Turn Off the News: The Surprising Habit That Helped Me Break Through a Real Estate Plateau

There’s an old Don Henley song called Dirty Laundry that perfectly describes modern news media.

🎵 “Kick ‘em when they’re up… kick ‘em when they’re down…”🎵 “We got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde… comes on at five…”

Translation? Bad news sells.

Fear sells. Drama sells. Chaos sells.

And somewhere along the way, many real estate agents unknowingly turned nightly negativity into a daily habit.

That was me for years.

Every morning, I’d pour a cup of coffee, turn on the news, and let complete strangers explain to me why the world was apparently ending before 8 a.m.

Housing crash. Stock market panic. Political outrage. Storms. Crime. Recession fears.

By the time I got to the office, I felt like I needed therapy and a nap before my first lead generation call.

And the craziest part?

I thought I was being “responsible” and “informed.”

Back in 2008, my real estate team was selling around 100 homes a year. Not terrible… but for nearly a decade, my business had basically flatlined. I felt like I was stuck in cruise control while other agents were somehow leveling up around me.

So I hired a coach.

Not just any coach either — this guy’s team sold over 600 homes a year. Naturally, I assumed he was about to reveal some secret script, lead source, or magical CRM automation.

Instead, during one of our first coaching calls, he interrupted me mid-sentence and asked:

“Why do you watch the news?”

I laughed.

“Well… I want to stay informed.”

He looked at me like I had just told him I drank gasoline for hydration.

Then he said something I’ll never forget:

“The news profits by keeping people anxious, angry, distracted, and glued to the screen. Why would you willingly inject that into your mind every day?”

Then he challenged me:

“Go 30 days without watching the news.”

No CNN. No Fox News. No doom-scrolling social media. No “BREAKING NEWS” alerts breaking into my life every six minutes like the world was under attack by zombies.

Honestly, the first few days felt weird.

I’d walk by the TV at the gym and instinctively look up like a labrador hearing a potato chip bag open.

But something unexpected happened.

I started feeling… better.

Lighter. More focused. More optimistic.

Instead of consuming negativity every night, I started listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and training content.

I replaced fear with growth.

And that shift changed everything.

I became more intentional with my time. More positive with clients. More creative in my business. More energized during lead generation. More confident in conversations.

Here’s what I realized:

Your mindset IS your business.

Clients don’t hire agents because they’re stressed out, exhausted, and emotionally held hostage by cable news.

They hire certainty.Confidence.Optimism.Leadership.

And if you spend hours every day consuming negativity, eventually it starts leaking into your business.

You hesitate more. Fear increases. Energy drops. Motivation fades.

You start talking yourself out of opportunities before they even happen.

Fast-forward to 2020 during the pandemic.

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had the news on constantly. Every channel looked like the opening scene from an apocalypse movie.

After not watching the news for over a decade, I could physically feel the anxiety creeping back into the house.

We actually argued about it.

At one point I told her, “If Don Henley wrote Dirty Laundry today, the music video would just be people screaming at each other on cable news while eating sourdough bread in sweatpants.”

Thankfully, she eventually unplugged too.

Good news:We survived the pandemic…AND the argument…AND we’re still married.

Now let me be clear — I’m not saying agents should ignore important events or become uninformed.

But there’s a massive difference between being informed and being emotionally waterboarded by negativity 24 hours a day.

Most headlines are specifically designed to trigger emotion, not improve your life.

Meanwhile, top-producing agents are focused on:

• Building relationships

• Calling clients

• Learning skills

• Taking listings

• Improving systems

• Growing market share

Because opportunities don’t disappear in difficult markets.

They shift toward the people with the best mindset.

So here’s my challenge to you:

Take the 30-Day No-News Challenge.

For the next month, replace 30 minutes of nightly news with:

• An audiobook

• A podcast

• Exercise

• Lead generation

• Family time

• Personal development

• Something that actually moves your life forward

Worst-case scenario?

You miss hearing about celebrity drama, political outrage, and five different people predicting the collapse of civilization.

Best-case scenario?

You become happier, sharper, calmer, more productive… and maybe even dramatically improve your real estate business.

Because sometimes the biggest breakthrough in your career doesn’t come from adding something new.

Sometimes it comes from finally turning off the dirty laundry.

Text "Mindset" to (979) 777-7677