We are all under the gun every day in real estate sales. Most of us get up every morning unemployed. We need to go out and find a person to buy and sell with everyday. How do we "pressure- proof" our business?

We must put ourselves in the position where we are always winning. When we are on a listing appointment and we are struggling with the seller, we must believe they will sign the listing before we leave. We must know during our prospecting block that we will turn up a new listing or new buyer every day. Let me share with you a few ideas to make your business pressure-proof and successful daily.

1) Trust Your Skills and Abilities

We all go through a drought or slump in our business. I see agents who close big volume who stop cheering themselves on if they have not listed a home in a week. They start to doubt their abilities. They start to make dramatic changes in a panic. You have cultivated certain skills and abilities that work for you. Just because they did not work today or this week does not mean you should make wholesale changes. You should not give up on what brought you to the dance. People have a tendency to change course too often in life. Set a solid course and trust in your skills and abilities.

In my twenties I competed in racquetball professionally all over the United States. When I was having problems with my passing shots, I didn’t give up. I would practice for hours hitting thousands of passing shots to every corner of the court. A few weeks later I would be competing in a match and the shot I had been practicing could win a point. I was on autopilot and would hit the shot for a win. The hours of practice allowed me to be pressure-proof during the game. All good athletes know about this skill.

What if we applied this concept in real estate? What if we practiced in-the-game situations? If we practiced the listing presentation daily or we role-played objections that regularly came from buyers and sellers, would that lead us to pressure-proofing our business? Wouldn’t it be nice having the response come out on autopilot for almost every situation? What would that skill do for the trust you have in yourself? Your performance would increase, as would your results.

Psychology expert William Glasen had a concept called "Positive Addition" The concept was simply that the mind can become addicted to positive action and positive results. As an example, you can become positive addicted to running, working out, learning, reading, writing, or anything you do well.

Glasen's theory was that when you do something well and you enjoy doing it you will experience a rush of endorphins in your body, the same kind of endorphin rush we have all heard about as a "runner's high." The endorphins in your brain create a feeling of well-being and happiness. Then your mind remembers this elevated state and motivates you to repeat the activities that gave you that feeling of well-being.

We truly can become addicted to taking listings, selling homes, prospecting etc. As long as your mind associates something you do well and enjoy doing with the endorphin rush, it will try to create the circumstances or activities with regularity. You truly can become addicted to positive, constructive activities. That certainly would be a valuable addiction to have.

To enhance that addiction you need to develop a greater trust through practice. The practice phase leads to the other successes. Practice will help you gain greater trust even during a slump. You can achieve what you desire- just trust in yourself. Develop a "Positive Addition" to success today.

Practice the skills you need to succeed daily. Doing this daily will lead you to being pressure-proof in very short order.

Published: June 15, 1999

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Dirk Zeller only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.

Dirk Zeller is a sought out speaker, celebrated author and CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. The Real Estate community has embraced and praised his six best-selling books; Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Real Estate Team, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, Successful Time Management for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print. To learn more regarding this article, please visit www.realestatechampions.com.