We’ve all been there: You focus so hard on your daily activities that by the time you head to the kitchen to make dinner, you don’t have the brainpower left to decide what to make. How can we structure our day to have enough energy left over to enjoy our evening? It’s all about habits.
Amazing brainpower…or not?
As amazing as our brains are, they have their limitations. According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, the human brain can process 4 million bits of information a second, but we’re only aware of 2,000 of those. And while that’s incredible, when we’re inundated with information and constantly surrounding ourselves with busyness, we’re exhausting ourselves.
Think about your brain like your bank account. Every morning when you wake up, you have $10,000 waiting for you to spend. Your immediate reaction might be: Woohoo! Shopping spree!
But wait, there’s more. You might not know it, but the moment you open your eyes, the dollars start flowing out. Getting ready for work, eating breakfast and brushing your teeth don’t cost you a lot, but once you start hitting the phone, responding to emails, writing that house description for your new listing and attending a listing appointment or two, your account will be drained pretty quickly.
Now, what about those big-ticket expenses such as planning social media campaigns and problem-solving an issue with another agent? You’re going to be in debt before you know it. That’s when we “hit the wall” and need a nap.
Self-regulation theory and creating habits
There’s a concept in the world of psychology called the “self-regulation theory,” which is defined as the ability for people to control their behavior, feelings and thoughts. One way real estate agents can weave this concept into their day to help fend off brain fog is to put more of their day and decision-making on autopilot, and we can do that by creating habits.
Human beings aren’t naturally geared toward procedure or following fixed rules (hello, rebellious nature!), but rather, we respond to the feedback we get from others and our environment. Rather than being ruled by our emotions or impulses, incorporating habits into our daily routine will help us ride out those waves of emotions and impulses and give our brains a break so we can arrive at the end of our day with money in the bank (literally and figuratively).
Darryl Davis has trained and coached more than 100,000 agents globally. He is a best-selling author of “How to Become a Power Agent® in Real Estate,” which tops Amazon’s charts for most-sold book to real estate agents. Davis hosts a weekly webinar to help agents succeed in changing times. Visit www.DarrylSpeaks.com/Online-Training.
