If you own a real estate business, you spend your days catering to clients’ needs, sometimes at all hours of the day. This requires a lot of time and energy and could result in your neglecting your own needs, according to New York broker Brian McKenna.

“We end up measuring real estate success by our checks and put off the ongoing maintenance our business requires to remain healthy and vibrant,” he wrote in “Feeling stalled? Reset your rudder in real estate and life,” on Inman.com.

To avoid this situation, McKenna, manager of two residential resale offices for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Blake, suggested “resetting your rudder.”

“Just as a rudder helps steer a boat, your rudder in life helps you stay on course: to avoid being drawn off by life’s many distractions — including watching your health and cleansing your soul,” McKenna wrote in the article posted July 27.

Here are McKenna’s four tips for getting back on track:

1. Visit your local heart hospital or cardiac care unit — With so many Americans afflicted with cardiovascular diseases, a visit to the hospital may be an eye-opener. Keeping your health a top priority is something every real estate agent should resolve to do.

“Take care of your body as well as you take care of your business,” McKenna wrote.

2. Volunteer in your local city mission or soup kitchen — Simply collecting food to drop off won’t do, according to McKenna. Give of your time by actually serving meals. In addition, to fully understand how fortunate you are, sit down and break bread with those to whom you’ve provided food.

“Each time your shift is nearing its end, sit and eat your meal among the people you serve,” McKenna wrote in the article.  “Talk to them, eat heartily, and be as grateful for the meal as they are.”

3. Contact your local hospice — In addition to offering a small donation (McKenna suggested between $50 and $100, or whatever you can spare) ask to spend about a half-hour with an experienced hospice volunteer to find out “what he or she has learned about the end of life,” McKenna wrote.

4. Identify a young person who is a big part of your why — Schedule a play date with your child, grandchild, niece, etc. who is part of your daily inspiration and help him or her create a collage of their dreams and goals, McKenna suggested. “While you’re at it, create one of your own, too,” he wrote.

These four things “are all action steps that will help nurture our spirits and reset our rudders,” according to McKenna.