What good is it being a “top producer” if you are working 80 hours (or more) a week and haven’t had a vacation in five years?  Sounds more like a prison to me.  It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you are always exhausted or miserable.

I remember meeting the #2 producer for an entire state during one of my speeches.  When the audience was asked “Who here is having an extraordinary career?” she raised her hand and said: “I maintain 75 – 90 listings at any one time, get 2 – 3 hours of sleep a night and I hate my life!”  She was as serious as the heart attack that was heading her way.

So why is it that so many of us work ourselves to death this way (whether or not we are making a ton of money)?  Largely it is due to fear.  Fear of being out of control, fear of uncertainty, fear of scarcity and the big “gotcha”, fear of who would we be if we were not doing what we do.  That last particular fear is a result of becoming a “Human Doing” instead of living as a human being…

Strive to turn your business into a faithful servant that always serves you, instead of you being a slave to it.

Mr. Internet

I remember a couple of elderly lady Realtors during a speech in Texas.  During the break we started chatting and they shared how they just returned from a trip to New Zealand where they did (among many other things) bungee jumping!  As I was recovering from my shock of that mental image they went on to say how they were looking forward to visiting Antarctica!  When asked why they were going there they said it was the only continent they hadn’t visited.

These two ladies were clearly enjoying themselves (unlike most of the rest of the audience) so I asked them how is it they were able to balance their work with such an active lifestyle.  Their answer will stay with me forever: “We learned long ago that we work to live, not live to work.”  Out of the mouths of very seasoned babes…