Many of the hardships of being a landlord are self-inflicted. When I've kicked my own goals, it's often been because I was tempted by one of the seven deadly sins. This series of posts will examine those sins, and their remedies, to moderate the ups and downs of being a landlord.
Gluttony - Too much landlording is bad for you
It's the dead of night. I get an email from the agent. It's a problem, nothing urgent. Yet, I draft and re-draft a reply. I call them to try and work through it, and get agitated when I hit voice mail. I'm getting worked up. I can't sleep. What if it was something I did? What will be the impact?
That's not me being diligent. That's me indulging.
Not in food, but in landlording; another activity that, while in moderation provides sustenance, In excess is simply imprudent.
Gluttony is defined broadly as over-consumption to the point of waste, and there's certainly a lot of waste created by being too hands-on.
In my case, waste often takes the form of energy spent worrying myself to fatigue. Despite this apparent devotion to my role, the prognosis is not good. Proverbs 23:20: "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags."
Gluttonous forms
Aquinas in Summa Theologica breaks down gluttony into five types. These I equate to trying to do too much, too specifically, too quickly.- Cleaning out the entire shed in one day (too much): Guilty!
- Spending ten minutes trying to clear up a drop of paint outside (too fussy): Guilty!
- Not waiting for tenants to troubleshoot the internet, and personally attending (too hasty): Guilty!
Reaching even further, I feel that an insatiability for quick wins can - particularly if frustrated - overflow into conventional gluttony for food. Personally, I feel a resonance between my weight problems and being encouraged from my youth to keep myself busy.
Remedies for over-consumption
The treatment and inverse of gluttony is temperance, or self-regulation.Humility is also touted as a remedy. However, St Paul ("Whether you eat or drink ... do all to the glory of God" 1 Cor. 10:31) can confuse the issue, as it is much easier to mistakenly associate stewarding a rental property with a higher cause, than it is to similarly exalt eating. (That said, plenty of Instagram #foodies and hipster epicureans are challenging this.)
A practical application of temperance for the chronically always-on landlord can be summed up as 'setting strong boundaries'.
- The Saints practiced periods of abstinence. We can declare 'off times'. (Much, much easier said than done.)
- We can set limits on when, how, and the amount of time we spend on issues that arise.
- We can limit planning, projecting, or other forms of extra work, recognising that pre-emptive work or worry will not always save future effort, just as eating in advance makes no sense.
- Just as there will almost always be more food than we can eat, there will be more work than we can do.
- Downing tools is just as righteous as picking them up.
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