It’s a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.  ~J.K. Rowling, “The Hungarian Horntail,” Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000

Does this ring true for you? Real Estate Agents are challenged in dealing with time.  Prospecting, Marketing, Service, E-mails, Phone Calls, Appointments, Paperwork, the list go on and on.  Here are top tips to help you manage your time better.

Schedule chunks instead of activities. Schedule a chunk of time each day to make and return calls, a chunk of time one day a week to do all of your web update work.
Chunk your service, your ad writing, and your marketing.  Here is the rule.  If you spend a total of more than thirty minutes per week on an activity, schedule a chunk of time on specific days every week for that activity.

Priority Days. For one hour at the beginning of each day focus on the following priorities.  In our Daily Coaching Program Mondays and Tuesdays are prospecting days.  Wednesdays are marketing, web, print, mail etc.  Thursdays are for service to listed Sellers and pending Clients.  Fridays are for planning, what we call a leadership day.  This structure manages your time, organizes your activities and leverages the opportunity to take big chunks of time or full days off on the weekend with more peace of mind and confidence.

Emotional Fitness. We all have a pre-work dance.  That is, activities that we love to do right before we are going to get to work.  Get coffee.  Check e-mails, Twitter, Active Rain, etc.  Play solitaire.  Clear your desk.  So, become conscious of your pre-work dance and work to break the cycle of unproductive time.  Just as you are about to “dance,” pause.   Sit up straight or stand up.  Smile, even laugh at yourself because you know what you would normally do.  But this time, picture how your day is going to go.  Picture what you want to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish it immediately.  And get back into action.  No one thing can make you more productive than interrupting your pre-work dance and getting back into action more quickly.

Prioritize your activities and phone calls.  Always, do the toughest ones first.  Do the one thing that you have been procrastinating over, first.  That thing often holds you back, slows you down, damages your motivation, your focus, even your confidence.  Make the tough phone calls first.  Tackle the tough job first.  They are often not as tough as anticipated.  But they get tougher as you delay them, don’t they?

Action motivates. If you’re feeling a little bit lazy but you know you have things to accomplish, action motivates.  Get yourself off the couch, off the chair, take the first step, make the first call, respond to that tough e-mail, or get in the car.  Take the first action.  Action motivates.

Use the 4 D method for prioritizing paperwork.

Do it immediately if it can be done in 20 seconds or less.

Delegate it if you can hand it off to somebody else.

Delay it if you are not going to do it right now.  Schedule a time in your calendar to get back to it.  It may be delayed to one of the time chunks mentioned above.

Dump it.  It is best to do this one more than the others.

Cluster your activities.  Cluster all the things needed to be done at your office.  Cluster your travel.  Take a few minutes, literally, just 2 or 3 minutes at the beginning of the day and before you walk out the door to look at your calendar.  Perhaps you will have to make a phone call or two to rearrange your schedule.  Maybe you will ask someone else to be available sooner or later.  Do that.  So that your use of time makes more sense.  As you commit to this it becomes habitual.  In addition to saving a tremendous amount of time clustering your activities can relieve a lot of pressure, provide a wonderful sense of self-control, and give you the freedom and the opportunity for greater success.

Just say no. Oooh, this one is very hard for some people.  If it is hard for you then simply learn to apologize profusely… and then say no.  Try these scripts.  “Wow, I really want to do that for you.  And I really would.  Only it is killing me to put other people’s requests above my priorities.  So, I am really, really sorry… but, no.”

Schedule time off. Give yourself permission to do nothing or do something you love to do.  Even just sit in front of the TV.  Read a book.  Lay in the sun.  Go for a walk.  Exercise.  Spend time with family.  Sleep in late.  Give yourself permission to do nothing.  You need that time.  You need that energy.  Giving yourself this permission sends a strong message to your subconscious that you are in control of your time.  This adds power to all of the other ideas above.  Cross off one day each week, a half day, an evening, when you schedule absolutely nothing or something you love to do and make that personal time a must, an absolute priority.  If necessary, arrange to have someone handle calls for you or check your emails. This time will truly make you more effective when you are working.

There are tons of systems, tools, and philosophies for managing time.  These are the foundation, a few of the best ideas for addressing an Agent’s biggest complaint.

A business plan is crucial for building an efficient, profitable business strategy. But by avoiding common pitfalls, you’ll be able to set your business on the right path in the coming year.

Let’s be honest: Sometimes no matter how hard you plan, you just don’t get the results you want.

A business plan can help you set a strategy for the year and outline the goals you want to achieve. But how often do so many business plans become merely a list of your unaccomplished objectives?

It often boils down to three main reasons: unnecessary complexity, lack of focus, and little to no motivation.

Realizing this, you can make adjustments in these three areas to avoid such common mistakes and formulate an intelligent business plan that gets you results.

Problem 1: Is your business plan too complex? Most business plans designed for real estate professionals have too many moving parts. After all, most practitioners do not come from business backgrounds and have no training in even writing a business plan. Therefore, a common problem is to error on the side of providing way too much detail. But the more complex and detailed it is, the less likely you will be able see through all of the gobbledygook to realize your main objectives.

Solution: Keep it simple and in easy terms. Don’t reduce the goals in your plan to mere activities. There are too many possible activities to choose from! It’s too cumbersome to track each task, and there are too many to focus on at one time. Out of frustration or confusion, you’ll simply stop the planning process or stop using the plan. Make sure your business plan includes only what you need to manage your business.

Problem 2: Are you focused enough? It’s easy to lack focus if you have so many details in your business plan that they’re competing for your attention. A change to a simple, single focus allows you to be more creative and work smarter. In addition, a more concentrated approach significantly reduces stress on and off the job.

Solution: To improve your focus, reduce your measurable goals in your business plan to initial appointments with new clients, and stop there. Do not discriminate between listing and buyer appointments. Count them both.

Why just target initial appointments? After using this model with thousands of real estate professionals all over the country for more than a decade, I’ve found an accurate rule of thumb: Modestly competent professionals with at least one year of experience will execute a successful transaction with at least half of the new clients with whom they have an initial appointment. That means every two initial appointments lead to a sale, roughly. Forty new appointments for the year lead to 20 sales.

Here are some other benefits:

• As you make initial appointments each week, you’ll naturally focus on the best ways to generate the appointments and your skill at turning those into sales.

• The initial appointments are a measure that makes it easy to identify which skills or systems are your greatest weaknesses or strengths.

• You’ll make better decisions about what to do, what to buy, and what to learn next. This will save you time, money, and frustration, and give you more confidence as you go forward.

Problem 3: Are You Motivated Enough to Achieve These Goals? Your purpose is your reason for doing anything. “Why” you do something drives you to action. If you haven’t identified the “why,” then your business plan will likely fall flat.

Solution: Consider your business goals and your purpose behind those goals. This will create a deep and lasting motivation and prevent you from feeling powerless and mediocre.

Before you set your measurable goals, do the following:

• Write down at least five answers to the question, “What do I want my business to do for my life? What do I want my business to accomplish for me and my loved ones?”

• Then, ask yourself, “Why do I want that?” And keep writing those answers down and continually asking, “And why do I want that?”

• Continue to ask yourself these questions until you have an emotional response to your answer and arrive at an answer that excites you. Sometimes this excitement occurs immediately; sometimes you have to live with that question on your mind for a few days to let your subconscious work on it.

Eventually, you’ll have an answer that makes you say to yourself: “That’s why I am willing to do whatever it takes.” This adds tremendous power and purpose to your efforts, goals, overall plan, and everyday work.

Measure Your Results. These three easy changes are necessary to successful planning. But, don’t forget: You have to hold yourself accountable too.

Every working weekday, before you open your e-mail or make a phone call, take about five minutes to think about the results you’re getting. Use this time to think about your “what” and “why.” Update your appointments, sales, and listings.

Then, once a week, instead of five minutes, schedule a half hour to consider these issues. After you update your results, ask: “What can I do for my business this upcoming week that would make it even more successful, even more enjoyable, and even more profitable?”

Such constant reflection will help you stay focused and motivated and ensure that your next business plan isn’t just a wish list but that it soon becomes a list of what you’ve actually achieved.

For more information on raising your production and quality of life register for a FREE Business Strategy Rich specialize in moving Real Estate Agents and Brokers to their highest levels of production and performance in their business and in their life. Free daily coaching at www.1stfifteen.com that will  inspire and motivate you every day! Contact Rich directly at mailto:Rich@RichLevin.com or call 585.244.2700 Rich Levin is President of Rich Levin’s Success Corps inc.