Happy Agent Co. — Real Estate Podcast for Women hosted by Lindsay Dreyer, Real Estate Coach

7 Types of Rest Every Real Estate Agent Needs

• Lindsay Dreyer • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Are you running on empty? In the fast-paced world of real estate, exhaustion can feel inevitable. Between client calls, showings, negotiations, and team management, it’s easy to confuse hustle with productivity—until burnout hits hard. But here’s the truth: you can’t run a thriving business while running on fumes.

In this episode, we’re diving into the seven types of rest every real estate agent needs (yes, there’s more to rest than just sleep!). Inspired by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s game-changing book, Sacred Rest, we’ll explore how to recharge physically, mentally, emotionally, and beyond—so you can stop feeling drained and start showing up as your best self.

You’ll Learn:

  • The seven types of rest and why traditional “rest” isn’t always enough
  • How to identify which type of rest you need most right now
  • Simple, actionable ways to incorporate more rest into your daily routine—without checking out for a week-long vacation
  • Why prioritizing rest isn’t just self-care—it’s a business strategy

Real estate is a people business, and the best agents are the ones who take care of themselves first. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, this episode is your permission slip to rest smarter—so you can work (and live) better. 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm excited you're here. I am actually coming to you from Phoenix, arizona, where I'm doing a little girlcation with one of my BFFs, and we also recorded a podcast episode, which I don't know if it's going to be before or after this one, so you'll just have to wait and see. But I had a spa day yesterday and it got me thinking about rest and how important rest is, particularly for real estate agents. I feel like, and know actually, that we are an industry where people are always on. There's always showings, client calls, late night negotiations, and if you're running a team, there are agents that are working on your team. If you run a brokerage, there's employees, there's agents on your team. There are so many moving parts that it is natural to be exhausted sometimes, and that is even more reason for us to get some rest. I also think it's really easy for us to confuse hustle with productivity and a lot of times we just get into ultra stress, running on fight or flight mode, and we forget that you can't run a successful real estate business while you're running on empty. And showing up as your best self for your clients, your family, your friends, for yourself, is so important to having a life and a business that you absolutely love. So I am going to introduce you to the seven types of rest that you need as a human being, and this is not my original concept. This comes from Dr Sandra Dalton-Smith, and she wrote a book called Sacred Rest, which I totally recommend reading, but her framework is so amazing. It was a game changer for me in understanding why I would still be feeling tired even though I got a good night's sleep. And if you are a real estate agent, if you are a parent, you are going to really resonate with this episode. So my hope is, by the end of this episode, you will learn the seven types of rest, how you can apply them in your life as a real estate agent, and how you can stop running on fumes and start rejuvenating yourself and not feeling so exhausted.

Speaker 1:

So let's dive in to the seven types of rest and how they apply to real estate agents. So the first type of rest is physical rest. This is rest that rejuvenates your body in any form, so it could be passive or active, and it really is just anything that makes your physical body feel rested. So examples could be sleeping, taking naps, maybe even just like zoning out or meditating. I also think there's the active form, so yoga, stretching. Sometimes people actually think working out is physical rest. So it really just depends on you. What makes your body feel relaxed. Why does this matter?

Speaker 1:

Real estate agents actually have a pretty physical job. Sometimes it involves being on your feet a long hours hosting open houses, running from showing the showings, going to inspections. I don't know about you, but like I gave up wearing cute shoes after like a month in the business, like we're done, I am walking so much. There is no not getting my steps in, like I'm definitely getting them in. So if your body is worn out, you absolutely can't be a good real estate agent. Like your feet are gonna hurt, you're gonna be miserable. So how do you get physical rest as a real estate agent? Scheduling downtime, being intentional about heavy activity, is really making sure that. For me personally, getting my massages, making sure that I am lying down if I am tired and on my feet a lot you could also maybe just do some stretching after showings or like if you're in the car for a long time, it could be going for a walk and just getting upright. I know a lot of people are using standing desks and that's become super popular. So really it's anything that, for you, makes your body feel rested.

Speaker 1:

Diving into number two, that is mental rest. So mental rest is anything that clears your mind, reduces mental fatigue, reduces the mental load. So real estate agents have a pretty large mental load. If you think about it. We're juggling offers, negotiations, clients, deadlines, and without mental rest you will feel so scatterbrained and so stressed. We've all been there where we've had a super long day and we're like going cross-eyed. So some strategies to help with mental rest I love me a good brain dump and if you have listened to any of my podcast episodes, you know brain dumps are my thing.

Speaker 1:

I do them every Sunday night and it just offloads those thoughts. So I love a good brain dump. I also know some people keep a notebook on their bedside table. So if anything is keeping them up at night so they can't sit and they can't sleep, they're just like write it down. And some people use a note, their notes app, and they just have a running tally of everything. I know I introduced my husband to this concept and he's like really into it and I think it's helped him with his mental rest. The other thing is just setting boundaries around when you are on and when you are off. So this could be do not disturb on your phone. It could be I'm just not answering anybody after 7 pm. Agents who are on all the time and never let their brain rest are absolutely setting themselves up for burnout, if they aren't burned out already. So just making sure that you have a plan and have some strategies to just let your brain stop thinking it's okay to not think all the time.

Speaker 1:

Okay, number three is sensory rest and this just has to do with your senses, like your, your feeling, your smells, your hear, hearing, your you're seeing, like all of those senses, the five senses. So I know for me I am a mom of three young kids and there is a concept and I know the parents out there will know what I'm talking about of being touched out, where your senses just can't take it anymore. If anyone touches you you are going to lose your mind, and this happens to real estate agents too. So between your phone going off all the time, like your alerts being on a computer having constant notifications, you are also probably overstimulated all day and that's just your work stimuli. There are personal stimuli that we have too, and it can be so incredibly draining. So the way that you get some sensory rest is to just escape your senses for a little while. So how does that happen for you?

Speaker 1:

I like to think of I don't know if you guys know the float tank, but I like to think of those like the Epsom salts float tanks where you can literally just go in and float and your body's weightless and there's no noise, there's no light, there's no, nothing. That, to me, is the ultimate example of sensory rest. You're just literally back in the womb and just relaxing and have nothing going on and just relaxing and have nothing going on. So what are some like little ways? I mean we can't live in a float tank, right, I wish we could. But what are some ways that you can get sensory rest? I know for me I think water is a theme here I love to just take a bath, close my eyes and just zone out like lock my kids out of my room and just zonk out for a little bit. It could be just like putting in some earbuds and listening to relaxing nature sounds, it could be driving with literally no music on. So anything you can do to take a step back from that sensor those senses that stimuli can really and I do think this is a big one that we get because we are constantly on and being pinged at.

Speaker 1:

The fourth one is creative rest, and this one's a little bit fun. So this one is it recharges your ability to think creatively and solve problems. A lot of times, as real estate agents, we just have our head down doing the job and we sometimes need to pop up for air to be inspired. You sometimes need to get inspiration for our businesses and like, feel like we're doing something creative. I think that this can be for your marketing strategies. It could be for home. Staging ideas could be problem solving during negotiations.

Speaker 1:

If you are dreamed and you don't have that creative rest, you're not creatively rested, you're going to hit a wall and you're going to feel stuck. So I know when I'm like what am I going to do about this deal that's blowing up A lot of times. If I just go and take a walk, that really helps me reset my brain and I can creatively think about the problem? This can also be things that just are inspiring for you. So maybe it's visiting an art museum or maybe it's going for a really scenic walk. It could be like painting a picture. I know, for a stint of time I loved creative lettering and that was really relaxing for me. So it can be art, but it doesn't have to be art, it's just anything that really recharges your ability to get that creative part of your brain flowing again.

Speaker 1:

The fifth type of rest is emotional rest, and I think this one hits really hard for real estate agents because this is your emotional labor. You're constantly managing the emotions of others and also kind of like putting your blocker up to try to make sure that those emotions aren't impacting you. Our clients are relying on us to be calm and positive and we express our frustration all the time. We can't express if we're anxious, we can't express if we're sad or scared, so we're really putting on that brave face to the world which literally is exhausting, takes emotional energy. So without emotional rest, you are absolutely setting yourself up to just burn out quickly. I don't know, for I think real estate agent tends to attract people who are very empathetic. So there's a lot of empaths out there, I think, and when you are an empathetic person you sometimes take on the emotions of other people. So knowing what's yours and what's your clients can be a really important boundary to understand and set is that my client's very upset right now. They're really angry, but that's not mine. I didn't cause them to be upset or angry. Sometimes it's really hard to have that distinction, but I know once I was able to flex that muscle and set that boundary, things became a lot easier for me.

Speaker 1:

So what are some tips? To recharge your emotional rest? Vent to a friend, a coach, a therapist that's so crucial. You need to have an outlet and I actually recommend this not to be your partner if you are partnered, because your partner can't take on this role for you and still have a healthy relationship. I think it's okay to vent to them sometimes, but I don't think that you can. I don't think it's actually fair to them to lean on them to be your emotional rest. Then schedule time to be alone I think that that's another really big one and to decompress, especially if there are high pressure interactions or high emotionally staked situations, you need to have that time to kind of like come back to yourself and really feel your feels Like. It is important to not just ignore the feelings. You have to process them at some point. It may not be in the moment, because that's not appropriate, but we do have to process them at some point.

Speaker 1:

Number six is your social rest, and we are in a people business. So if you peopleing with people does not energize you which it is surprising to a lot of people I'm actually an introvert. I play an extrovert very well on TV, but I am not an extrovert, I am an introvert. Recharging my battery is means being away from humans. I love humans, but I need to be away from them to recharge. So if you are the type of person that you need to recharge your battery by being by yourself, know that about yourself and build in that time. If you're the type of person that gets recharged by being around people that energize, you, go for that. So make sure that you're spending time with people that make you feel supported and energized. If that's going to help you recharge your social rest, or if you need a break from people because they leave you feeling drained, that's fine too. Whatever you need to do to recharge that social battery is really, really important, because we are in a people-based business.

Speaker 1:

Finally, the last type of rest is spiritual rest. Now, this isn't necessarily being religious, although it can be but this is connecting to something bigger than yourself. It really offers you a sense of purpose and belonging. So when that day-to-day grind of being an agent just starts to feel overwhelming, this can help you reconnect with what your why is Like. Why are you in this business? So I think a lot of people get into real estate not only to make money, but they also want to help people find homes and create stability. This is like the American dream, literally, is to be a homeowner. So I think we're really helping people make that possible and there's nothing more rewarding than helping a first time home buyer, who maybe has limited income or limited assets, buy their first home and they're really starting that journey of building wealth and I think that that's a really powerful why for some people. So that can be a way to recharge, spiritual rest, to really understand the why. What's the difference you're making in the world. Another way people connect to their bigger sense of purpose is volunteering or donating. So having those causes that are really important to you and maybe you're using the money you earn through real estate to support those causes, that can be a really impactful way to get spiritual rest.

Speaker 1:

Lastly, it could be just practicing gratitude or your religion going to church. I know for me personally, meditation and contemplation is a huge piece of spiritual rest for me. I love being able to connect with my higher self and just like feeling aligned mind, body and soul Like that's a really impactful way for me to feel spiritually rested. So whatever that is for you, you need to do it.

Speaker 1:

So I know that this sounds like a lot of work and I'm not going to say it's not easy, but I think it's so important to know as a real estate agent, when you're feeling depleted, when you're feeling tired, what is it that you need to fill your cup? Is it physical rest? Is it mental rest? Is it sensory rest? Is it creative rest? Is it emotional rest? Is it social rest? Is it spiritual rest? So knowing that can really help you start managing your energy levels and showing up the way that you want to in your real estate business.

Speaker 1:

So it doesn't always mean you have to take that like week-long vacation check out completely.

Speaker 1:

I know for a long time I thought that I had to do an all or nothing kind of thing, but it can sometimes literally just be as simple as taking a 10-minute walk outside.

Speaker 1:

So real estate agents tend to be very like black and white thinking, I think, because we like to win or we like to, or we're losing.

Speaker 1:

But these can be little things that you implement into your routine that help keep you rested and keep you at the top of your game. So my challenge to you today is take 10 minutes to evaluate which type of rest you feel like you need the most and then commit to one small thing you can do to address it. I really feel like rested agents show up the best for their clients and they have the most successful businesses because they are able to bring their best selves to their business. Most successful businesses because they are able to bring their best selves to their business. Not only that, but they also tend to be happier. Like you, tend to enjoy your life because you are not resentful of your work depleting your energy and your resources. So if this episode resonated with you, I would love it if you would share it with another agent who might need a reminder that it's time to rest, and I hope that you subscribe for more tips to build a business and a life that you love.

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Lindsay Dreyer

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