Think you’re good at multitasking? Do you think you can do it all, all at once? Think again… We as humans officially have less of an attention span than a goldfish.
No, really! According to Microsoft Corp., “The average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused goldfish is nine seconds [and] people now generally lose concentration after eight seconds, highlighting the effects of an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain.” (McSpadden, 2015)
So, with being in the real estate industry, especially with a market like today, it’s never been more important to switch from a multitasking mindset to a single tasking mindset. How do you do this? Time blocking. Time blocking is a time management strategy that schedules out every activity during the day in order to better manage your time.
Don’t let the idea of scheduling out every activity of your day scare you, there’s true power and real productivity that comes from time blocking your day. Now the important question is how do you start, execute, and actually sustain this time management strategy?
- Create blocks in your schedule (it is called time blocking, remember). “A common increment of time to use in time blocking is 15 minutes. This might appear to be quite a small increment of time, but if you waste even a few of them, this adds up to an hour or more of wasted time per day.” (Accountingtools.com, 2021)
- Narrow down your high priority tasks and get them done when you’re most productive. This could be early in the morning or later in the evening. Knowing your high priority tasks will help shape out the remainder of your day.
- Fill in remaining times of your day with other tasks that didn’t make the high priority list.
- Assess your schedule and adjust as needed. Your days are never the same in the real estate industry, so give yourself the ability to adapt. However, remain persistent and continue to block out time to finish specific tasks.
- Lessen distractions when working on your high priority tasks. Watching that Instagram story can wait. It does stay live for 24 hours, so just watch it later.
Some other tips when beginning to time block include:
- Actually put these blocks in your calendar, not just your head. Don’t give half an effort. By putting these blocks into your calendar (physical, online, and mobile), it helps visualize your day and will keep you more accountable.
- Set goals for each day, week, and month. Also write down a short to-do list each day. This will help you stay on track with your schedule but allow adaptability.
- Overestimate how long tasks will take. This gives yourself some reactive time; for example, maybe reviewing that home inspection took longer than you thought!
- Don’t forget to block time for yourself. Time blocking is supposed to help manage your schedule, not just your job. Don’t forget to put time in for things that interest you. For example, cooking dinner with the family, going to your yoga class every Monday, etc.
For more helpful tools on time blocking, check out these resources: Real Estate Masters Guild, Time Blocking 101 , and 7 Levels of Communication.
What goes hand in hand with time blocking? Delegating! This is when a virtual assistant can come into play.
Here at Virtual Real Estate Support, we offer services such as social media and internet marketing, listing coordination, customer relationship management, and website management. This gives you more time to focus on what’s important, like growing your real estate business, while we take care of those routine and administrative tasks behind the scenes. To learn more about our services, click here or contact us at [email protected].
Don’t forget to follow us on our socials! We’re on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIN!
