Setting Personal Boundaries in Sales

Do you ever feel owned?

Do you feel like other people basically own your calendar, your schedule, and your attention? There’s a way to change this and I’ll show you how.

Let’s talk about setting personal boundaries in sales.

How to Set Boundaries

I have a confession: I struggled early on in real estate sales because I felt like I was always ON.

If I was standing in line at the grocery store, and someone mentioned homes or real estate, my ears would perk up and I felt like I had to be a part of the conversation.

I used to tell my clients, “Call me any time, day or night!”

I was a slave to my own email.

In time, this turned out to be a real problem. I couldn’t provide the service, because I never had any downtime.

I never had any ME time. I never had any personal boundaries.

But here’s the serious question: How do you turn it off at night? How do you find the time…for anything else?

Tips on How to Find ME Time

Now, there are personality exceptions at play here, and I get that some of you are the rise and grind type.

You love to work, and you love to work all the time.

Fair warning though, YOUR BRAIN NEEDS REST.

Your output is creativity. And a stressed-out brain is not creative.

Sure, your brain can run on adrenaline for a while, but this is not sustainable.

Perhaps you want a more balanced life.

You want to be able to turn it off when you get home. You want to stop thinking about work when you’re in the shower or at your kid’s baseball game.

You want to stop feeling OWNED.

Here’s the key for you to understand.

We TRAIN people how to treat us.

In other words, the feeling of being owned is often a self-inflicted wound.

When we tell people, call me anytime day or night, we feel the need to constantly monitor our phone and our email.

After a while, we train people that we are always available and that we have no boundaries. Again, this is not sustainable.

The brain needs rest. YOU need rest. Period.

So, how can you stop being ON all the time?

How to Stop being ON All the Time

Here are three ways to help you with setting up your own boundaries.

1. Set non-negotiable appointments with yourself – You wouldn’t have a problem blocking off a meeting for someone important, right? Well, are you important? Of course, you are. So, set non-negotiable appointments with yourself. And here’s a little secret: I set appointments on my calendar just to walk my dog.
2. Only check your email at designated times of the day – No one really expects an instant response to an email unless you have trained them to expect it. So, get into the habit of finding specific items during the day when you will look at email and then shut it down.
3. Stop over-promising – Be honest with the people in your life. Don’t make silly statements like, you can reach me 24 hours a day. They can’t, and it’s not good for you.

Use these tips next time you notice that other people are taking control of your time and life.

Are you guilty of being the “reach me any time” type for your clients? Take a minute for yourself and write down ONE thing you’ll try this week to start setting boundaries. And stick to it!

It’s a bit hard to make the change at first but trust me on this one: your brain will thank you for it!

Until next time, learn more to earn more.