We’ve had lots of chat around the topic of mental health recently, and some amazing efforts have been made to improve, support and mentor those in the industry when it comes to their mental wellbeing such as the RISE Initiative & the associated ‘Real Care’ app which has just had an upgrade to its user experience.
And yet, there is still a huge concern around being open about it, and an awkwardness that is born through the discomfort of pushing egos to one side and being open to a little bit of vulnerability.
Of course, there is also the perceived concern that you may give your competitors some sort of advantage, or more broadly, be judged by peers, friends and family when they may be used to seeing you as this ‘happy-go-lucky’ human who never lets anything phase them.
For anyone that has been open about it, like myself, there is undoubtedly a sense of judgement that gets passed, whether it’s a tilt of the head or an avoidance when discussing possible opportunities.
Now that’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. To be fair, how else are people supposed to react? But that sense of vulnerability is something that is likely to be judged in some way, shape or form when decisions are getting made.
So the anxiety around that ultimately affecting the career or bank balance is understandable (and that’s not specific to Real Estate, that’s across the board).
Why is it still an awkward topic in Real Estate?
Let’s be up front about this – any decision that gets made in business will always have a financial consideration taken into account, whether it’s from leaders or individuals.
Even if it’s sacrificing money in order to better the team in some way, it still comes back to a cost: benefit ratio that’ll get applied for the long term.
I can see how leaders struggle to manage this whole situation with their team members, especially if they haven’t gone through some sort of mental health process themselves.
However, something else that isn’t helping their cause is not of their doing, and it’s something that does need to be addressed in order to balance this conversation, because this concern around mental health is as much the responsibility of the person with the issue as well as any leader around them.
There are plenty of issues that we openly face in our line of work. Deals falling through, tenants trashing places, landlords never fixing anything, sellers refusing to acknowledge the market…and that’s just scratching the surface, right?!
All of these things are a part of our job, and when you’re in an industry that works around a service that is an absolute necessity for humans, it’s likely to get emotional at times which is something that we (knowingly or otherwise) sign up for.
Ultimately, we all have a choice whether to be in this game of ours or not, and it can be an incredibly rewarding industry so there can be an expectation that we’d need to take on a degree of pressure in order to see that reward come to life.
The big issue here is that the fine line between work stress and mental health issues is so tough to identify, not just for anyone looking from the outside, but also for someone that is feeling the pressure themselves.
Based on my own experience (and everyone’s experiences vary), the critical thing that we need to ensure is that there’s clarity around how work stress points can be processed and worked through in the office.
Now, before I have leaders everywhere giving it to me for wrecking their time management, I will say that there’s also a line between a simple challenge and a genuine work stress! But team members need to feel that they can talk through situations, with the purpose of defining whether a situation is a work stress that is fixable, or if it’s something deeper that’s causing the unrest.
Note that this is a responsibility for both the leader and the individual to work this out, because as much as we rely on leaders to help with challenges it is impossible for them to work it out by themselves.
What can individuals do to help themselves?
If you’re struggling with this pressure – and plenty are, then the last thing you need to be is brave about it. I know that you’ll be concerned that admitting any sort of challenge could make you look weak, or potentially cost you a deal or two, but the ramifications of holding onto anxiety or stress can be way more costly.
Aside from the destructive decisions that can be brought about through stress, studies have shown that anxiety actually lowers ‘Performance IQ’, which is our level of intelligence when put into a certain environment.
So it’s not just a case of potentially causing harm to yourself in some way, but even if you brave it out you are likely to have less chance of converting opportunities if you don’t look into your stress in a productive way, costing you just as much money as what ignoring it would do.
There are the commonly talked-about support mechanisms, like calling support lines or seeing a doctor, or at least talking to someone about it.
And of course, using the Real Care app will help. But a suggestion that doesn’t get talked about anywhere near enough, that actively helps with your performance IQ which can help prevent a meltdown is to do some sort of ‘Cognitive Brain Training’ to strengthen the clarity in your thinking.
Tests have shown that the sharper (or fitter) your mind is, the less you’re likely to give into irrational decisions, so if you find yourself under emotional pressure or strain then at least you can rely on your brain to be able to operate while your heart is under the strain of whatever’s stressing you out.
Your brain is like one big muscle, which is why so many ‘leaders’ recommend you read books or learn something new, because in order for your brain to function properly it needs to be worked out! A no-brainer (excuse the pun!) is to get an app or programme that provides Cognitive Brain Training (CBT) and use it for at least 15 minutes a day.
Much like you would need to go to the gym regularly if you wanted to physically look better, consistency with brain training is really important if you want to ‘see those gains’ in a mental capacity.
Talking to people you trust is absolutely your first port of call, but if you want to improve your resilience around stress, then start pumping the intellectual iron and build up your most important muscle so that you can lift the weights that you may have been struggling to get off the ground.
