Taming the Time Management MonsterBy Mark Mathis, VP of Sales for Homes.com
Seventy-two percent of more than 5,000 REALTORS® have told Dirk Zeller that their No. 1 business challenge is time management. "No other business or life challenge even comes close to the problem of managing our time," he says.
Zeller, CEO of Real Estate Champions, coach and best-selling author of three "Dummies" books, including one on time management, says getting control of your time isn't a quick-fix solution. "It takes practice. Time management is like a muscle. You can't run a marathon (or set a marathon schedule) and run it without building up your muscles and your discipline," he told attendees in a recent webinar. Zeller also holds a Certified Speaker designation (CSD), and with more than 1,000 published articles, he's one of the most published authors in the success training category. His says his successes are a result of learning to manage his time—a skill he shared in great detail. As an agent, Zeller worked four days a week and enjoyed three days a week at a vacation home without touching anything to do with real estate—and he still sold 150 homes a year, thanks to his time management strategy. He admits he's not perfect. "There are days when my time gets away, too," he said. "There are curveballs, but there's a strategy to deal with that, too." How You Use Your Time Will Determine the Quality of Your Life Time is the great equalizer. We all only have 24 hours in a day. So, what are you going to do with your time? Time management isn't about being perfect; it's about being focused, and what you focus on, Zeller explained.
The two most important aspects of time management are determining where to focus, and then using your premium time: the three to four hours a day where we're most focused, most energetic, and most aware. There are no right and wrong premium times—just the times when you work best. If you don't know what your hours are, figure it out as soon as possible. Concentrate on doing your DIPA during those premium hours. During that time:
When you think of your time as DIPA vs. PSA (lead follow-up, showing property and writing contracts), and PPSA (making flyers, paying bills, meeting the home inspector, answering phones, etc.), you'll begin to see where your time goes. There's not a right or wrong amount of time, but there needs to be a balance. An hour or two of DIPA time versus 6-7 hours of PSA time is going to be reflected in your income, because you get paid based on the value of your skills. Do you want to be paid $295-plus an hour, or $15 an hour? PSA activities are worth about $15-$20 an hour. DIPA activities are worth hundreds of dollars an hour. So which activities do you want to focus on? The more hours you work at DIPA activities, the more money you'll make. Consciously shift your time from the PSA activities to DIPA activities by one hour a day, and you can increase your income by $50,000 a year. How to Set Your Daily Priorities The most successful people select and complete the highest-priority tasks first. Champion Performers have developed a plan or a system to identify and categorize the activities that must get done and you can too. By using Zeller's daily priority form, anyone can maximize the time they invest. Work on DIPA activities. Go to https://realestatechampions.net/tmmwebinar-workbook-1 to download the free form to help you set your priorities. The form creates five key priority areas. First, list all the activities that need to be done. Then assign each activity on the list a category based on A, B, C, D or E:
Time-Blocking Time-blocking is a type of scheduling that can help you manage your time better by focusing on finishing tasks (large or small) one at a time. Effective time-blocking means figuring out what sorts of things you need to do each day, month, and year. Schedule in:
It will take time to become a time management ninja, but it's entirely possible if you start now, changing an hour a day, and building up your skills. To hear all of Zeller's tips and insights, listen to the webinar here. For more information, please visit connect.homes.com. |
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