Let’s talk: Prioritising mental wellness conversations

One highlight of the event was the Next Generation Leadership panel, where the topics of work/life balance, regeneration strategies and setting boundaries were discussed by industry veterans, including Century 21 chief executive James Bell, Ray White Queensland chief performance officer Courtney Martin and RE/MAX Australia managing director Joel Davoren. 

During the panel discussion, conference organiser Michael Sheargold asked the speakers to share their tips on achieving work/life balance — namely, their “mind, body and soul regeneration strategies”.

Mr Bell shared that hopping on the tree-change trend and moving away from Sydney was a “proactive choice” that he and his wife, Sarah, made to have a “quieter existence”. 

He explained why they made the choice to live two hours away from Century 21’s head office, which is located in the heart of the bustling central business district. 

“The  decision to have a place of residence for us that was away from everything, that was our own sanctuary — it’s wine country, it’s on a golf course, so that ticks a couple of boxes for me — it’s our little fortress as a family. So that was one of our key values,” he stated. 

For Ms Courtney, the toll of rolling out a new platform for the group made her realise that she needed to refocus on herself and empower the people around her. 

“Certainly health and fitness is super important,” the Ray White executive stated. 

While she had made headway by participating in self-care events, Ms Courtney recognises that there is still a lot to be done in order to achieve the work/life balance she is seeking. 

“I’m doing STEPtember (a fundraiser for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance), so it’s a good start. For the past couple of days, I’ve done 10,000 steps, and I am starting to feel a little bit better, but it’s a long way from where I want to be. But it’s a focus of mine now,” she confessed. 

Adding to the conversation, Mr Bell said that it was important for real estate professionals to know their personal limits — an epiphany he shared has dawned on him in the last six months. 

The Century 21 executive also revealed that upon recognising he was at his limit from doing business travel, he made the decision to work from home and delegate the task of attending important events. 

“I knew my limit. I needed a week at home with my family and to get some work done for the betterment of my network, rather than just travelling and eating out,” he professed. 

Meanwhile, Mr Davoren admitted that he “probably did not know his limit”.  

“That’s probably a bit of an issue that I’ve got,” the RE/MAX executive said.

But he shared that keeping fit and healthy is his main method to keep things on track. 

“I don’t like to do things by halves, I really don’t. I like to have a good time. I like to be able to stay fit and healthy,” Mr Davoren stated. 

He said that while the newest addition to his family — a three-month-old baby — has changed his training routine, he has found a workaround solution. 

“I am not a night person in terms of training. Usually I would say I would be training four or five mornings a week — that’s definitely not happening as much at the moment. But I’ve got Noosa Tri in eight weeks, so I’ve got to get myself in some sort of shape for that,” he said.

Sharing more personal insights on achieving mental wellness, Mr Davoren added that the “best decision” he has made for his mental wellness in the last four or five years was to “go off grid for a week”. 

He also touted the benefits it can bring not just for his mental state, but for his work performance as well. “It’s certainly something that for me, when I come back from a week like that, the disconnect from the phone; I cannot tell you how much that actually makes me better at what I do when I get back,” he said. 

With the industry having a reputation for being an on-demand type of hustle, Mr Davoren raised device addiction as a “real problem”. 

He said that the beneficial effect of disconnecting from devices for a week goes far. “I don’t mean better for a week, I mean I feel sharper for a period of time, maybe three or four months. It helps us operate at this OK level of 80 to -85 per cent. But for us to really try to hit as high as we can in terms of performance, I think you need to switch off for a period of time,” Mr Davoren said. 

Ms Davis said it was “heartening” to see that in the three years since the organisation was launched, the industry was continuing to have more open and honest discussions around mental wellness and work/life balance.

“When RiSE first launched, the idea of talking about mental health was virtually taboo, so it’s great to see how far we have come in stripping away the pretence and having more open and honest conversations about how we are really feeling in the industry, and what is working and what is not,” she stated. 

First established in 2019, the RiSE Initiative is dedicated to improving the mental wellness of those operating within the real estate industry.

She emphasised that to normalise talks about mental health and wellness, it was important to “strip back the gloss” and engage in “real and heartfelt discussions”. 

“In order for us to perform better, we need to clearly understand what is our own personal responsibility, and what are the systemic factors that might be making it harder for us to perform and the strategies we can use to address them,” Ms Davis said.