BEST PRACTICEElite Agent

Who is the agent of the future?

With the threat of online portals, ever-lowering fee structures and the potential that in 10-plus years up to 80 per cent of agents possibly won’t have a job, it is critical now that the agent of the future understands the key areas to focus on for greater success. Who do you really need to be?

The new age of real estate has begun. It’s not about how property is listed and sold, but about how the high-performance agent of the future has to operate to ensure not only survival but success.

In this article, I want to share with you what I believe are the five key areas that will create the high-performance agent of the future.

1 BUILT ON HAPPINESS

Most agents experience negative thinking and moods daily. In cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) it is called ‘automatic negative thinking’, like catastrophe thinking, mind-reading, fortune-telling or over generalising based on assumptive thoughts that bind us to a slanted perspective and world view. This wires us to see the problem or difficulty first, rather than the solution or positive outcome. All this creates a void whereby our happiness and optimism are sucked out of us and lost. What we are left with is underperforming businesses and lives.

When we start, though, with a fundamental happiness to our lives that wires us for optimism and a positive outlook, we will actually perform at far higher levels than we normally would, as Shawn Achor shows in his book The Happiness Advantage. “In fact, our brain performs 30 per cent better at positive than it does at neutral or negative. It turns out that our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best, not when they are negative or even neutral, but when they are positive.”

When you have a deep happiness then the world is a better place and you stop striving and never arriving. You and your business become sustainable in the face of any challenges.

2 EMPOWERED BY MINDFULNESS

The high-performance agent of the future will focus on the present. They will not dwell on the past or be lost in the future; they will be centred, have clarity and supreme focus along with inner harmony, balance and control of their current state and experience. They will have an ability to let go, not be attached to outcomes and results, transcending the ego, living without negative stress and contributing at a much higher level to the self and those they come in contact with.

Mindfulness is important as it assists in the process of slowing down your thoughts, having less stress, gaining more clarity, being focused, increasing relaxation, having proactive emotional management and improving memory. It also helps solve problems, improves your immunity, makes you happier and, more importantly, gives you the ability to manage your thinking and not let it manage you.

One of the key principal performance aspects of mindfulness is the ability to manage your mind. In my experience after over 3,000 coaching sessions, it is the person’s mind that is the problem. As the Buddhist teachers put it, the mind is like a crazy monkey running around in your head all the time. Embarking on a life of mindfulness enables you to manage your monkey for higher performance.

Meditation also assists this process. Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are, said, “Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realise where you already are.”

When you practise being in the present moment through meditation your ability to manage your mind for high performance strengthens. Meditation allows you to clear the mind, be in the present and let go. It is in the letting go that you allow yourself to perform at a higher level. It also allows you to take your ego out of the picture and connects you with your true, authentic self. This creates a superior flow in your life that enables you to go above and beyond.

3 DEFINED BY EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE

The Center of Creative Leadership found that 75 per cent of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including the inability to handle interpersonal problems, unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict, and inability to adapt to change or elicit trust.

In real estate, if you can’t roll with the punches emotionally when it comes to things not going the right way, it becomes a constant tussle on the roller coaster of ups and downs until it’s too much to deal with. This creates inconsistent results, and lack of traction and momentum.

Emotional intelligence is a key determinant in how we connect and engage with others, how we come across and influence those around us and how reactive or proactive we are to the setbacks, challenges, roadblocks, stress and day-to-day difficulties that come at us.

People with emotional intelligence control the emotional landscape and empower, persuade and influence others. How you handle your emotional game is directly connected to the success you have and quality of life you live.

4 FUELLED BY ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Ever since Loehr and Schwartz made the distinction between time management and energy management, the corporate world has embraced new paradigms in efficiency and effectiveness for high performance.

As Jim Loehr says, “A dynamic relationship exists between physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. Changes in any one dimension of energy affect all dimensions.”

5 CRITICAL ALIGNMENT OF ALL OF THESE ENERGY LEVELS

Many agents, though, are unhealthy, over-worked, stressed, lifeless, dull and slothful, with no presence, vitality or purpose, no passion or spiritual compass. The ‘work till you drop’ ethos, stipulating grinding your body, mind and soul into the ground whilst trying to do everything at once, still prevails. Most agents eat the wrong foods, don’t exercise, put unrealistic demands on their body, make it hard to have clarity and balance, and then go home to a family – the most important thing to them – absolutely exhausted and have nothing left to give.

In its pure essence, energy management is about your vitality, enthusiasm, physiological presence, mental clarity, focus and impact. It is based upon wellness, wellbeing, life balance and spiritual principles that allow the agent to be far more efficient, effective, sustainable, purposeful, persuasive and influential. Each energy impacts the other.

The high-performance agent of the future will understand and apply recovery and renewal practices to outperform others and experience a more holistic, balanced and optimal personal and business life.


If you are interested in how to grow in these areas, don’t miss REVIVE 2017, at the Sheraton Mirage, QLD 30-31 July 2017.

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Jet Xavier

Jet Xavier is one of Australia’s leading Mindset Coaches for real estate sales professionals. For more information visit jetxavier.com.