are not paying much attention. Over-worrying about others’ perception of us is called the ‘Spotlight Effect’ where we imagine people are noticing us more than they really are.

Do you want to be satisfied and avoid unnecessary angst? Then wish for things to be as they turn out to be. Epictetus said, “Don’t demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”

Focus on what you control. Weigh every situation and circumstance and ask yourself, “is this something I can control?”. If not, then discard it and with it the anxiety that comes with attempting to control the uncontrollable.

Find happiness outside of other’s approval. If we depend on others to feel good about ourselves then we’ve handed them over the reigns to our happiness. Instead, resolve to do your best work, focus on what you can do in a given moment, and remember that more often than not happiness is a state of mind- not a set of circumstances.

Use adversity to practice building the character traits you want to strengthen. For it’s outside our comfort zone that we find growth. Adversity is unavoidable and often reveals our present character strengths and weaknesses so we might as well use adversity as an opportunity to improve, grow stronger, and prepare ourselves for an uncertain future. 

Being our last episode of 2023 I want to wish every one of you a happy, prosperous, and productive 2024. Happy New Year!