I had a big birthday recently and as a consequence people have started to ask me when I am going to retire. The answer is: probably never!

This might seem an odd admission to make from someone whose job is to help people to sell their businesses very often because they want to retire. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that retirement is a bad thing and many of my clients have gone on to do wonderful things in their retirement. These include (in no particular order):

• Raising several million pounds for charity
• Buying a yacht and sailing around the world
• Setting up a new business (an awful lot of clients have done this)
• Learning to fly and building a biplane
• Creating a beautiful garden
• Restoring a French chateau
• Looking after their grandchildren
• Simply enjoying every moment of a quieter and less stressful life

These are all exciting and laudable things that have given my clients huge pleasure and satisfaction but none of them would be for me.

The thrill of the chase

I still really enjoy what I do and personally I would find it very hard to spend a whole lifetime learning how to do a very complex job only to give it up when I am at the height of my powers. I still enjoy the thrill of the chase and the highs and lows and the satisfaction of finding a solution to a complex legal problem when no-one else could. I can’t imagine anything else that would replace this.

Stories of people burning themselves out were extremely rare.”

However, experience tells me that the key to a long and successful business life is to pace oneself. When I started my career the internet had not been invented and the only communication forms available were post, the telephone and personal meetings. This made for a much slower pace of life and stories of people burning themselves out were extremely rare.

Work-life balance

Today we are expected to take our smart phone everywhere and respond to every message instantaneously no matter what time of day it arrives. If I had had to work like this for the last 44 years it would have been quite impossible for me to maintain my enthusiasm for my job and I have no doubt that I would by now have been long since retired. My message therefore is that everyone must find a way to achieve a balance in their lives and not feel that they have to respond to everything instantly.

I appreciate that I am in a privileged position now but elements of some of the things that I do can be incorporated very easily into most people’s lives.  However busy I am I start every day by walking my dogs. It is good exercise and it is very grounding to watch two beautiful creatures who simply live in the moment and get so much joy from everything they do.

However busy I am I start every day by walking my dogs. It is good exercise and it is very grounding.”

The first thing I do when I get into the office is to look at my list of goals and deal with at least one and important major task which I know will require my entire concentration. I like to do this at the time of day when I know I am at my best.

Whilst I am doing this my P.A. will go through all my emails and pass on the majority of them to other members of my team to deal with. Those that remain are colour coded in order of importance.

Focus on the most important

For large parts of each day I don’t look at new emails. This allows me to focus on the tasks that are most important and e sure that I don’t get side-tracked by less important issues. At the end of every day I review my goals and set new objectives for the next day.

I work set hours and I do not look at emails outside of these hours.”

I work set hours and I do not look at emails outside of these hours. By imposing these disciplines upon myself I can ensure that I start every day fresh and full of enthusiasm for the job that I do. I can also be as certain as possible that I will still feel this way in another 10 years’ time by when I will have worked in the property sector for 50 years.

So, my message is a simple one. If you want to maintain your enthusiasm for your job and last as long as I have in the property industry don’t be afraid to turn your phone and your emails off and set aside protected time every day to focus on the things that matter most.

Adam Walker is a business sales broker and management consultant who has worked in the property sector for 42 years.