Are you the type of REALTOR® who thrives on deadlines? You’ve procrastinated on that CMA all week, and now you’ve got 45 minutes to get it done. No problem! When you’ve got a deadline, you always come through.
There are two ways you can look at this:
- When you’ve got a deadline, you’re able to get a lot of work done quickly and efficiently;
- You leave everything to the last minute, and therefore the work is often not to the standard that you’d like.
Chances are there’s some truth to both statements. Sure, you got the CMA done, and it’s good, but half-way through the Listing Appointment, you realize that you’re missing some critical information. You messed up.
If you lose the listing, what’s the potential cost? Ten grand? Maybe more? All because you left the CMA to the last minute?
What if you had completed that CMA 24 hours before and then allowed yourself additional time to review and fine-tune it the next day? Wouldn’t that be better? ☺️
Yes, of course! But (insert excuse here).
“An excuse is simply a challenge that you’ve decided has power over you.” — Jen Sincero
No matter what your excuse, you are probably keenly aware that your self-management could be much better.
I use the term “self-management” because “time-management” doesn’t make any logical sense. You can’t manage time! Time marches on at the same speed for every one of us, no matter what. ⏳
Self-management is not merely important. It’s the #1 essential ingredient to success for EVERY highly productive person.
You want to know why that other agent produces twice as much (or five times as much) as you? Is it because they have more time than you? Nope! You’re both allotted the exact same 1,440 minutes per day. ⌚
They simply manage themselves better than you do.
If you want to improve (you do, right?), let’s start by utilizing your “skill” at meeting deadlines, and add in a few new complementary strategies:
- Commit to getting better at time-blocking ‘Appointments with Yourself’ and honoring your own set of Rules and Routines.
- Move your deadlines sooner. Always allow extra time for review AFTER your deadline, whether you think it is needed or not. Make this one of your Rules! ⏰
- Start your workday as early as possible. I know that sometimes you’re up late getting a deal done, but otherwise try changing your routine to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Early mornings are the most productive time of day because there are far fewer distractions. Don’t waste this valuable early-morning time doing routine stuff like reviewing your email. Instead, this is when you should focus on completing larger tasks.
- For larger projects, break them down into bite-sized milestones. This way, you can feel the thrill of meeting your deadlines along the way. Saying you want a new website up-and-running in three months can sound like an impossible task, but if you break this down into ten or fifteen smaller projects with separate deadlines, that three-month goal becomes completely realistic.
- Find an accountability partner. Let’s face it; Real Estate can be a lonely business. If you’ve got a good friend in the business, you can help each other by encouraging and holding each other accountable for each of your self-imposed deadlines.
- Set rewards and consequences. Working towards small and big rewards can make your work more fun and motivational. Make a game out of attaching a reward to each one of your goals. You’ve got to be strict about this. If you don’t achieve the goal, you don’t get the reward.
This all makes perfect sense, right?
So, what are you going to do about it?
You know, we’re coming up to a New Year/Decade. If you want to make some real positive changes I suggest you re-read last week’s post 48 Days Until 2020, except be aware of this:
It’s now 41 days. And counting. You see how that darn clock keeps moving forward? ⌛
A gentle reminder: You haven’t accomplished ANYTHING by merely reading this post. You’ve got to DO something. Why not take a baby step right now, even if it’s just time-blocking an ‘Appointment with Yourself’ to review this and the last two blogs, one more time? You can take another baby step after that.
If it helps, think about a small reward you can give yourself for taking this first baby step. Now, go for it!
I’ll leave you with one more quote from Jen Sincero, “In order to kick ass, you must first pick up your foot.”
