Maximising your time allocation

One of the biggest misconceptions in the real estate industry is that you are in a 24/7 industry. Many agents, new and veteran alike, feel they must commit every hour of every day to their jobs.

While commitment and dedication are cornerstones in reaching success, there also must be balance between career and personal life. It's time to get a plan in place to better control your time in 2006.

Everyone is given 24 hours each day. How we ration these hours into seven days over 52 weeks varies from person to person. Some people have learned the art of getting more ROI (return on investment) from time spent. Using simple time management techniques, they are able to be more effective than those scrambling to fit everything into a daily schedule. Until you get a grip on how you spend your time, this will always be a major problem.

The first lesson in taking control of your time is to define what your want to achieve. Start by identifying specifically what you want to accomplish. Your target can not be generic - it must be clearly written as your specific goal. You will probably wind up with several goals: farming, listings, sales, networking, advertising, etc. These various category goals form your business plan.

Now, each category goal must have objectives. Again, objectives must be specific (i.e. exact number of listings, closings, marketing expenditures, etc.) Set SMART targets:

S = Specific target (exactly where you're aiming)

M = Measurement (weekly)

A = Action plan (a step-by-step course to reach the target

R = Resources (allocation of time and money)

T = Time deadline (limit each target to 30 days)

Your overall target might exceed 30 days. Break it into 30-day segments. Any SMART target beyond 30 days loses momentum and is less likely to be achieved.

Once you have your targets established, focus on how much time will be needed and allocated daily, weekly or monthly for a particular target. Not all of your objectives will be of equal importance. It will be necessary to prioritize. Here's a proven time management system I use in training classes:

Top Priority (Most Urgent/Most Important)

The one task you place as No. 1 priority must be the most urgent and most important item on your ?to-do? list at that precise moment. The vital rule to keep in mind is: You can only work on ONE top priority at ONE time. The tendency to rotate your ?hot? tasks and do a little work on each one is like a juggler attempting to keep six balls in the air at one time. You never seem to get any one task completed. Choose the most urgent and most important job and concentrate on it.

Second Priority (Important/Not Urgent)

Here's where you have a prioritized list of other tasks that are not considered most urgent/most important at this time. These tasks are moved into the Top Priority slot once the previous No. 1 has been completed. Take care to not overload the Second Priority list. Keep in mind, these tasks are important and need your attention but they are not critical at the moment.

Third Priority (?Urgent?/Not Important)

Notice the quote marks on ?Urgent.? Many tasks are labeled urgent by people who do not have a true, clear perspective of the job to be done but they shout the critical alarm call to seek immediate action. This category contains tasks that need to be done eventually but not urgently in your estimation. By scheduling bits of time throughout the day, these projects can be nibbled on and perhaps completed before they reach the top two priority rungs.

Fourth Priority (Not Urgent/Not Important)

There has to be a place for ?stuff? and here it is—filing, clearing your desk, reading, follow-up calls and all the other things that must be included in your daily, weekly or monthly activities. Beware: This category often jams your time management program because it gets overloaded with small ?stuff.? Don't minimize the importance of getting these tasks done. They are just not as urgent and important as your other prioritized jobs at the moment but they do need to be placed on your ?to-do? list and time set aside to complete them.

To get a handle on your time in the New Year, start now setting goals and SMART targets to begin the process of prioritizing your tasks to get the best ROI from each day.