Be Smart About Stress

By Cliff Baird

RISMEDIA, August 14, 2007–“Nothing matters until you make it matter”

Clearly, this doesn’t mean that nothing matters. However, what it does mean is that you need to be careful with what you make matter. Because what you make matter, in the moment of opportunity, will determine your destiny.

We are a nation at risk! Each week in America, there are over 35,000 heart attacks. Each week, more than 10,000 people die of heart attacks.

In 2005, there were more than 11 million prescriptions for tranquilizers and stress-reduction drugs. Of course, there are no statistics of the socially deviant ways we escape from the stresses of everyday life.

Tragically, most often stress is a self-inflicted wound. We have unfortunately been taught to “manage the damage” as if stress was an inevitable part of life—it is not! Conflict and tension may be inevitable, but stress is always the result of our choices. We can avoid all stress in life. It is simply a matter of choice.
The Psychology Text-book definition of stress is: “an internal reaction to external stimuli.” More simply put, Stress is how we feel emotionally (internal reaction) to the choices we make in the circumstances of life (external stimuli). Clinical stress is the consequence of our choices.

There are only two ways you will ever have clinical stress in your life.

1. By doing things you know you shouldn’t do.
2. By not doing things you know you should do.

Therefore, knowledge is the cause of all stress. It would be better that you didn’t know.
Knowing what to do and choosing not to do it is the formula for clinical stress. The question is: Now that you have gathered all the knowledge and real estate sales skills, what are you doing with them? Do not attempt to justify why you are not prospecting. That will become too heavy of a burden to carry. In fact, that is one of the main reasons why people leave real estate sales in failure. They can no longer face the truth about themselves. They had the knowledge and the skills but the resulting stress was eventually overwhelming.

Be a doer, not only a learner. A doer is someone who passionately overwhelms their present circumstances by deliberately choosing the daily activities, which he or she already knows, will lead to the fulfillment of their dreams.

Remember, you, and only you, will determine your destiny. RE

Cliff Baird, MBA, PhD, is a business therapist and real estate sales management coach, helping agents and managers for over 25 years. He recently introduced ReSTAR (Real Estate Sales Temperament and Aptitude Report) a customized, online recruiting program for brokers and managers. For more information, please visit www.restaronline.com or e-mail cliff@cliffbaird.com.

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