What do you do if your career growth in Commercial Real Estate is jeopardizing your work-life balance?

Managing work-life balance while pursuing career growth in Commercial Real Estate is a common challenge. Begin by reassessing your current priorities. Determine what is most important to you both in your career and your personal life. Consider the aspects of your job that you find most fulfilling alongside personal commitments that are non-negotiable. This assessment will help guide how you allocate your time and energy.

Assessing priorities involves reflecting on what matters most to you personally and professionally. Consider your values, goals, and commitments in both aspects of life. Determine what brings you fulfillment and satisfaction, whether it's advancing your career, spending time with loved ones, pursuing hobbies, or maintaining your health and well-being. Prioritize activities and responsibilities accordingly, making intentional choices that align with your overarching priorities and contribute to a balanced and fulfilling life.

It’s time to start handing out the participation trophies. Why do respondents believe that the time demands of a CRE career are any more demanding than any other profession? In fact, compared to many other professions, such as medicine or hedge fund manager, CRE is a vacation. Furthermore, the same time demands are put on hourly workers who do not have the financial resources that CRE professionals have. So let’s not feel sorry for ourselves. The market could care less about being home on time for dinner.

Prioritize your time and energy by evaluating what matters most in your career and personal life. Consider your values, goals, and commitments to find a balance that aligns with your long-term objectives. Remember, success in commercial real estate shouldn't come at the expense of your well-being or relationships. Make intentional choices that prioritize fulfillment in both aspects of your life. Don't compare your workload to others; focus on finding a balance that works for you and advocate for your needs.

My then 5 or so year old son asked me to attend a game. When I told him I was not sure I could make it, he asked if I had a calendar. I said yes. He then asked if I missed client meetings that were on my calendar. I sad no. He then informed me if I put his game in my calendar, I would be sure not to miss his game. BOOM! Out logiced by a 5 year old.

This I think it the most difficult things for many of us, as I am writing this at 7 pm, well within family time. I generally get to work early and then by 6 call it quits for the day and focus on the family. I will normally not anwer phone calls, email or the like, unless I know it is abnormal for that person to call or reach out that late or it truly is an emergency. (spoiler, unless the building is flooding or on fire it isn't an emergency) Now if I have to get things complete, that is after family time, or in the rare case I know I am under the gun, we work that out with the family and let them know, but I always have to make up that time with more quality time.

I suggest a one way ticket to Hawaii to decide exactly what you want to do with your life. But if that’s not possible, planning is critical. I left the industry and went into nursing school during the pandemic. Recently graduated and now try to balance a new type of work life balance that happens no matter where or how you work. Family first in my opinion, Life is too short! The best part is that even when I’m not with my family, I’m making a difference in peoples lives, at the core of their well being and now I help them manage their work life balance. It’s a huge change that I will never regret!

Try setting up an auto-reply for texts and emails during off-hours, letting folks know when you'll respond. Use the Eisenhower Box to prioritize tasks: urgent-important, important-not urgent, urgent-not important, and neither. This helps manage your workload during office hours. Also, delegate when you can. Trusting your team with responsibilities frees up your time for high-priority tasks and family moments. These simple strategies can help maintain a healthy work-life balance.

My time management focus right now: “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” The frantic hair on fire level of busy is stressful and unproductive. Give yourself time to think. Time to make a plan. Time to reflect. Pick your direction, then increase your velocity.

For instance, project management tools like Asana or Trello may be helpful. These tools can be used to organise tasks, set deadlines, and monitor progress.

I play catch up after 5 pm when the phones stop ringing and people are shutting it down for the day. Sometimes I spend 5-6 or 6:30 just catching up on things before the next day. You stay on top of things if you do that once in a while.

A list of prioritization is important to effective time management. Family, work, and downtime in that order. If your work is not ultimately for your family's overall benefit, what are you really doing or who are you really doing it for? Likely yourself. Oftentimes, work can take great chunks of bandwidth during the day so in those situations, it's always good to have carveouts for time with your family. For example, if there's a bedtime ritual you have with your children, but your workload is heavy, block out that time regardless of your day. You can always come back to work, but you can't always come back to your kids when they've grown up and remembered dad being AFK (away from kids) for most of their childhood.

For effective time management in real estate, try using theme blocks in your day—mornings for client meetings, afternoons for showings, and late afternoons for admin tasks. This keeps you focused and efficient. Also, consider a comprehensive app like HubSpot to manage contacts, properties, and tasks all in one place, reducing time spent switching between tools. Always set a highlight task for each day, ensuring you accomplish at least one key activity. These strategies streamline your workflow, allowing you to work smarter and maintain a steady pace in the fast-paced real estate world.

There are things that can come up and fire drills, and it's important to address. This happens with work and in personal life. Be sure to communicate clearly expectations, and be honest with what you can accomplish.

In my opinion, mentors in CRE are essential to success. I have a few, and they have been vital to helping me navigate the CRE landscape, develop relationships, and encourage during difficult times. Finding a mentor isn't the easiest, but it is rewarding once you do. Also, finding the right mentor is key. Don't just find someone who is successful at CRE on a spreadsheet, but also look for someone with immutable traits like integrity, honesty, and an approachable nature that is willing to teach. The best mentors in the business are the ones who are highly successful, but also have the self-awareness to develop a sense of humility over the years. If the ego overrides the humility, you're better off finding another.

I look at CRE a lot like I look at athletics. You're in a highly demanding role that requires you to be in the best overall condition to make sure you and your company (or your team) are set up in the best overall position going forward. If you're regularly sacrificing things you need to perform at a high level, your work ultimately suffers, and your company does, too. Striking that balance of bandwidth is essential to making sure that you, your family, and your work all maintain a high level of excellence.

CRE is a marathon, not a sprint. Brokers that play the long game tend to last. Rather than “sprinting” at the expense of your personal health and wellbeing, pick a pace that you can sustain as you rack up those “miles” of experience. And it’s ok if it’s a different pace than the next person.

Commercial real estate becomes a part of you. If your obsessed it never leaves you. I always believed that where energy goes it will grow. Its not for everyone and if you are truly challenged by balance than you might want to consider other areas of commercial real estate that allow for flexibility.