Tips for Better Time Management
For some real estate agents, working from home has been the norm for a long time. For the rest of us, though, it’s new, and the circumstances have been less than ideal. If you’re struggling to keep up with your workload without the structure of an office, it’s possible that you could benefit from a few tips for better time management.
To get you started, we’re bringing you a few of our top tips to help you accomplish your daily goals, further your career despite the odds, and stay sane in the process.
1.) Bust Time Management Myths
Let’s clear a few things up.
First, struggling with time management doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or will fail as an agent. You’re far from alone; in fact, considering the leap between our human origins and our modern life, it’s a wonder any of us function as well as we do.
Secondly, there is no such thing as multitasking. Think of yourself as a train: you’re either on one track, or the other. If you’re not attending entirely to your task at hand, you’ve already gone off the rails.
When this happens, accept the responsibility for bringing yourself back on track. Accept that your mind wandering is totally normal, and it’s going to happen. You don’t need to judge or scold yourself for this lapse but try to get back to work as quickly as you can.
Lastly, remember that your success rate will vary day to day. While we aim for consistency, we’re all human; we experience the normal ups and downs of life, and our performance will vary. Try to judge your progress based on your time management skill set strengthening over time rather than on a single day or task.
2.) Choose a Task List Strategy
Because you are a real estate agent, the ability to implement a dynamic workflow is crucial to your success. You will need to prioritize your tasks on a daily basis, then tackle your list items according to their ranking.
3.) Maintain Your Momentum
Sitting all day is, medically speaking, terrible for you. Furthermore, the human mind can’t maintain proper focus for hours without performance taking a major hit.
Clearly, taking short movement breaks, grabbing a bit of fruit and water, or connecting with a coworker about a separate, shared task are excellent ways to take a break. Still, try to keep your breaks brief, since allowing yourself to get too involved with other activities will make it harder to get back into your flow.
Try to keep working as long as you’re able to stay comfortable physically, redirect yourself mentally, and continue striking items off your list.
4.) Establish Non-Negotiable Work Blocks
To manage your workday, you’ll need to block out set work hours during which you do not permit interruptions. This will look different from agent to agent, but the result should be the same: you’ll have time to focus solely on striking items off your “high priority” list.
These blocks are ideal times to work on your client outreach, but because you’re likely to be distracted with every blip, buzz, and chirp from your phone, they may not be ideal for accepting unscreened calls.
If you’re working from home and have housemates or family members there with you, try to take these hours during times that will be less challenging for self-isolation.
5.) Set Your Future Self Up for Success
No one likes to be faced with what feel like impossible tasks. Unfortunately, when we aren’t able to manage our own time successfully, we can allow our “future self” to be left facing down a mountain of urgent tasks.
To avoid recreating this stressful dynamic, resist the urge to flee your office as soon as your day’s tasks are complete. Instead, if you have even fifteen minutes to spare, evaluate the coming day in view of the next work week. Then, create your prioritized task list for the coming day or two.
Your list may need revising in the coming days, and that’s fine. The beauty of dynamic lists is in their unlimited versatility. However, by analyzing your week ahead of time and breaking your responsibilities into manageable chunks, you’ll feel much better about the days ahead.
Even when you can see busy times coming your way, you’ll be less likely to sink back into procrastination and poor time management if you continue to keep a list of what’s up ahead. As one might expect, people tend to feel more in control of their time when they make conscious decisions about how to rank their tasks, and when they’ll get them done.
Finally, dear agent, if these strategies aren’t enough to help you, or you struggle with implementing them on your own, don’t give up on improving. You deserve to find strategies that work for you.
It’s equally important that you forgive yourself for struggling but resolve to work hard to improve this vital skill. You should feel no shame should you decide to ask your family, partner, boss, or mental health professional for help; often, a bit of a boost from those around us can be all it takes to help us get started on the road to mastery.