Why Health Must Come First

Recently, I had the privilege of speaking at Tom Panos’ THRIVE25 event in front of 90 high-performing real estate agents. It was an inspiring room full of driven individuals who spend their days negotiating deals, managing relationships, and pushing hard to succeed in one of the most demanding industries around.

But here’s the thing: in real estate (and in life), the pace is relentless. Long days, unpredictable schedules, constant pressure from vendors, purchasers, and the public. It’s a high-stress environment that can easily drain your physical, mental, and emotional reserves if you don’t have a game plan and if you don’t put health first. Performance and eventually, life itself suffers.

Success isn’t about working longer or grinding harder. It’s about building the capacity to show up at your best, consistently. That starts with your health. Without energy, focus, and resilience, even the most talented agent will burn out.

Think of health as your foundation. Without it, everything else, career, wealth, relationships starts to wobble. With it, you create a platform that allows you not just to survive the demands of your industry, but to thrive. We all know that if you feel good, you show up better at home, at work, with your friends and family and those that you love.

Every high performer needs rituals not routines that feel like chores, but non-negotiable practices that fuel you. For some, it’s an early morning walk to clear the head. For others, it’s breathwork between appointments, or gym sessions that keep the stress in check. The food you eat, the water you drink the sunlight you absorb. The art is in finding your rituals. Ones that fit your lifestyle, recharges your energy, and gives you back a sense of control.

At THRIVE25 I reinforced to the audience that sometimes you have to be selfish to be selfless. If you’re constantly giving to your clients, your business, or your family without putting anything back into your own tank, you’re on a fast track to exhaustion.

Prioritising yourself isn’t arrogance, it’s sustainability. It means you’ll be sharper in negotiations, calmer under pressure, and more present with the people who matter most. Stress is part of the game. But unmanaged stress? That’s the silent killer. Chronic stress drives inflammation, fatigue, poor decision-making, and eventually chronic disease.

That’s why stress management techniques aren’t “nice to have”, they’re essential. Whether it’s exercise, journaling, breathwork, meditation, or simply creating boundaries around your downtime, you need strategies that help you down-regulate and reset. High performance isn’t just physical it’s emotional. Real estate agents (and anyone in a client-facing industry) know the rollercoaster of human emotions: disappointment, conflict, rejection, and pressure, often all in the same day.

Think of health as your foundation. Without it, everything else, career, wealth, relationships starts to wobble.

Building resilience means learning how to regulate those emotions, recover from setbacks, and maintain composure. Down-regulation techniques like controlled breathing, mindfulness, or even short recovery breaks between appointments help you reset your nervous system so you can step into the next challenge with clarity.

The art of building health first and foremost is simple but not easy. It’s about:

• Choosing your non-negotiable rituals

• Giving yourself permission to be “selfish” with your health

• Actively managing stress instead of letting it manage you

• Building emotional resilience through daily practices of down-regulation, &

• Making sure you drink 2+Lt of water/day, sleep 6+ hours per night, exercise 4/7 days per weeks and down regulate.

When you get this right, you don’t just improve your health you amplify your performance. You have more energy to serve, more clarity to make decisions, and more resilience to handle the chaos of your industry.

At THRIVE25, I reminded those 90 high-performing agents that success isn’t just about what you achieve in the market, it’s about how you show up in life. Health is the foundation. Build it first, and everything else becomes possible.