Broker Burnout: How to Lead Without Losing Yourself

September 5, 2025

Broker Burnout: How to Lead Without Losing Yourself

“Leadership is an active role; ‘lead’ is a verb. But the leader who tries to do it all is headed for burnout, and in a powerful hurry.” – Bill Owens

You’re holding everyone else together. Here’s how to keep yourself strong, too.

Let’s be honest—being a real estate leader in this time in our business isn’t for the faint of heart.

Your agents are exhausted. The industry is shifting daily. Lawsuits, commission chaos, tech disruption—it’s a perfect storm of confusion and pressure. And through it all, you’re expected to be the steady one. The calm. The coach. The problem-solver. The fixer. But what happens when you’re the one who’s tapped out?

Burnout isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a creeping reality for brokers and team leaders across the country. And if it’s not addressed head-on, it doesn’t just impact you – it weakens your culture, slows your growth, and chips away at everything you’ve worked to build. You didn’t take on this role as a real estate leader to flame out – you took it to build your future.

It’s time to lead differently. Sustainably. Intentionally.

Here’s how…

Recognize the Signs – Before You Hit the Wall

Burnout rarely shows up as a full-on breakdown. It sneaks in and chips away at your happiness, your energy, and your determination:

You start dreading coaching calls.
Your patience wears thin over small stuff.
Your motivation to innovate tanks.
You feel more like a babysitter than a business owner.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not broken—you’re burned. And awareness is your first tool for change.

Redefine the Role of a Leader

You are not the solution to everyone’s problem. No, really…you aren’t. That’s hard to hear—but essential to embrace, because great leaders equip, they don’t enable. Instead of always answering the question or fixing the issue, try encouraging your team members to create the solution themselves:

“That’s a great challenge – what do you think your options are?”
“What’s one thing you can do to move that forward today?”

Empowering your agents to think critically and act independently is good for them—and vital for your own sustainability.

Delegate Like It’s Your Job (Because It Is)

You teach your agents to work on their business, not just in it—time to take your own advice. The word “delegation” doesn’t have to be scary; it can be a lifesaver. While some leaders fear giving up control over certain things, you must ask yourself this: “What’s the point of having a team if I’m just doing everything myself?”

Make a list of the following tasks:

What can only you can do?
What can be handed off?
What’s no longer worth your energy at all?

It’s time to stop hoarding tasks out of guilt or habit. Leverage VAs, office staff, your top producers—build a leadership circle so you’re not the only one holding the house up.

Block Time for Your Brain

You can’t pour into others from an empty mind. Take a minute and imagine your mind is a bank account. Doing things that fulfill you put money in, and doing things that drain you take money out. Unless you take the time to nurture your mindset, your account will quickly become overdrawn..

Set weekly CEO time:

1 hour to think, not react
30 minutes to strategize, not solve
15 minutes to plan something you want to create or improve

Make it sacred. Put it on your calendar. Protect it like your listings depend on it—because they do.
Related reading: Jacobs & Co. Real Estate – From Burnout to Brilliance: How Real Estate Leaders Can Thrive While Supporting Their Teams

Build Your Broker Board of Advisors

You’re always guiding others, but who’s guiding you? One of the worst feelings in the world is to feel like you’re alone. Isolation accelerates burnout, but community slows it down.

Find your people – a peer group, a coach, or even a few trusted brokers who understand what you’re going through. You need a place to vent, brainstorm, laugh, and say “I have no idea what to do here” without judgment.

Make Culture the Cure

Burned-out brokers usually lead burned-out teams. It’s time to flip that script and prove that it’s absolutely possible to thrive, even in stressful times. The best way to do that? Create a strong company culture.

Create a culture where:

Vacations are encouraged and honored
Wins (even small ones) are celebrated publicly
Communication is open, honest, and non-punitive
Your team sees you practicing the same balance you want for them

When your agents see you protecting your energy, it gives them permission to do the same—without sacrificing production.

Remember Why You Started

Behind every “I’m tired” is a deeper truth: You care.

You want your agents to succeed. You want to serve your clients well. You want to build something that lasts. That passion for building and creating a business and a life worth smiling about is still there—it just needs space to breathe again.

So, take the break. Get the support. Protect your energy like your business depends on it.

Because it does.

The Takeaway

Burnout doesn’t have to be your way of life. By knowing what to look for to prevent it in the first place, you can head off the mental weariness before it really takes root. As Richard Louv once said, “Time spent in nature is the most cost-effective and powerful way to counteract the burnout and sort of depression that we feel when we sit in front of a computer all day.” Make the time to take care of yourself and set the example for your team. After all, they look to you for guidance in everything else, so they will follow your lead in this too.

For Your Agents:

Burnout Isn’t a Badge. It’s a Warning Light. You don’t earn extra points for working yourself into exhaustion.

Here’s your 3-step burnout reset:

Block one hour a week to do something that fuels you (not just your clients).

Say no to one thing that drains you unnecessarily.

Ask for help from someone in your community (yes, even your broker).

You’re building a business—but you also deserve a life. Keep both in view.

Darryl Davis is an award-winning international speaker, real estate and business coach, and best-selling author of three books, all published by McGraw Hill Publishers.   

For more than 35 years, Darryl has spoken to and trained more than 600,000 sales professionals around the globe to more than double their production year after year. His book,  How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate, tops Amazon’s charts for one of the most sold books to real estate agents.   

He was awarded the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation by the National Speaker’s Association, which is given to less than 2% of all speakers worldwide.   

Whether from a stage or Zooming into a virtual room, Darryl’s extraordinary humor, relatability, and natural gift for teaching real-world, results-producing skills and mindsets to audiences have made him a client favorite throughout his career.   

Audiences will laugh, learn, and ultimately walk away better prepared for a changing world, with the tools, skills, and training they need to build their businesses with more ease and less stress and to design lives and careers worth smiling about.   

Bring One of Darryl’s W.O.R.K. Topics to Your Organization!  

By providing your agents with the knowledge and insights they need to stay ahead of the game, you can ensure that they are equipped to handle any situation that comes their way!

Contact us here to learn more! 