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Happiness is Not So Much a Goal as Being at Peace
Being content and at peace with your life trumps sheer happiness.
Happiness is somewhat overrated. I prefer to strive for being content and at peace. I’m not saying this just because I watched REVIEW last night as the character Forrest MacNeil had to review what being relentlessly happy all of the time is like. In case you’re wondering, he gave “happiness” 3 stars out of 5 stars, and in my opinion, after what he went through, he was generous. I’m saying this because happiness is often equated to giddiness and joy, and it’s short lived. Being calm and at peace with your life is long term.
People say I am way too cheerful, especially in the morning, and I possess endless amounts of energy. I started out purposely being cheerful in the morning as a way to annoy my family and it just sorta stuck. Given a choice of moping about, dragging my feet, shoulders slumped, stumbling through the house grumbling, I tend instead to lean into the anticipation of the day. That’s something to be excited about, a fresh day of hell and new beginnings.
Besides, I have much to be grateful for today. For starters, I got rid of the horrible website company in Oklahoma last week that messed up my website so terribly and overcharged. I realized my sanity could not take one more day and immediately fired them. This was after the owner threatened to hold my website hostage. He refused to release it back to my host because he knew it would not function because his team, which I think consists solely of his son in Texas, coded it incorrectly. That was a fairly stressful time. Within a few days of firing them, my website guy, who is local, fixed almost everything, and it’s working great. Lesson learned here is do not hire a website company out of state.
I have two listings coming up next week that I am very excited to represent. One is a condo in West Sacramento and the other is a duplex in Carmichael. And I am working on selling a home in Elk Grove, which is held open today, along with another home in West Sacramento, that is also open today. My Sacramento real estate priorities are focused.
The icing on the cake for me is a Mediterranean cruise we just booked for after next summer on the Regent Seven Seas. The staterooms are suites, around 300 square feet with balconies. You can dine whenever you want, no designated seating. There is a spa on the ship. It’s not one of those super-sized Disneyland cruises, our ship is much smaller, and we hit all the fabulous European ports. Ever since I was a kid, I have yearned to experience a luxury Mediterranean cruise. We will also spend about 5 days on the front end in Barcelona, in my book the most glamorous and exciting city in Spain. It’s an incredible journey to look forward to.
My husband and I could have saved this excursion for when I retire from real estate, but that’s still so far off, it makes a lot more sense to simply enjoy life now and not stuff our desired adventures into a bucket list. People who say they will do this or do that when they retire might never get there. Life has a way of interrupting our plans. Life is short. Then it’s over. The late Harry Chapin said: it’s got to be the going not the getting there that’s good.
It’s the Going Not the Getting There for a Sacramento Agent
As a Sacramento real estate agent who works with a lot of sellers in the Sacramento area, I do basically 3 things during the week, besides brush my teeth twice a day.
- Take new listings
- Scrutinize and negotiate offers, and
- Manage existing escrows to the point of closing.
The one thing I really don’t do is spend a lot of time looking for new business. I don’t hunt for it because I get a lot of new business from the Internet and from referrals. Potential clients searching for a Sacramento real estate agent read my reviews and client testimonials, maybe they read about my extensive background and then decide to talk with me. Others might ask their friends or relatives for a referral and, since I’ve been fortunate to close hundreds of homes, I have many previous clients every year with good experiences to share.
Not having to spend any time scouring for new business lets me take that chunk of time — those 30% of hours another agent would spend prospecting — and put those hours into servicing my existing clients. That’s a lot of time to look for new clients — a third of your life. I bet if you asked a seller if he or she minds if a Sacramento agent uses their listing to advertise herself, a seller would object, but that’s what most agents do. There’s nothing really wrong with it because it brings the agent more business and it promotes the seller’s house, but it’s not an approach I employ.
I’m not the kind of Sacramento agent who says look at this house I listed, I can list yours, too. Because sellers don’t want a home listed. They want a home sold. They want a home sold for the most money they can get and not a lot of drama. Clean and efficient and professional. I will custom tailor a listing plan for my sellers because every seller and situation is different. I don’t have any qualms about grilling a buyer’s agent before my sellers accept an offer to discuss potential pitfalls and lay out expectations to see if a buyer is a good fit. How many agents do that for their clients?
Engaging in these types of conversations and providing quality service for my sellers is part of what my clients get with an agent who has almost 40 years of experience in the business. My experience is not one year times 40. I am constantly learning and trying to improve because I don’t care how good you are, there is always room for improvement. My career as a Sacramento real estate agent is a journey, not a destination. Like Harry Chapin said in Greyhound: it’s the going, not the getting there.
