It’s that time of the year again to focus on your “B.U.T.” – or Best Use of Time. It is amazing to me how many people will track their marketing dollars from the previous 12 months to see what actually worked and what didn’t, but won’t invest the energy to track their most invaluable resource of all… their time.
Time is your most valuable resource because it is the only thing that you can’t get back. If I lose money, I can gain it back. If I lose time, it is gone forever. We only get a certain amount of it. Think about that for a second – but not too long because you don’t want to waste any time.
Your best use of time has been the activities that you have done that have brought you the greatest return. Not just from a profit standpoint, but also from the perspective of what has brought you the most joy and peace in the last 12 months. I think we all can agree that we operate more often at our peak potential when everything seems to be in order in our personal lives as well.
That is why it is important to understand that, just like our cars need to be refuled and have the occasional tune up, we too need the same kind of maintenance if we expect to get the most out of ourselves. That may mean more time with your children or spouse, a renewed commitment to exercise or just time alone to read or pray on a regular basis. For each person it may be different.
Having said this I recommend that you write down your top four best uses of time from the last year and instead of trying to implement 10 new strategies or tools into your business – just get better at what you already do well and scale those!
I wrote last week about how your sphere of influence doesn’t make you money. It is actually all of the things that you did or continue to do that build your sphere of influence that make you money. The key is not to reinvent the wheel or completely change your business model. The key is to figure out what you are already doing well, what are your top four best uses of time are and increase your efforts in those areas in the coming year – and at least one of your best uses of time should have nothing to do with your profits in business at all!
Jared James is the CEO and Founder of Jared James Enterprises, an internationally sought-after speaker and trainer. James built one of the fastest-growing real estate teams in the country, was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for one of the world’s largest real estate companies and wrote a best-selling book—all before the age of 28. As an acclaimed speaker, James keynotes events for major real estate organizations and conducts regular webinars and training for nationally known organizations like NAR, CRS, Yahoo Real Estate,Trulia and Zillow Academy and blogs regularly for RISMedia.
To stay in touch with Jared James, visit www.facebook.com/jaredjamestoday and www.twitter.com/jaredjamestoday or visit his website at www.jaredjamestoday.com.
