If you’re like me, I used to run around all the time from appointment to appointment, crazy from trying to do everything.
And you know what?
At the end of the day, after all that busy running around, when I looked back at my day, I realized there were a ton of things I wanted to do that I hadn’t accomplished.
If you want to get rid of the crazy, hectic, rushed feeling you have and become more efficient, then time blocking is a crucial tool for you to utilize in your real estate business.
Figuring out a system that will allow you to become more productive at work but also let you be able to put work aside and spend time on important things, namely yourself and your family, is the objective of learning time management skills.
You probably feel like you may be able to juggle a few different tasks at the same time and that you’re an expert at multitasking.
If you believe that, the truth is, you’d be 100% wrong!
The Myth Of Multitasking
For years, we were told that busy people and successful people could juggle a ton of different things at the same time and all perform them well.
We’ve learned over time that the skill of multitasking is a myth.
Even simple little tasks like driving and talking on the phone have been proven through neuroscience that we’re less effective than we believe.
The reality is that when we do more than one task at a time, we limit the amount of our brain power dedicated to any one task. We become less productive and more prone to mistakes as a result.
The concept of multitasking isn’t that we’re performing multiple tasks well. Instead, we are switching quickly, back and forth between those tasks, known as “switch-tasking.”
For example, if you’re writing something and watching TV, switching between the two tasks requires a brief millisecond to catch up with those tasks. So, every time you stop writing and watch a section of a show, you need to rethink what words you were trying to string along into a sentence, slowing your writing down and making your thoughts jumbled.
In other words, the myth of multitasking is precisely that, a myth.
Create An Intentional Schedule
Instead, creating an intentional schedule would help to become more effective, productive, and happy.
An intentional schedule is a tool that leaders and other top-performing experts use to increase productivity and maximize the hours in their day.
The key to an intentional schedule is to have your day broken down into small chunks of items you want and need to accomplish. It could be your marketing, appointment setting, or working on the transaction documents to close a deal.
What’s more, creating an intentional schedule allows you to create daily rituals that lead to achievements and accomplishments that become habits over time.
To start, there’s one simple thing you can do to create an intentional schedule.
Write it down!
The more you write down, the more you have a reason to accomplish them. The more accomplishments you have, the more habit development you create mentally.
When you create an intentional schedule, you’re taking control of what you have to do and accomplish throughout your day.
And the key to being more effective is taking control of your schedule. There’s a saying, “take control of your schedule, or your schedule will take control of you.”
Taking control over your schedule will;
- Improve output and productivity
- Organize and prioritize different projects and appointments
- Create a mind-shift switch from reactive to proactive
- Increase energy
- Enhance your enjoyment
- Simplify your day
Time blocking is a scheduling technique that lets you break your tasks into small chunks. It is a time management technique that divides your day into blocks to help you accomplish specific tasks, goals, and outcomes.
Time blocking is also known by a different name, the Pomodoro Technique.
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management skill I use in my business.
The concept is simple.
Take one task, concentrate on it for 25-minutes and at the end of those 25-minutes, take a short break.
Your break should be about 5-minutes in length and be completely free of any work or work-related task. After 5-minutes, repeat the process.
After 4 cycles of 25-minutes on and 5-minutes off, take a more extended break, approximately 15-20 minutes.
Breaking up your tasks into smaller chunks of time helps you stay focused, maintain energy during those tasks, and helps you accomplish more in less time.
A benefit to the Pomodoro Technique is that blocking off your day allows you to see what tasks are a bigger priority than others.
To perform the Pomodoro Technique:
- Take a timer
- Set it for 25-minutes
- Focus on one task and work until the time is up
- When the timer goes off, get up, take a break for 5-minutes
- Repeat for 4 cycles
- At the end of 4 Pomodoro cycles, take an extended break of 15-20 minutes
Prioritize What’s Important
Utilizing the Pomodoro Technique lets you prioritize tasks to get what’s most important done. And by accomplishing more, you’ll gain the momentum to continue to complete more.
Did you know that the psychology behind achievement and accomplishment creates a change in our brains? Achievement and accomplishment change the way our brain sees tasks.
Small achievements create a reward in the brain that heightens motivation to accomplish more. As a result, you become more interested in changing behaviors, creating more positive habits, setting goals, finding creative solutions, boosting and highlighting talents, growing interests, and boosting social engagements.
In addition to making you more productive, time blocking and the Pomodoro Technique lets you prioritize every part of your life, from business, personal, and family, to help make you happier and healthier, less stressed, and more productive.
Business
Utilizing the Pomodoro Technique and Time Blocking skills will help you set appointments, lead nurturing, improve marketing efforts, and get your clients the deals they want.
Time blocking will give you the tools to schedule those aspects of your business to get more done and have the energy to add more to your plate.
For example, if you need to add more time for marketing during your workday, having scheduled time periods written down will help you accomplish those tasks. And with social media, having regular updates and posts is crucial to being “found” by the algorithm that promotes content on the various platforms.
Personal
As you become more organized with your scheduling on your professional side of life, you’ll find you’ll have more time to dedicate to your personal life. Time blocking allows you to find time to prioritize your business and also things that are important to you as a person.
For example, if exercise is something that is important to you, whether it’s hitting the gym, going to the beach, or hiking, using time blocking will give you the tools to find time every day to get all your work done without sacrificing those things that are important to you.
Family
Putting a priority on your day should include time for your family. Creating time blocks for the family, whether it’s blocking off time to catch your kid’s game, attend a class, or to make dinner with everyone, should be put onto your daily time blocks.
The advantage that time blocking provides you is that you can prioritize how you spend each part of your day and don’t let one part of your day (business) interrupt other vital things (personal and family).
Time Blocking And Habit Formation
Time blocking is a time management skill that can help us develop habits, and habits can do one of two things.
Habits can lead to profitable efforts vs. non-profitable efforts.
Profitable efforts are those activities, habits, and tactics, in other words, choices that create time and energy, free up mental space, and give results. Conversely, non-profitable efforts are those activities, habits, tactics, and choices that detract from the desired outcomes.
Time blocking and intentional scheduling will allow you to create a work/life balance and make your business more organized at the same time.
By taking your day and breaking tasks into smaller chunks, focusing for a shorter duration of time with intermittent breaks will significantly increase your productivity.
What’s more, by using these strategies, known as the Pomodoro Technique, you’ll be able to prioritize when you work and when you don’t, making for a happier, healthier you.
Learning to become more efficient with your time and increasing productivity is a skill you can learn.
Simply take all the tasks you need to accomplish in a day and write them all down.
Next, prioritize when you work on each task before breaking those tasks down into even smaller chunks.
Use the Pomodoro Technique to finish those tasks before moving on to the next task.
The sense of accomplishment and fulfillment will become addictive. However, these profitable efforts will help you develop daily routines that become positive habits in your real estate business and life.
