2023: Getting back into routine, in small steps.

Firstly, on behalf of the team at Independent Agent, we extend our thoughts to those affected by the weather events of the past months. To those who have lost loved ones our deepest condolences. To those who are rebuilding their lives due to property damage, our thoughts are with you. I know that this email goes to real estate colleagues in Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and West Auckland, as well as other affected areas – my sympathy extends to you.

Being a small country, everyone in New Zealand knows someone affected by these conditions. It is a sad time for New Zealand.

It has been a tricky start to the year there is no doubt. In regards to weather, I thus far have escaped calamity but have still been impacted. At least three neighbours (anyone within a few K’s is a neighbour when you live rurally) have had homes damaged or threatened by slips. The red and yellow stickers have come out and the uncertainty is overwhelming.

Our road is impassable in places which means that access to school and work requires a much longer route for some, us included. I am writing this using solar power – we are on the 6th day with no power (we were without power for 9 days in all). Small inconvenience in the scheme of things.

In respect to trying to maintain some semblance of normality, a big challenge has been to commence any meaningful routines for 2023. It feels a bit like I have been treading water for the past two months. My family and I tried, and failed, to have an annual camping trip, which I like to start a week or so after New Year’s when the silly season is over. The first attempt to camp was abandoned due to weather and re-booked a week later. The second attempt was also abandoned. Two weeks of treading water and four weeks of watching weather forecasts (shall we go, shall we not go? And the real kicker – did we make the right decision?).

I had my first dose of Covid in January. All the symptoms. Sick as hell, and out of action for about a week. I managed to cut myself off from the rest of the family and not spread it around. It sure slowed me down.

The school holidays seemed indeterminably long. I love my kids and like to be doing things with them. My wife Bel and I share parenting and juggle working. I have a desperate urge not to be slaving 7 days a week and missing out on my kids growing up like I feel my father did. This means holidays are a balancing act. And balancing uneven weights like ‘work’ and ‘family’ puts strain on the fulcrum – that’s where a lot of parents sit.

Once the little darlings got back to school, they actually didn’t go back to school. Due to two weeks in a row of partial school closures in much of the northern half of the North Island some kids were behaving like lockdowns had started again, and parents were trembling in a corner dreading home schooling.

Where do you find a routine in all of that?!  If you are me, you probably don’t. And that sums up the first month of 2023!

How I got my health routines back using small easy steps

As you know this is not a real estate blog or newsletter, this is more like a ‘living and doing real estate’ kind of a thing. Real estate is a mind game and I am very sensitive to a connection between body and mind, and how one affects the other, not just moment by moment, but also as a general condition of how well we keep ourselves. Getting the body moving and keeping healthy keeps the mind sharp and in a positive place. A physical movement or state will inspire a mental movement or state.

I would like to talk about health and habits, and how a slow yet steady approach might work for you if you have been unable to get back into routine yet in 2023. I talk about building on habits with more habits, and if you want to explore this more I highly recommend James Clear’s book Atomic Habits.

This year I have decided to stretch every day of the year. This is my annual ‘thing’ I will do for a year. In the past I have ‘run at least a mile every day’ (I managed this except one day when I was at the peak of a dose of food poisoning – prior to doing that I had never considered myself an runner), not bought new clothes for a year (this was fun and weird), and planting a tree a week for a year (I miserably failed on this one, so it sits there waiting to be attempted again).

I am a very physically inflexible human. I think that I am strung together by ligaments made of iron and fascia of steel mesh. When I made the decision to stretch every day for 365 days, I can say that stretching was not something I would have considered to be enjoyable. In the past I have not noticed any progress in loosening myself up when doing stretching stints. But, I decided that in itself is a reason to give something a go – for a whole year.

So, on the first day of the year, I started with something called a ‘Sun Salutation’. This is the exact routine that I started with. I decided that I would do this circuit of stretches twice, first thing in the morning (probably not the stretchiest time of the day as it happens). Within two weeks I was noticing improvements in flexibility (in some areas!). I started adding in other stretches and extending the routine. I decided to add in some exercise, while I was at it. A few press ups, extending some of the holds, rolling over to do some sit ups.

Being someone who requires structure and routine, over our wet summer my diet had become poor. Beyond surfing a couple of times a week there was not a lot of exercise going on either. Poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of routine. Energy was low and sleep was poor. However, by making a start with stretching, I was back on the path to some physical, health focused routines.

By the beginning of February, I had committed to and commenced a healthy eating plan, and by mid-February the gym membership was dusted off and I am now visiting the gym regularly again.

Behaviours that I associate with a healthy lifestyle had not been present from the end of last year. However by making one small change and allowing it to lead to another I have turned this around.

Of course, these principles can also be applied to your business – or any other area of your life for that matter. I might suggest starting with one phone call. Make a small yet positive change and start quietly building. You will be back to your productive self in no time, and will soon build up a whole family of good habits and behaviours that are going to keep you on a successful path. Knock on the doors, pick up the phone, tick off some of those tasks.

Here is to smashing out a successful 2023.