MANAGERS
Tips for a Stressed Property Manager by Holly Wauford New year, new you! You set your goals, make your resolutions, etc. You have good intentions to complete them and to achieve them. I am confident the most common resolution is, “I want to be less stressed.” We all have stress, and as property managers we also have a significant amount of pressure. From the second we wake, we check and answer our emails, mainly emails our regional managers sent the night before, moving on to our regular day-to-day activities like walking the dogs, getting our children to school, etc. We have not even made it to the property yet, and we are already engaging in stress. Once on the property, you are immediately bombarded with the trash, your landscaper, a resident who hit your gate again, and before you know it you end up with gate arms in your car before even setting foot in the office. Three residents stop you on the way into your office. Then, three employees want to talk to you about what happened in 4F. It’s 7:59 a.m., and you are sitting down at your desk to do payroll. Not happening yet; you have 17 more emails from your regional who never sleeps. Secretly and in my opinion, I feel that some regionals are vampires. All these things happen before 8:00 a.m. Then, the doors open. My point to all this is that Property Managers, Community Managers, etc., have a lot of stress. I spent
HOLLY WAUFORD
ten years as an assistant manager, and I have seen many stressed-out managers. I never fully understood being stressed at work until I stepped into their shoes a few years ago. I always thought, I do all the work, what do they do? They worry about everything. They have to make sure every “I” is dotted, and every “T” is crossed from the smallest to the most extensive details. I have been on-site as a manager for about four years now. I have had low-stress and high-stress properties. Everyone reacts to stress differently. My hair falls out, and I cannot sleep at all, so I work; I am that vampire aspiring regional coming to an inbox near you. It took me a while to figure out what to do to release my stress. Here are a few tips that help me, and I hope they will help you.
Make a to-do list. As an effective manager, you must make a to-do list, even if you don’t mark anything off it and it is 11 pages long. You have it to make sure you feel like you are more organized.
Volunteer. I love to help and volunteer; I cannot say no to anyone. This is my resolution every year of my life for the rest of my life. I have every second of my life planned. My planner is like a hairdresser. I have appointments every 15 minutes. I tell you all these things too, so I know how you feel. I know you are busy, I am sure you are more active than I am.
Take your time. I have learned that you MUST take time for yourself. I get physically ill when I don’t take time for myself. continued
News & Events
15
