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. 

The Power of Routine


Routine- what we do and the order in which we do it day in and day out. The word ‘routine’ may seem dull, perfunctory, or just plain dull. However, if set up effectively, routines can help ensure we have structured our day to increase our odds of success. One event that upended nearly everyone’s routine was the coronavirus pandemic. As the pandemic wore on researchers found this- that daily routines help one to cope with change. New routines were needed then just as they are now!

Routines & Sports Rituals

To observers, there are times a routine becomes a ritual. Professional athletes are known for their quirky rituals which are often called superstitions, especially in baseball. Major League Baseball players often eat a specific pre-game meal, mindfully avoid stepping on any chalk lines on the field, and shy away from talking about a no-hitter during the game.

Basketball is no exception. Allstar point guard Russell Westbrook began his routine precisely three hours before every tip-off. He ate the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich, toasted with butter on wheat bread cut diagonally, and practiced on court three before every home game.

Why do athletes go to such lengths? Because routines do one very important thing for us. They get us in the correct mindset for a given task or event.

Key Takeaways and Strategies for Routines

  • Create space in your routine that gives you time for solitude and stillness each day- before the world starts spinning around you demanding your attention.

  • Start with the biggest rocks. You can begin building your routine by time-blocking your calendar with your most important activities that are now part of your custom-made day.
  • Know when you’re at your best for a given task. You’re not the same person in the afternoon that you were in the morning.
  • Mornings set the tone for the rest of the day. Guard your first few hours to practice the routine you’ve established. 
  • Make time each morning to practice gratitude. A good way to start is by keeping a journal and noting what you’re grateful for.
  • Avoid jumping on your phone first thing in the morning to check emails or social media. Brain expert Jim Kwik says we are highly suggestible after waking and the dopamine effect from using our phones leaves us distracted later in the day.
  • Practice ignoring things. Focused attention creates better results.  Turn off your email and phone notifications at specific times to avoid the pitfall of distraction.
  • Remember everything you say yes to is saying no to something else. Make it a routine to say no when necessary.
  • Without a routine, the circumstances of the day often dictate what we do leaving us in a reactionary state.
  • Avoid just ‘checking’ your email. Create a routine that once you’ve viewed an email you will do one of three things with it: do it then, delegate it to someone else, defer it to another time, and create a calendar event. 
  • Routines make discipline achievable by creating the space needed for new habits.
  • Routines free up your mind to be more creative not being weighed down with several small decisions you’ve already made automatically part of your day.
  • Begin the night before. Going to the gym? Pack your bag the night before so you’re not tempted to find an excuse not to be ready. 
  • Check your calendar for the following day to avoid any surprises. 
  • Do something difficult. Typically the first few hours after your morning routine is the best time to tackle a difficult task. In doing so, you will have more confidence for other tasks later in the day.
  • And most importantly, forgive yourself when you mess up or break your routine. Your goal is to improve not to be perfect. 

Wittingly or not, each of us has a routine. What’s yours? Do you want to create a new routine or change it and why? Share your experience in the comment section below.

-Shannon Hicks