Are you a stressed-out realtor? Many real estate agents are under a lot of stress and this can negatively impact their health, relationships with family and their career.

Kaizen is a Japanese term for "improvement" or "constant, positive change". It is the philosophy of making small changes in your life so that, over the course of time, you make large-scale improvements. This is not New-Age mumbo-jumbo and it won't cost you a cent; in fact, it will probably save you money!

For many real estate professionals, stress is a constant, looming enemy. The urge to be constantly available to clients, coupled with the hit-or-miss nature of many real estate transactions can add up to a huge amount of stress. If you're not naturally neat and organized, you will also suffer, as this can complicate your day.

Many people in our profession look at the big picture and solely at results. The idea that change must be done in one fell swoop is what causes you to stress out. The idea that you must "cold-turkey" your mind into organization, follow-ups, lead generation, and the other minutiae of real estate is what might end up killing whatever chance you have to get ahead.

So, what if you jettison all of your ideas about "just doing it"? I'll tell you something: You can't make things worse then they are by focusing on tiny incremental changes that are geared to improving your life for the better, continuously.

Here's an example:

1. You realize that you haven't seen your wife in three weeks, except for fifteen seconds between the bathroom and the kitchen every day. Your children are starting to not recognize you. You want to make sure that you give your business and personal life enough time to maintain the health of each. Do you:

a) tell your family that they should be grateful that you're working so hard to feed, clothe and shelter them and you'll be around on the weekend. Maybe.

b) abruptly take the week off from the office, turn off your cell phone and tell yourself that the lost commissions and recommendations aren't worth as much as your family time

c) Go to bed at 11:45 instead of midnight

"What?!" I hear you saying. "It's obvious which one was designed to be the 'right' answer, but what the hell will going to bed earlier accomplish?" Lots.

You see, one of your problems is that you likely stay up too late, working or trying to relax after a hard day with TV or the Internet. Then, you sleep just long enough to enable you to head to the office or to meet with a client. This is not the road to happiness and long life; it's the road to early divorce, health problems and burnout.

A week later, go to bed at 11:40. Then 11:35. Then 11:30. Eventually, you'll be getting a good night's rest and you'll be much more alert at 7:30 when your 13-year-old daughter casually mentions that she wants to tattoo her boyfriend-of 3-weeks' name on her arm.

Kaizen is not just a way to solve your sleep deprivation; it is a way to change your entire life. Look at your life and see where you can make changes. Then make one, tiny change that isn't too hard to do. When that doesn't seem so onerous, make another tiny change; just enough to be a positive one. Start setting small goals. Instead of the big one of spending more time with your family, gradually make some changes to your lifestyle, like scheduling in family time, making business hours for yourself and setting client expectations to coincide with your work-life balance.

As you go along, you might notice that, like a bicycle on a curve, that the changes you are making sweep you on an ever-faster road to a positive lifestyle. You become used to change, paying more attention to your activities and seeing how you can use your time and money more wisely. You will not just change your life for the better; your family's and client's will improve as your changes start to positively affect their lives. Kaizen is not one change made to improve one's lifestyle; it is a constant cycle of seeing things you want to change and making them possible with small steps.

The result is that you are going to be a happier, calmer person, more able to roll with what life throws at you. You will feel happier about the changes that you are making, because they are going to be so small, you will barely notice the energy it takes to do them. Your family will be happier because you will gradually have more quality time for them. Your clients will be happier because they will be getting more quality time out of you.

And it all starts with one infinitesimal change.