How to Massively Reduce Your Stress On Your Next File

Prior to being a mortgage broker I spent nine years working as a paramedic. I learned a lot from that job, and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. 

Whenever you tell someone you were a paramedic, one of the first things they say is, “Wow, you must have seen a lot.”

And then they pause. 

I have discovered that what they really want to say is, “Tell me some of your crazy stories,” but that would seem weird, or even a bit dark. 

While several stories have stuck with me over the years, and some are even a bit comical, what really stuck was learning how to handle stressful situations.

I had a great mentor, a guy named Glenn Wainman, my boss and a fellow paramedic. 

One of the things Glenn would often repeat was, “You didn’t cause the mess, you are just there to help.”

You didn’t cause the car accident, you are just there to help. You didn’t cause the heart attack, you are just there to help. 

This allowed me to create some psychological distance between myself and the stressful situation, so I could be more logical and make better decisions. 

In fact, I think I got pretty good at being fully present in a stressful situation without being caught up in all the noise and distractions around me. 

I thought I was pretty good at handling stress, until I became a mortgage broker. 

When I first became a mortgage broker, I found it more stressful than being a paramedic.  

A client would come in with a problem or challenge, which they had often created. In my effort to be a good mortgage broker, I would overcommit or overpromise, only to discover the problem was much harder to solve than I initially realized. 

I would be carrying all the stress of their situation while they slept soundly in their beds at night, expecting me to solve it. 

It wasn't until I remembered Glenn’s mantra that I realized what I was doing. I was letting other people’s financial mess become my mess. 

After stepping back psychologically from the situation, I also learned some language and scripting that let me put the problem back on the client, but let them know I was there to help.

This reduced my stress big time. 

In last week's 10-minute tactical podcast, I share this and explain how you can reduce stress on your next file. 

→ How to Massively Reduce Your Stress On Your Next File