Making the Most of Time Management and Organization

BLDS, Business Leadership Development Series

The Best Place for the Best People

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization Have you ever felt like you worked all day but

still nothing happened? Have you ever worked all week/month/year

and had the same feeling? Today’s session is built around helping you get

past this feeling and focusing on how to have a much better business.

“Luck is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity.” Darrell Royal

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization John Maxwell says a budget (for your money) is

telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Managing time is the same; you will either tell your day what to do or wonder where it went.

Something to think about… The weird thing is that the more efficient, on task, on goal

that you are with your time, the more energy you have. Working with no plan or traction does not relax you, in

fact it will drain you. Strange as this may seem, when you work a daily plan in

pursuit of your written goals that flow from your mission statement born of your vision of living your dreams, you are energized after a long tough day!

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization As Realtors we have two activities that we need to

focus on… 1. Income Producing Activities 2. Administrative Duties If you want to have success in Real Estate, the key is

planning your day so that 75% of it is spent on Income Producing Activities and only 25% is spent on the Administrative Duties. Most agents will spend 80% of their time on Admin Duties

NAR Stat – Average Agent in 2010 sold 2.3 homes for the year

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization

Dr. Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” explains that all of our time is spent in one of four quadrants. 1. Important and Urgent 2. Important but not Urgent 3. Not Important but Urgent 4. Not Important and not Urgent

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization

Group Exercise Use the provided worksheets to discuss and list the

items that we routinely do on a given day in real estate, sorting the activities into the four quadrants.

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization Controlling Your Time with a To-Do List

Remember this: If you spend 15 minutes planning your day on paper every

morning, you will add 20% to your productivity. Think about that…15 minutes will give you an extra 1/5th of a

day 20% of an 8 hour workday is 1.6 hours

When you start managing your time more efficiently you will see a huge change in productivity and even more importantly…satisfaction! Remember that Traction equals Satisfaction

“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Dr. Steven Covey

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization The To-Do List

This is a very simple and time honored proven method that works. Each morning make a list of activities that need to be done

today Then look at your list and determine which items must be

done TODAY, put an “A” beside each one Then look at the remaining activities and ask yourself what

should be done very soon (and today would be nice). Put a “B” beside those

The remaining activities get a “C” and are great ideas that if not moved up to a B or an A within a couple of weeks should be delegated or put in an idea file

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization The To-Do List

Continued Now look at all the “A” items and ask…What is the most

important item or activity that must be done today-and if that’s all that gets done, have you done the correct thing?

Put a 1 next to that…making it A1 Then do it again, working your way through the A’s, B’s and

C’s Then rewrite your list with A1 at the top and C12 at the

bottom…you get the picture! You now have the most important item at the top of your

list or as I like to call it your A1…Your A1 Steak Sauce!

Put some sauce on your steak - your life – by spending some of your precious moments on this planet doing important work instead of reading junk emails!

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization The TEST (and you will be tested)

Sometime during your first hour of the day, you will look up from your desk and you will have a co-worker, usually with a coffee cup staring at you with a “problem” or a “distraction”. You need to ask yourself, Are they Steak Sauce? Is there problem more important-not more urgent, but more

important than your A1? Usually not. With the proper plan your day will be under control and

when the interruptions come…you will have a place to come back to

Results are generated by activities, If I manage my activities than the results I want occur. If I make more calls, learn my market and service my clients better, the natural result is increased earnings. Think Profit!

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization The To-Do List

This is a very“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” simple and time honored proven method that works. Each morning make a list of activities that need to be done today Then look at your list and determine which items must be done

TODAY, put an “A” beside each one Then look at the remaining activities and ask yourself what should

be done very soon (and today would be nice). Put a “B” beside those

The remaining activities get a “C” and are great ideas that if not moved up to a B or an A within a couple of weeks should be delegated or put in an idea file

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization Simple Tools

Notepad Outlook

Utilize and post your Outlook Schedule Schedule your meetings in advance and have an

agenda Do not wing your meetings…if you don’t need one,

cancel it Smart Phone Laptop Ipad Files Accountability

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization Your Office and Your Desktop

The top of your desk is a great picture of how well organized you are. If you have paper stacked all over, chances are you are working on Quadrant 3 things on a regular basis. Unproductive.

Clean Your Desk File it Throw it out The waste basket might be one of the biggest time

savers you can use

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”

Making the Most of Time Management and Organization Your Challenge…if you choose to accept it

Try this time-management approach for ninety days with-out stopping. I promise you will see a new level of traction and thereby a new level of satisfaction. Nothing is more unsatisfying than to work so hard and not make progress.

Is this your A1?