By Courtney Self
Real Estate Broker, Speaker & Author of “7 Strategies for Real Estate Success”
If you want to be more successful in your business you need to prioritize and devote your time and energy to the tasks that will propel you to the next level in your business! Everyday you can waste hours on non-productive activities. Look over the list of common time wasters to see where you might save time in your business.
Common Time Wasters:
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Tasks you should have delegated. Are you doing all your own paperwork, do you still address, label and stamp your mailings? If yes, stop right now. You can hire someone else to do it for you saving you time that will be better spent talking with clients.
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Procrastination. This wastes mental energy because you’re thinking about the thing you have to do but don’t want to so you will generally fill your time with “busy work” to avoid the unpleasant task. The best’s ways to avoid procrastination is to just do it. Plan to do all of your most important which may also be unpleasant talks first then everything else that follows is easy
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Working on unimportant or unnecessary tasks. Too often we feel because we start something we have to finish it. This is not true, if a task is not going to further you end goal then either delegate it or don’t do it.
- Interruptions – telephone. Use voicemail; screen your calls, etc. Don’t let others control your time. Set 2 times each day to check voicemail and return calls. For example your voicemail message can say, “Hi, you’ve reached “your name”, thanks for calling, I check voicemail at 10am and 4pm and return all calls shortly thereafter. Thanks for calling”
- Interruptions by co-workers and visitors. This can be one of the biggest time wasters in an office environment. People stopping by to chat. Don’t let them start talking, you can politely tell them you have something you need to finish and ask them what they need. You can also hang a sign on your office door asking not to be disturbed although many time wasters will ignore this; they think the sign applies to everyone but them. If they ignore your sign, use the first suggestion.
- Meetings. Whenever possible communicate via email or phone rather than having a meeting.
- Managing team members. Give your team members authority to make decisions. Give them clearly defined goals and objectives then tell them your trust their judgment. Evaluate them
- Checking email and voicemail. Using email and voicemail correctly can be one of the best tools for effective time management however; you only need to check these 1 or 2 times daily.
- Emergencies. In real estate as with most other businesses you’ll have numerous “Emergencies” throughout your day. While some truly are emergencies, you’ll find that most of these if left alone for a little while will usually resolve themselves. If they don’t get resolves within 24 hours then you can respond appropriately.
- Unclear communication. This is one of the reasons I like email so much because you can clearly
- Inadequate technical knowledge. Why waste your time trying to learn how to do something that is not vital to your success i.e. learning new software to create flyers, you can hire someone or subcontract to have some else do it in far less time.
- Unclear objectives and priorities. If you do not know what your desired goal or end result is will make it difficult to prioritize.
- Lack of planning. Spend a few minutes at the end of each day planning for the following day and evaluate if you are on track for your goals.
- Planning to do too much. Prioritize the most important task for the day.
- Stress and fatigue.
- Inability to say “No”
- Disorganization. You can spend hours each week looking for important paperwork or files when you are disorganized.
Focusing on what is truly important will help you “Save Time and Make More Money” in your real estate business as well as in your personal life!
