Why Prioritizing Money is the WORST Thing You Can Do for Your Business

by Steve Shull

Last week, I dove into #1 of the Six Building Blocks, Practicing Mindfulness.

Now, it’s time for #2: Optimizing Time.

Make no mistake, this is not about learning how to “hack” your calendar or make the perfect daily schedule. It’s not about tips and tricks to use your time “better.” It’s about something much deeper than that…

Prioritizing TIME over money.

The very idea probably sounds crazy to you. Most agents do the exact opposite—making money is their number one priority, and they make no bones about it. But here’s the reality…

Time is finite. Money is infinite.

You can always make more money, but no matter what you do, you can never make more time. You get what you get—it’s out of your hands. That means time is actually your MOST PRECIOUS asset. 

Optimizing Time means treating time as the non-renewable resource that it is and making deliberate choices about how to use it effectively.

And let me be clear about something up front: making money IS aligned with prioritizing time. That’s the great irony here—that getting serious about optimizing your time will make it EASIER to achieve financial success than if you prioritize money…and you’re about to see why.

So if time is your most precious asset…

And prioritizing it will help you make money…

WHY does nobody prioritize it??

The reasons all trace back to these 9 false beliefs. 

1️⃣ More money will solve all my problems.

I see this every day in my coaching—everyone thinks more money is the answer. They’re consumed with this idea that if only they had enough money, everything would be okay. They worry themselves to death over it. It’s a sickness.

And after 32 years, I have seen NO EVIDENCE of this being true.

What I have seen, without fail, is this: the more money people make, the more they want to make, and the more they think they need to make. Someone who makes $100k thinks making $200k will solve all their problems. Then they get to $200k, and they think $500k will do the trick. They get to $500k, and now they want $1M.

And guess what? They’re STILL not okay. They’re STILL not happy. I have clients who sell 250 homes and make $5M a year, and they still want more. 

Plus, at every single level, the pressure gets more intense. More money means more to lose and more work required to maintain your success. The prospect of falling back down the ladder only becomes scarier and scarier.

Think this won’t happen to you? Look back to when you made half of what you make now. Did doubling your income make you happier? Did it bring you more peace and joy in your life? Less stress and problems? Yeah…I didn’t think so. 

In real estate, the implied promise is that if you sell enough homes, you’ll be okay. But what is ENOUGH? What is OKAY?

As I said last week, happiness is an inside job. It’s a choice you make. No amount of money will EVER bring lasting happiness. Period, end of story. 

2️⃣ I’ll work hard now and have time later.

This is a classic survival mindset: sacrifice today for tomorrow.

You’re fooling yourself. If you settle for “working hard” (read: overworking) today, you’ll work hard tomorrow, and the next day, and all the tomorrows after that.

I can guarantee you one thing, no matter what…

When you get to your deathbed, the one regret you’re NOT gonna have is that you didn’t work hard enough. You’re not going to be lying there saying you should have spent more days at the office. If anything, you’re going to wish you had ENJOYED your life more.

And it’s because of this false belief that working hard today will somehow magically give you more time tomorrow. You sacrifice living your life for a false hope.

3️⃣ The more I work, the more I’ll earn.

Newsflash: There is NO direct correlation between hours worked and money earned.

What really matters is what you’re doing with your work time. There’s a difference between being busy and being productive.

When you prioritize money over time, you’ll end up engaging in low probability activities, chasing instant gratification. You won’t do the high-value activities—like building long-term relationships—that build a strong repeat and referral client base.

That’s the irony I pointed out earlier: BECAUSE you’re trying to get a paycheck today, you’re not gonna get a paycheck tomorrow. 

4️⃣ If I say no, I’ll lose opportunities.

This is classic FOMO, and the lesson here is so counterintuitive but so true.

You have to learn to say NO to low-probability opportunities. All they do it waste your time, and they rarely convert to dollars. The problem is, the more time you’ve invested in a situation, the less willing you are to let go. 

I have a coaching client who had a listing for an entire year. All year long, the seller threatened to her, saying she wasn’t doing a good job, and another agent would have sold the property by now. When the property finally sold, and we looked at the money she made compared to the time she had invested—not to mention the emotional energy—and the cost of the transaction FAR outweighed the benefit.

And to add insult to injury, the seller immediately listed another property in the same building with a DIFFERENT agent!

Agents do these things to themselves all day long because they’re not willing to set boundaries and say no. They’re not willing to recognize the difference between good business and bad business. There is a very real COST to spending your time on things that have a low chance of success—and that cost makes the difference between struggling and thriving. 

5️⃣ Once I close this deal, everything will be better.

If I can just do one more deal, everything will be okay. 

How many times have you had this thought? 

And when you did that next deal, was it okay?

In fact, have you EVER achieved something that gave you lasting happiness?

Need I say more?

6️⃣ I can outwork everyone else. 

This is survival thinking again…and it’s also self-abuse, plain and simple.

When I talk about how agents make themselves into commodities, I always say: there will ALWAYS be someone who will promise more and charge less than you.

Corollary: there will ALWAYS be someone who will work harder than you. 

Be honest with yourself… 

Is “working as hard as humanly possible” the life you want? When has this strategy ever gotten you what you wanted? And if that’s what you have to do to be successful now, what makes you think you won’t have to keep doing that forever to maintain your success?

7️⃣ Success means constant hustle. 

Agents have this idea that if you’re not busy, you’re failing. If you don’t have something to do at all times, you’re going broke.

The idea that you can be done at noon a few days each week—as is the habit of Jeffrey Saad, one our mindset coaches and a top LA agent—is extremely uncomfortable. (If you want to know how Jeffrey does it, join his live workshop this Wednesday.)

And yet at the same time, you don’t do the most important thing you should be doing every day, which is cultivating relationships. It’s a total disconnect—you’re busy all day long, and yet you don’t get to the thing that’s most important.

8️⃣ I’ll hire help later. 

One of the biggest time wasters is the idea that you can—and should—do everything.

That’s how agents get themselves in trouble. You fill your day up with $10/hr and $20/hr activities… when, if you’re actually doing your job as a salesperson, you should be making $200 - $1000/hr.

The mistake is the failure to calculate the opportunity cost of giving your time away on activities that don’t generate income. When you’re doing $10/hr work, it’s costing you way more money than it would cost to hire another human being.

I know, I know—you can’t afford help now. But the reason you can’t afford it is because you’re spending so much time on the wrong things. The number one way to make more money (outside of shifting your mindset) is getting the RIGHT assistance.

9️⃣ Money is the ultimate measure of success.

According to who?

Let’s be very clear: no one is ever going to have enough money, ever, end of story. If you doubt that, scroll up to #1 again.

If your goal is to be the richest person alive when you die, good luck.

🔟 I’ll take care of myself after I reach my goal. 

Remember what they say about the oxygen mask on the plane? Put your OWN mask on first.

If you don’t take care of your wellbeing, you’re gonna be on this treadmill for the rest of your life, and then you’re gonna die.

And what was your purpose for being here?

This whole idea that you need to make more money is truly a SICKNESS.

It robs you of love, joy, and happiness.

Does it feel good to close a deal and get a big paycheck? Of course.

The problem is, that money has already been spent—you already owe it to someone else, or you have debts and bills to pay. Plus, all results are temporary. That relief lasts for a minute, a day, a week…and then you’re right back in the same place as always.

This is one of the most important decisions you make in your life and business: are you going to value time over money, or money over time?

If you don’t consciously choose to prioritize time, the default will be to prioritize money, just like everyone else.

This has HUGE ramifications for how you live and how much love and joy you experience in life.

And if you think I’m done with this topic, just wait…because this is too important for just one email. More to come—stay tuned.