Matt Lahood: Why 1 in 2 Marriages Fail (and how to prevent it)

Matt reveals why, anecdotally, 1 in 2 marriages to a real estate agent ends in divorce—and, more importantly, how you can prevent it.

Matt Lahood is the Founder & CEO of The Agency with over 30 of experience. He has coached some of Australia's most successful real estate agents and is most well-known for his expertise in building high-performing teams.

The entire training is only in the Real Estate Gym

Chapters

• 0:00 Real Estate Can Consume You
• 0:35 Avoiding Major Distractions
• 1:22 30-Year Marriage Success Strategy
• 3:08 Transparency Through Shared Calendars
• 4:38 Call to Join Real Estate Gym

Transcript

Tom Panos: 0:00

Team. Please, I'm telling you, this guy knows what he's talking about Real estate. You don't know it Many of you here are less than two years. It can suck you in and it can spit you back out. And when it spits you back out, it spits you back out divorced, unhealthy, estranged from your kids, all because you got sucked in. So rule number one in avoiding distractions is what you're saying is get really smart in the way that you create boundaries in your life and the way that you control your appointments.

Matt Lahood: 0:35

And the professional and personal lives blurring is a big thing. The next one, tom, is the lack of communication outside of business with your partner of life. That's the other one I've seen is a major distraction. So and you just mentioned it before, one in two marriages in real estate end up in divorce and I'll explain to you why in a minute. And the next one's lack of communication, same again with your team members in your team. So two parts. I want to go there high level. For a second is I've been married for 30 years. Two kids in their mid-20s. My wife's been all around me ever since I met. I was in real estate, started when I was 17,. I'm 53. And I got married 30 years ago. So you can do the numbers.

Matt Lahood: 1:22

But one thing we worked out her and I worked out way before the kids came was I used to sit down with her every year and say, hey, what do you want to achieve this year, what do I want to do? And we'd just map out each other's lives for the 12 months. I'm going to be here, you're going to be there, I've got to go to Eric, I've got to go here, I've got to go. So when the year started we just knew each and then when the kids were born, she said I'm going to need you here, I'm going to need you there. So every year we just sat down and we blanked out. Then every month I sit down with her and say, hey, just so you remember, I've got to be in Tasmania on Tuesday, I'll be back on Friday. She goes through her diary and then she rings me and says hey, I've got to see the girl. I'm going out with my friends on Friday. Make sure you're here, make sure you're there.

Matt Lahood: 2:04

So this has gone on with her and I for 30 years and you know we've got a super relationship. Kids talk to us still. I've trained the kids the same way and that's been something that we've done personally. So that's avoided conflict from my wife saying oh, I thought you were going to be home. No, I thought you were going to be home. No, I had told you. Look at your diary. I've got auctions on Friday night. When I used to sell day to day, we had on-site auctions. I did a lot of them weeknights. I did some on-site and some on Saturdays, whatever.

Tom Panos: 2:37

Next one, tom. On the back of that, can I tell you, two years ago my wife and I've given her access to some of the things in my business. Okay, one of the things I've given her access to is my calendar, and the remarkable thing is that, because she's aware of everything I'm doing, yeah Right, so she's involved in it a bit more, which is good, yeah, right, so she's involved in it a bit more which is good, yeah.

Tom Panos: 3:05

But I also find I don't get the missed calls at 6.30 pm, like, where are you? Like there is full transparency that I'm not at the casino with some poor model, you know, on the blackjack table drinking cocktails. You know what I mean. I don't think you'll be a casino left.

Matt Lahood: 3:27

You definitely can't say that one you might have to get another. I don't think there's going to be too many casinos left. Looking at the media yeah, I've heard about that as well I've heard about that as well.

Tom Panos: 3:38

So what you're saying there is and I know we're talking about distractions, but you're saying a lot of distractions are caused because there has not been clear guidelines on communications on these are the things. This is where I'm at. Every one of my gym members always are looking for ways to actually help them get more appraisals. Yep, you've shared two things that I've loved in your previous content that I talk about. One is the oh no, the video has just ended, but I've got good news for you. If you resonated with this and you want to take the next step and move from just being a sayer to a doer, this is your sign to join the Real Estate Gym, where you can get enormous amounts of content, scripts, dialogues, techniques, processes to help you build an ELF business Effortless, lucrative and fun. Press the link right now.