September means Back to Basics here at Inman. As real estate navigates the post-settlement era with new commission rules, real estate professionals from across the country will share what’s working for them, how they’ve evolved their systems and tools, and where they’re investing personally.
Let’s face it — if you don’t control your schedule in real estate, it will control you. If you’re wishing for more time for a vacation or even two days off in a row, here’s a list of proven strategies to help you create more time in your schedule, improve your productivity, and increase your well-being.
6 time management myths
When it comes to creating more time in your busy schedule, here are six time management myths that can block your success.
Myth 1: I can manage time.
There’s no such thing as “time management.” We all have the same 24 hours per day.
Truth: You can only manage yourself and the choices you make about how you spend your time.
Myth 2: I must be available 24/7 to be successful.
Agents who feel they must be available 24/7 are afraid they will lose the client relationship unless they are available at a moment’s notice.
Truth: The biggest complaint consumers have about their real estate agents is that they fail to stay in touch, not that they must be available 24/7 on a moment’s notice. To avoid this issue, be proactive about staying in touch with your clients by reaching out to them a minimum of three to five times per week. Also, it’s important to ask your clients their preferred way of staying in touch with them: text, email, phone or social media.
Myth 3: I’m the only one who can do it.
If you make more than minimum wage selling real estate and you’re doing minimum wage jobs, such as filling brochure boxes, picking up keys, going to the post office, etc., or you’re not using a transaction coordinator, you’re doing a poor job of using your time wisely.
Truth: Delegating these chores frees up your schedule to generate more leads, handle more clients and take more time off.
Myth 4: I can’t afford to take time off.
When you’re running on adrenaline and totally stressed out, your life can spin out of control. You may be stopped for speeding, have an accident, provoke an argument with a client or become ill. When your life is in chaos, you will also attract clients and situations that are chaotic as well.
Truth: You can’t afford not to take time off. To break this cycle, take a minimum of one day a week off and at least one weekend a month. If you are worried about being available for emergencies, pair up with another agent you trust and cover for each other on your days off.
Myth 5: Taking time off will cause my business to decrease.
Surprisingly, the exact opposite is true. Have you ever noticed that the moment you plan a vacation (create lots of space in your schedule), your business immediately increases? Creating space allows you to attract more business. When your schedule is jam-packed, you lack space for new business to appear.
Truth: To create more space in your business, clear your schedule for a vacation, clean your closet, clean your desk, clean your garage, etc.
Myth 6: I can’t live without my phone.
Chances are your cell phone is making you less efficient. Each time you interrupt another activity to answer a call, respond to a text or read a notification, it can take up to 20 minutes to regain your concentration. Even worse, if you do this when you’re with clients, you send a nonverbal message they are not as important as your incoming call, text or notification.
Truth: To break this pattern, try this experiment for one week. Place your phone in airplane mode when you are prospecting, working with clients, at family meals or any other important personal time. After you finish, take your phone off airplane mode and handle any calls, messages or emails that you need to address.
10 more time efficiency strategies
To free up more of your time, use any of the 10 time efficiency tips below.
Strategy 1: Awareness
To increase your awareness, begin by tracking where you spend your time. Avoid trying to change anything. Instead, merely write down how you spent your time each day on various activities. Use your computer or your appointment book for tracking.
Specifically, for the next week, record how much time you spend on lead generation, appointments, handling transaction problems, family time, personal time, commuting, chores, etc.
Also, track how much time you spend playing computer games, dealing with interruptions to your work due to non-work-related calls or texts, and posting or scrolling on social media and apps. Most people miss how costly these subtle time-wasters can be.
Now, total up how much time you spent on your business and dedicated personal time and how much time you wasted that could be put to better use.
Strategy 2: Try the 80-20 experiment for one month
Begin by dividing a piece of paper into four quadrants and then entering the following information.
- In the upper left quadrant, place the activities that you love to do and that are profitable. Devote about 80 percent of your time to the activities in this quadrant.
- In the upper right quadrant, place the activities that you hate to do but are profitable. (This could be holding an open house, door knocking, etc.)
- In the lower left quadrant, list what you enjoy doing but is not profitable. This could include attending networking events or spending time doing social media posts that don’t produce results.
- In the lower right quadrant, record the unprofitable activities you hate doing.
The 80-20 rule tells us that the top 20 percent of our activities are responsible for 80 percent of our results. Consequently, spend as much time as possible on the activities in the upper left quadrant and avoid the “below the line” activities for the next month.
In terms of the “hate to do, but profitable” quadrant, you have three options. Delegate them by taking a partner, hire an in office or virtual assistant, or force yourself to do the activity anyway. Again, unless you made less than minimum wage in selling real estate, delegate as many minimum wage activities as possible.
At the end of the month, compare your production, personal time off, and stress level to the preceding month. They should be dramatically better.
Strategy 3: Focus on completing your top 3 business and personal action items daily
Rather than reacting to those who make demands on your time, identify the top three tasks that will have the biggest impact on your business, such as securing a new listing, closing a deal, or following up on a hot lead — and make sure you handle those items first.
Also apply the same approach to your personal life, whether it’s a family dinner, unwinding with a glass of wine and a great book, or attending soccer game with your kids or grandkids, these breaks actually make you more productive when you return to work.
Strategy 4: Saying ‘yes’ to saying no
The pressure to be available 24/7 can lead to burnout and inefficiency. Consequently, it’s important to protect your time. Agents commonly waste valuable time on unimportant tasks due to their inability to say “No.” Just because a situation is a priority or urgent for someone else doesn’t mean you should alter your priorities.
For example, if you have a family dinner planned for tonight and a buyer’s agent is pressing you to do a showing, simply say, “No.” As my husband, who is a business and personal coach, likes to say, “No is a complete sentence.” No justification is necessary.
If the pushy agent continues to press you, simply say, “I have a conflicting appointment. I can do the showing tomorrow at 10 a.m. or 5 p.m. Which works best for you?
Learning to say no helps you regain control over your schedule and gives you more time for both work and your personal life.
Strategy 5: Use the 2-minute rule
If a task can be completed in two minutes or less, such as replying to a quick email or confirming a showing, do it immediately. This keeps your to-do list from becoming cluttered with minor tasks while allowing you to focus on your highest-priority items. By handling these quick tasks on the spot, you save time by not having to circle back to complete the task later.
Strategy 6: Apply the ‘Pomodoro’ technique: 25-minute bursts coupled with 5-minute breaks
Constant interruptions by our clients and colleagues and unexpected issues often make it hard to stay on track. By setting specific time blocks for tasks such as prospecting, client follow-ups and paperwork, it’s much easier to avoid becoming distracted.
In the late 1980s, Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro technique that over 2 million people have used.
Here’s what to do:
- Identify the task you want to work on.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes.
- When the timer stops, take a 5-minute break.
- After four sessions, take a 15 to 30-minute break.
- The active working time is known as Pomodoros.
Setting the timer creates urgency, but the time-block (pomodoro) is short enough to manage easily. It also creates a singular focus that eliminates multitasking and minimizes the number of distractions you experience.
Strategy 7: Group similar tasks together
Grouping similar tasks together, such as scheduling all client meetings in one afternoon or making all follow-up calls in a single session, reduces the mental load of constantly switching gears. This method is particularly useful in real estate, where multitasking can easily lead to mistakes.
Grouping similar tasks together will reduce the amount of time required to complete each task. For example, if you must run errands, time-block them together so you can do them in a single trip or do all your follow up or prospecting calls in one sitting.
Strategy 8: ‘Eat that Frog’
Brian Tracy’s Eat that Frog! is a classic book on how to overcome procrastination. When it comes to your real estate business, the “frog,” is the biggest, ugliest task of the day. Do that first, and get it out of the way.
Strategy 9: Incorporate buffer time between tasks
In real estate, unexpected emergencies and client demands can easily disrupt your day. Incorporating buffer time between tasks allows you to handle these interruptions without derailing your entire schedule. This extra time also provides an opportunity to decompress and refocus, reducing stress and preventing burnout. By planning for the unexpected, you can maintain control over your day and ensure that your important tasks still get done.
Strategy 10: Use the 4-3-2-1 approach to schedule your personal time off
When you plan your schedule for the month, schedule your personal time off first and treat it as being as important as going on a listing appointment.
To do this, schedule:
- Four weekend days off each month.
- Three nights each week where you have time for a leisurely dinner and evening with loved ones.
- Two days each month where you take a full day to spend time with friends or family.
- At least one day exclusively for yourself, where you play golf, get a massage or do whatever is necessary to escape from the business for a day.
The secret to creating more time when you haven’t any is to ditch the six time management myths that hold you back and then choose which proven strategies above you want to apply in your business and personal life — the more you apply the more productive you will be. And that means the more time you will have for you and your loved ones.
Bernice Ross, president and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach.com, and the founder of RealEstateWealthForWomen.com is a national speaker, author and trainer with over 1,500 published articles.
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