An essential part of learning real estate is practicing good time management. Often, busy real estate agents imagine that if they had more time to use, they would be able to reach exceptional levels of success in their real estate jobs. However, you need to remember that no one has more time to sell real estate than you do! The key is to learn to sell real estate with a deep understanding of using time, setting priorities, and balancing your life.
Your 24-Hour inventory
Consider time as a particular type of inventory for a real estate agent. Like any other type of inventory, it is something of which you have a specific amount. The first thing you need to remember about time management is that you have just as many hours in the day – just as large an inventory – as any other realtor.
If you manage time well, you can sell more real estate and boost your real estate income. In other words, you have an inventory of 24 hours to use in building your real estate success. No more. No less. It’s how you manage those 24 hours that makes the difference.
Assessing Your Current Use of Time
Before you can make intelligent changes to use your time better, you need to know how you are spending your time now. So, make a chart to sort out how you spend your time. Make two columns and put 24 at the top of the right column. Below, on the left side, write down the types of things you do each day, such as:
– Personal care, including sleep
– Meals
– Household and family
– Commuting
– Entertainment
Then, to the right of each item, enter how many hours you spend doing each thing on the left. Subtract the amount of time for all the items and place the remainder at the bottom. This is the time you have left for real estate agent training and selling real estate.
Are you surprised? Most people who are first learning real estate are shocked to discover how much time they are using for other things. It’s no wonder if you feel like you’re always in a time crunch!
Planning Your Time as a Real Estate Agent
So, what should you do? How can you fit in everything you need to do each day? It all comes down to planning and follow-through. To create the plan, consider the following elements:
– What you need to do at specific times
– How to eliminate potential distractions
– How to create a workspace where you can focus
– Ways to divide up your time in manageable blocks (Time Blocking)
– Work all the time you work
Once you succeed in learning real estate concepts like how to plan your time in these ways and stick to your plan, you can accomplish more as a realtor.
Setting priorities will help you ensure the most critical parts of your job are covered. In the Roadmap to Success Foundation realtor course, you can learn about time management concepts like setting priorities, distinguishing urgency from emergency, and avoiding drama. This course is one of a complete set of online real estate courses designed to help you learn to sell real estate in the most efficient, productive, and beneficial ways.
Four “Ds” in Time Management
Time management experts often use a mnemonic to remind their students of what they need to manage time well. These four “Ds” of time management include:
– Desire to accomplish your goals
– Decisiveness about what you will pursue
– Determination to persist despite challenges
– Discipline to make time management a life-long practice
Keep these four words in your mind as you go through your day, whether learning real estate or working as a seller’s agent or buyer’s agent.
Keep Your Balance!
Excellent time management will help you attain a higher quality of life. Your life will be more balanced and satisfying if you improve the following areas.
– Inner life – taking time to examine and improve thoughts, emotions, values, spirituality
– Health – taking time to care for and improve your physical health
– Relationships – developing and maintaining healthy, caring relationships
Learning real estate and building a rewarding real estate career can be nearly impossible without an active inner life, a healthy body and mind, and supportive relationships. That’s why you need to set aside time to give attention to these things.
Tracking Time Management
Learning real estate time management goes better if you track your results. Look for outcomes in Key Results Areas. In real estate, these include:
– Prospecting
– Identifying needs
– Presenting your services
– Answering objections
– Closing the deal
– Getting referrals
Make a list of all the things real estate agents need to do to build their real estate business. Then, track the time you spend doing them. Finally, note the results. This will encourage you to use your time more wisely.
The Pareto Principle and Working When You Work
The Pareto Principle says that 20% of most people’s efforts produce roughly 80% of the results. If that is true of your real estate activities, you can get more work done in the time you have. How? Simply develop the proper habits, make workable plans, and follow through with them daily. With the best time management plans and practices, you can use the 24 hours in your day to live better and build a more successful real estate business.
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