The New Year is on its way! Time to take stock of the year that’s passed and start planning for the one to come. But before making some fresh resolutions, I propose a fun mental exercise.

If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about your career, what would you change?

I’ll go first, but I’ll start by saying I love my job. Working in real estate allows me to help people, teach, keep a flexible schedule, and see direct results from hard work. All of these things and more keep me committed and inspired.

That being said, every job does have its downsides. So just for fun, if I could wave a magic wand and *POOF* change anything I wanted, here’s what I would change:

1. For two weeks in August and two in December, it would be illegal to conduct any real estate business.

Unlikely? Yep! But this would be awesome, and here’s why.

The schedule of a real estate agent is completely unpredictable. You could have nothing planned for the weekend and then suddenly get three calls. Getting three calls is great, but not so great when you were looking forward to relaxing.

I don’t mind working hard, and in fact it’s part of why I love this job, but it’s psychologically challenging never to know when you get a break.

If there were four weeks in the year when vacation was MANDATORY, I could look forward to that uninterrupted time off and work harder the rest of the year.

2. All new agents would be required to complete a mentorship program. And all mentors would have to pass some kind of certification.

I’ve written before about the importance of in-depth training. Long-term mentorship and coaching is the ideal way to get that training, which is why I think every new agent should be mentored.

What’s more, every mentor should have to pass some kind of test.

As we all experienced in high school, some teachers are better than others, and some teachers probably shouldn’t be teachers at all. Because mentorship is so critical to a new agent’s career, let’s make sure every mentor is up to par so every agent receives high-quality training.

3. ALL LOCKBOXES WOULD BE THE SAME.

In a perfect world, there would only be one kind of lockbox, and it would work well for every client every time.

4. The word “newer” would have a concrete definition.

“We just did the kitchen, so it’s newer,” says a seller.

“Great! When did you do the kitchen?” I ask.

“Nine years ago.”

Newer kitchen, newer windows, newer roof. We see the word “newer” everywhere in real estate, especially in listings, but the definition can be quite different from one person to the next.

Is “newer” less than ten years old? Less than five? My magic wand would create a consensus.

5. Everyone would understand exactly what “seller’s assist” means.

Enough said.

6. Every PA real estate office would be required to send an agent to the meetings of the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR).

PAR meets three times a year, and it’s always a vibrant exchange of ideas from across the state.

But many offices don’t send a representative, so they miss out on this chance to swap information with their peers and bring updated practices back home with them.

It would be great if we could get our entire community together for a complete conversation that benefits everyone.

7. There would be an app that lets you submit the five key parts of an offer to the seller—without having to write up the whole thing.

Then, agents would know if they should put the work in writing a 13-page agreement of sale, or if that would just be wasted time because the seller’s going to reject it.

Especially in today’s market of multiple competing offers, this app would save countless hours and many head-bangs against the desk.

So, what would YOU change about your career if you could wave a magic wand?

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Matt Mittman and Eric Rehling are the owners of RE/MAX Ready in Conshohocken, PA. See articles from them about perfecting your customers’ experience, good training, measuring profitability, routines, taking the right kinds of risks, real experience of being a real estate agent, communication styles, building an audience, and more.