KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Finding Your Joy: How to Prevent Burnout in Real Estate

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Summary:This episode features a conversation with coach Jen Murtagh on finding joy and purpose in your real estate career to avoid burnout. Agents will learn about the Japanese concept of "Ikigai" (your reason for being) and how to apply its four pillars—what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for—to their business. The discussion focuses on aligning daily tasks with personal values, moving beyond purely financial metrics of success, and building a sustainable, fulfilling business.

But when you really know what it is that you want, what is it that you truly desire and require? Okay, the God Almighty is not going to withhold that from you. It's not going to happen. So the only thing that would be left is that you're withholding it from yourself. If you don't have everything that it is that you desire and require in this life, that's sort of an internal reflection. Okay, don't go blank. Well, the Lord ain't come through. No, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, it's choices. Write down the word choices. Okay. The choices that we make has created the lifestyle that we now live. Welcome to the Success With Listings Podcast, where we help you get success in the real estate game, the easy way. Now you can get off the roller coaster of Feast and Famine and out of the rat race of competing with every other agent in town.

Hi, I'm Nollie Williams. I took over a thousand listings during my first 10 years from the real estate game. And in this podcast, I show you how to have success with listings. Let's go. Yeah, we're right in the middle of a series that is so important. And a lot of times I just want to teach all about lead generation. But this series is so important for entrepreneurs, for you. And it's called Finding Your Joy.

Interestingly, a lot of people really aren't interested in this topic. You know, it's like, no, I want to find listings. I'm like, yeah, but if you, if you start to find your joy, the listings will just show up, okay? They'll just show up. So last week was really, really good. I had a great week, closed on my first property, Friday, my first property coming back to the United States. That was, well, we actually had another listing besides that, but I hadn't fully moved here yet. and then I've got I picked up three more deals this week so this is where I get to kind of hang out with you teach you what I'm doing to get business what I did to take over a thousand listings my first 10 years and what I'm doing now you know getting two or three deals a week and so but it really stems from a lot of the learning that I learned which which really centers us back into you know who are we

What are we here for? Why am I here? How am I going to show up? You know? And so that's that's what we're, that's what we're talking about now. And the series is called Finding Your Joy. We're there's, it's a four part series. And today, I want to talk about how to get absolutely everything you want.

It's a big topic. How to get absolutely everything that you want in life. I remember back in 2008, was it eight? Yeah, 2008, it was in December, and I was sitting there. Gary Keller had asked me to meet with him. I had just become the number one real estate agent in Austin. And that's really what I wanted. I wanted to be number one.

And I finally got it. It took me four years after I got my license. I was the number one real estate agent in the city out of 9,800 agents. and when the Austin Business Journal came out with the report, they list the top names. You know, my production was number one as a solo agent. And so that warranted a call from Gary Keller himself, or his office, I should say. He didn't call me himself.

His assistant called. She set up a meeting one-on-one with Gary. And one of the first things Gary did was he gave me a book by Mike Hernaki. And the title of the book is called Permanent Persistent. prosperity. Okay. The secret to permanent prosperity. That's the name of the book. The secret to permanent prosperity. And the guy's name is, uh, the, the author's name is Mike Hernaki. And so it's a very short read. It's not a hard read at all. It's very highly recommended. Um, and at the end of the day, it really comes back to this. What is it that you want? What do you want? You know, we're, I'm talking about

how do you get everything in this life that you want? Now, remember, David said he said the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want so really for the believer wanting is not really even a state for us or shouldn't be and so I like to take that word want I use the word in my training because it's something that's familiar so I guess out of love I still use it but in reality in my languaging, I use the word desire. What is it that I truly desire? And then you could also throw the word require. What is it that you require and desire? Okay, because what you desire desires you. That's the truth. What you want wants you. What you desire desires you. And so it really,

the way that you're going to get every single thing that you ever want in this life is step one, you've got to know what it is that you want. And I know a lot of people think they do, but they really don't. You know, I hear things like, and this is something I hear all the time, Bradford, I'm going to tell you. So I hear people, like I talk to them, I say, hey, what's your big why? What do you really want? And they say things like, you know, my grandkids. That's nice.

Okay. I'm not here to poo-poo on anybody's, you know, thing, right? that's your thing you believe that but in the reality what what really happens is they they don't really believe that because if they if it was the thing is it's it's not as important to them as they think it is because if it were it would be like that last that next breath you just took you got to have you'd be dying to have it okay and some people just don't have that much desire I remember when I was in a point in my life when I had slipped into apathy okay anybody ever been there in apathy okay you might be there and not even know it it's easy

to get into apathy apathy is where you get disillusioned um by life and then you're just like who cares well i'm not even going to try like why do i even try so hard it it doesn't work you know you start getting that eore syndrome right it's not going to work out anyway and i know no one here thinks that way however in the subconscious mind that's what you're we're talking about because that's where the real crux of it all happens okay is in the subconscious mind so when you say something like oh my big why is my grandkids but yet you're still not uh reaching your goals you know what that tells me you need a bigger why you grandkids ain't big enough all right I'm sorry to say it but I talk to people all the

day this is what I do I'm a coach a trainer I've trained tens and thousands of agents Paul and I, we have 40,000 real estate agents on our list that we interact with and we email and do things with and stuff like that. Over the years that I've accumulated from the first agent that joined my list, my mailing list to the 40,000. And I pretty much know the drill, okay? A lot of times, your Y is just not big enough. So that's something to work on. But when you really know what it is that you want, what is it that you truly desire and require? okay the god almighty is not going to withhold that from you it's not going to happen so the only thing that

would be left is that you're withholding it from yourself if you don't have everything that it is that you desire and require in this life that's that's sort of an internal reflection okay don't don't go well the lord ain't come through no no no no no no you know it's choices and write down the word choices Okay, the choices that we make has created the lifestyle that we now live. And I know it's a hard topic. I'm talking to myself as well. I remember I made a critical mistake one time. This was a bad mistake.

And people ask me all the time, you know, there's a book by Bronny Ware called the Five Regrets of the Dying. I've talked about it before. The five top regrets of the dying. people on their deathbed with their five top regrets. The number two regret, I wish I hadn't worked so hard. The number one regret, I wish I'd had the courage to live a life that was true to myself, not the life that others expected of me. Some people are so far down the rabbit hole, we talked about this a little bit last week.

They're so far down the rabbit hole that they don't even know what they want anymore. you know just just lost track of it you know you married and and i'm going to say it like this and this is this is not a slam i'm just saying you you might know somebody like this you know they gave up on a childhood dream because their parents didn't believe in it then they ended up going to get a degree that they really didn't want because to please mom and dad that degree led them to some other city okay where they met somebody that they probably shouldn't have married in the first place okay then they ended up in this job that they hated. Now they're in real estate. And they're not really liking it, right? Because

they haven't really done the internal reflection to figure it out, figure out, okay, what is it that I truly desire? What do I want out of this life? You come, you came here for a reason. You chose to come here. This is not, you're not here against your will, like some, some, you know, unknown God just, just willed you to be coming to existence. No, you're here by choice. God says, said, God told Jeremiah, he says, I knew you before I created you in your mother's womb. And I believe that's true for every individual that God knows. And he used a very intimate word when he said he knew you. Okay, K-N-E-W. It's a very intimate word. It's the same word that was used in Genesis when it says that Adam knew Eve. And they begot a son. Okay. It's pretty intimate. All right. So he says

that he knew you before you got here all right and so the question is what is it what what are you what's your life about what do you desire and what do you require well it really begins with knowing what it is that you want and in this book everybody has a copy okay everybody in this class has a copy of this successful listings um and this will be your homework i've got a really cool homework sheet, worksheet that at the end of the series I'm going to give you that's going to tie all this together. But in chapter three, I talk about this. And there's a whole section where I talk about this idea. We're going to talk about goals next week. But this week we're just talking about what is it that you want. I talk about what is it that you want. I remember

one time I was sitting down with a friend of mine and this guy I've known him for many many years he was I've known him since he was like 13 years old I was 18 and I just become a believer became sort of like his big brother and we were sitting down together and he was telling me all this stuff he hated about his job he didn't like this he didn't like that he did I mean he went on it seemed like he went on for 10 minutes maybe maybe it was longer maybe it's less but it seemed like he went on for 10 solid minutes telling me all the things he didn't like about his position, his job, where he was in life. And so I looked at him, I said, well, what do you want? And he would just silent.

It was like he looked at me dumbfounded. He could tell me everything he didn't want. He knew that. But he could not tell me, he could not articulate what it is that he wanted. Well, a person like that, the scripture says that a person like that is not going to get anything from the Lord, okay? When you ask, this is what scripture says, when you ask, ask believing that you have already received it, otherwise you're just like a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Let not that person believe that they will receive anything from the Lord for their double-minded, unstable. And that's what scripture says. So when you don't know what you want, you get nothing. Okay, we call it the law of least choice in sales. You know, the reason why we only give people a couple of choices, and I do this in my, when I list a property, they say, well, what's your commission? I say, commission is negotiable. You know, it's negotiable. We can negotiate that when we get together. What do you charge? You know, guess what? You're not going to pay me nothing if you don't hire me. It's going to be zero, right? Zero commission, zero percent. If you, if we get together, look, listen to me, Jim, if we sit down and you absolutely don't like me at all,

you don't want me to sell your house, you're not going to pay me nothing, okay, because you're not going to hire me, all right? So let's do the right thing. Let's go ahead and sit down. Let's schedule a meeting. Let's sit down. Let's see if you like me and you think that I can get the, the job done for you let's let's let's interview each other okay and then once we got through that my commission's negotiable okay now when i get down sit down with them i explain to them you know i charge either you know i do a 6% a 5% or 4% okay that's how i negotiate right so so but yeah you you have to know what you want so let's talk about this for a minute when you don't know what you want you get nothing okay that's that's that's

the math that's how the universe works so um just think about this for a minute the waiter comes over but my wife and i were we went to den sum anybody ever had den sum you all like din some you might know what i'm talking about den sum yeah den sum you know they come they come over to the table i mean they have a card on the table the place that we go to and then they have you you check off what you want okay you want the you know the shrimp and noodle i mean shrimp and and and pork uh you know I don't even know what they're all called, but, you know, the shrimp and pork balls,

you know, they're all kind of names, right? And you just name it, like, okay, I want one of these, one of these, one of these. It's so good. And so,

now just imagine, the waiter comes over to your table, okay, Cindy, and they say, well, what do you have?

You looked at the menu. What do you have? Yeah, I don't, I don't, you know what? I tell you what I'll have. This is what I'm going to have right here.

I want the, the, the cheese burger okay we're at a different restaurant now i want the cheeseburger and with fries and i want that cooked you know medium well and i want and you go through everything you want okay the waiter starts to walk away you say hey hey hey hold on a second hold on a second wait wait wait wait wait wait you know what that's probably not good for me i'm gonna have the salad y'all have a salad right yeah let me have the salad with the chicken and then i'm gonna have this on the side he says no problem ma'am i can change that out for you it's no problem at all so he changes it out then he goes back

puts in your order, they start cooking it. You say, hey, could you call the, you get somebody else. Hey, could you call my waiter over here? The waiter comes over, it's like, yes, ma'am, can I help you? Yeah, I don't want that. I don't want the salad with chicken. I think I want spaghetti and meatballs. Okay, after so much of that, what's the waiter going to say?

What's the waiter going to say? Anybody got an idea what the waiter would say? You don't want me to say it on here, Nolling. If they're nice, they're going to say something like, and Cindy, what would you think they'd say to you? Go to a different restaurant. If they're nice, here's what they're going to say, Cindy. Or they're not going to name your name, but they're going to say, ma'am,

when you're ready, when you really know what you want, I'm over there. Okay, call me back when you really know what you want. Okay. For many of you, that's what the universe is telling you. Okay, Bradford, when you look, man, when you know what you want, you know, this week we're doing this. Next week we're doing that. Now we're doing expires.

Now we're doing this. We got this new campaign run. Now we're going to try that. No, let's do this instead. Look here. When you know what you want, I'm right over there. But once you know what you want, you let me know. Just think about jumping in the back of a cab.

And you tell, hey, I want to go to one-on-one Main Street. Okay, no problem. You know what? I decided not to go there. I'm going to go here instead. Okay, no problem. I take you there. Hey, it's no problem.

You know what? I don't even want to go there. Let me think about where I want to go. No, let's go over here instead. I'm like, dude, get out my cab, you know. And that is what a lot of people, a lot of people, unfortunately, are in timeout because they don't know how the universe works. They don't know how God has set everything up, okay?

And Jesus tried to explain these things, very simple concepts. You know, he said, in order to grow fruit, you got to put a seed in the ground. When the seed goes in the ground, it's got to die. When it dies, it germinate. It germinates. It creates a sprout. The sprout becomes this and that becomes that. But then you got to water it. You got to put it in the right soil. You got to put it in the right area. Got to have sunlight. It's got to have all these certain things. Okay. And the same thing when you have a dream, when you have a desire, when you have a goal, when you have what you want, it's got, it's just like that seed. Okay. And a lot of times it never germinates. It never sprouts. It never becomes anything because you keep moving it around. I know this, morning Josie was messing with her jasmine plant okay and you know what a friend of hers told her he said okay now she's a green thumb those of you that've seen the stuff she grow you know she is a green thumb her mom was the same way and they said and this guy gave us a really good advice he said

and he's a he's a gardener also he says what you got to do with a plant is you put the plant where you think you want it and just let it you know nurture it and everything like that but just put it there for like two or three days and it'll tell you if it likes being there if it don't like being there it's going to tell you I don't like this spot okay then you move it okay but you don't plant it anywhere until you have it same thing with her garden you know she'll put plants she buys the plants she keeps them in the pot she has me dig the hole yeah I'm professional with that and and we put the plant in the pot in the hole where where we think it's going to live and in about two three four days it tells us if it likes being there or not and if it

doesn't we put it somewhere else where it likes it okay and and it's the same thing with when it is when it comes to what it is that you desire what you require when you keep moving around then you get nothing because that's the recipe for for it so it all starts with knowing what it is that you want what do i want now to know that um i've got a lot of exercises for you. You know, homework. All right. And one of the exercises is in this book here, okay, three hours a day. It all starts with knowing what it is that you want. We're going to go kind of a little bit deeper into this. Next week we're going to talk about your goals. We're not talking about goals today. We're just talking about what is it that you want.

I remember when, and I've always been very clear about it. By the time I was told, 25. Now, I made all my sort of goals and everything. I'll teach you how to do that next week. I had made all those by the time I was 18. And by the time I was 25, there was not a single goal that I had not achieved. And sometimes it becomes, I want to use the word boring. It's not the right word. But like, I'll give you an example. So when I got into real estate and I wanted to become the number one real estate agent in Austin. Well, for whatever reason, that was my goal, okay? And I think it was more so because I had felt defeated.

I had just come from a company that I built up and did very well with, made lots of money, and then it failed. The company failed. And so I was trying to basically, I was licking my wounds, and I was trying to stroke my ego, okay, is what it was. And so, but that was my goal. The universe knew I put it out there. And I was there in four years.

Well, when I got there, it was like, hmm, not really a big deal. Like, okay, like, like nobody really cares. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, of course, it's not really about that. For me, it was at the time because I had a lot of insecurity. So, but find out what is it that you truly, truly want? How are you wired?

That's why we talked about last week, your superpower, okay? some people are walking so far outside of their zone of genius they're just missing it completely missing it 100% this week i picked up three new deals okay and i'd like to tell you it was because of all the spectacular advertising all the marketing that i'm doing all the stuff that's not what the reason why it's because i've already programmed it in and it's happening like it's all it's that's what it is i've already put it out there that and Now, I've still got to do things, okay? I can't just fold my hands, but one day I'm going to teach you guys

and just write it down for now. We think that A plus B equals C, but that's not how the universe is programmed. It's we live in a non-linear universe, okay? What that means is that if I do A and B, it might equals G, you know, because you're doing the things that you know you should be doing, you might get a deal from all the way from left field, okay, or from right field, all right?

It may have nothing to do with the fact that you just placed that ad or you just did that marketing campaign or you just sent out that postcard. Now you got a listing from Aunt Jane and another one from a friend that you never heard from and somebody calls you up like a gal just called me up, I haven't heard from in four or five years, okay? Because it's the universe is putting it out there, okay? man this dude is serious he's acting a fool we better send him some deals we got to serve him up because he knows what he wants he came in he got his order ready have you ever been to new york

anybody ever been in new york you know i remember one time my brother-in-law went to new york you know what he did now there's places in new york you go up to the counter you got to know what you want okay because somebody will shove right in philly is kind of like that too in Philadelphia they're kind of like that somebody will shove right past you and put their order in And they'll take their order. You ever been to a bar? You know, I know none of y'all drink like that, but you ever been to a bar? And they're taking everybody's order, but, you know, they're not taking your order.

Like, you, hello, I've been here for like three or four minutes. I've been here for 10 minutes, okay? But that's how the universe is, you got to come in and shout your order. Hey, I'm going to take a filly cheese. You want it with or without? Without. Okay, you got to put your order in. Everybody else is getting served and you're just standing there.

Like, when's my turn? No, you got to put it. put in your order. The universe knows my order. And I've, it already, it's over delivering, okay? It's over delivering for me. And the same thing for you. I already know it's happening for many of you because you're, you're following what I'm teaching, okay? And you're following what I'm telling you to learn. It's not just my teaching, but I say drink from many fountains, right? So there's a lot of teachers out there. And you're, and you're learning and you're, and you're, you're implementing but what you're also learning is that the the prize may come totally from

somewhere else and that's okay all right it's okay that you mailed out 500 postcards and not no not a single one of those people called you back but then you got three deals over here that's how it works okay you still got to put in the work so how do we know what it is that we want well I'm going to show you that so the ex so read chapter three of this book it's going to help you if you if you and many of you i'll tell you there's people that think they know what they want and they're in this life and then they get what they thought they wanted and they're disappointed you know i talk to people all the all the time they say i say what do you really want to say they say i want to i want to make a million dollars now i already know that's not what they want

But that they think it is. I made a million dollars when I was 29 years old. I made my first million. Okay, I made $2 million that year. I learned that it's not it. That's not it. You got to keep going.

There's more to it. And that's why I help you in chapter three. In this book, okay, three hours a day, you're going to want to go and look at chapter two. No, no, no, I'm sorry. It's step two in the process. Step one is to hone your superpower. But you're going to go into step two,

and that's going to really help you through the exercises that are in the book. Okay, it's going to really help you to discover what is it that you truly require and desire. And then I've got another book called The Secret to Knowing God's Will for Your Life. I almost forgot the title of it. The Secret to Knowing God's Will for Your Life.

That's also available in school. in the portal you can download it and that has some you know steps in there to help you that's where it all begins know what your superpower it is superpower is and then know what it is that you want what is it that you require and desire in this life and that's how you that's how you get every single thing it's very very very very very simple okay you got to know and then you start moving toward what it is that you know. Well, thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Success With Listings podcast.

If you are serious about taking your real estate career to the highest heights, making more money and helping more clients while working less hours and spending more time with your family, be sure to get your copy of my free book, triple my listing. Absolutely free at at Successwithlistings.com.

Now, you want to be sure that you subscribe to the podcast and check out Successwithlistings.com to get your copy of my free book. Hey, I'll see you on the next one.