Jason Abrams has seen it all in real estate. He has been a real estate agent, a team leader, and brokerage owerner, and now serves as the Head of Industry and Learning at Keller Williams.
I recently sat down with Jason, and my co-host Jason Flynn, to talk about real estate and the future of the real estate industy.
But we began by discussing an even more weighty topic: how agents should pursue happiness and fulfillment in a challenging and competitive industry?
Jason didn't mince words. He turned to wisdom from his mentor Gary Keller's book The ONE Thing, outlining seven key life domains: spirituality, health, personal life, relationships, job, business, and finances.
"Do you know what you want to accomplish in each of those circles? If you don't know, congratulations - you're like most people."
The intersection of progress in those seven areas, Jason explained, is where we find happiness.
But it's not about "arriving" at static goals. "Anything worthy of you in spirituality or most other realms, you're not going to fully arrive at. Life is a continual journey."
- Conditional: "I'll be happy when..." Like a new car that brings fleeting joy.
- Dispositional: Choosing to be happy daily, regardless of circumstances.
- Retrospective: Looking back without regrets, having lived authentically.
The dying, Jason noted, overwhelmingly regret not living life fully on their own terms. To avoid that, we must define what matters most across those seven key domains.
Then Jason issued a powerful challenge: Write your own eulogy from a loved one's perspective.
Then, read it aloud.
Now ask - did my actions yesterday align with how I want to be remembered? "Who you want to be isn't as esoteric as it sounds. It's about how you show up today and every day."
With that sobering context, I asked Jason about pursuing happiness specifically in real estate. He was frank: This job is what we do for money, not who we are. Our humanity comes from how we spend that money and our time. Jason shared the humbling words of real estate legend Gino Wickman: Wickman grew a wildly successful business, only to realize "I'm not happy" after selling it.
So where is the industry heading amid disruption and uncertainty? Jason's take: There will be more agents than ever.
"The number of agents was never tied to any rules - it's tied to the number of people wanting to buy and sell property. And that number gets higher every day."
Fundamentally, skilled agents are indispensable for helping families navigate the personal journey of home ownership and preservation of community wealth. As for implementing new buyer representation models, Jason views it simply as reordering - not adding - skill sets agents already possess.
Jason closed with a stirring reminder of our role's nobility: "Is everyone out of their mind thinking lawyers know how many transactions we'll do?
We've been protecting $32 trillion of Main Street wealth since 1891, not through dumb luck but because agents are the shining knights safeguarding homeownership and free enterprise."
Happiness in real estate comes from neither units nor wealth, but singularly defining your values across all life's key domains. With that clarity, we can wake up each day aligning our irreplaceable work with our most authentic selves.
