Organizing For Success

A successful career in real estate requires the ability to adeptly spin plates and juggle tasks, but if you are a chronically disorganized person with dreams of becoming a titan of real estate, have no fear.

While there are naturally organized people, anyone can master simple steps to install some order into their lives since most tools aren’t highly technical but merely require a bit of planning on your part. If you are muddling through life, forgetting appointments and errands, we’ve got a handful of tips to help you get organized.

1. Analyze your day. The first step is to undertake a careful review of how you are scheduling and spending your time. Optimistic people may underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks and correspondingly overschedule themselves. This leads to missed deadlines and last-minute appointment cancellations. So, before making any other plans, set aside a couple of hours to review your calendar and make note of your habits.
2. Let go of bad habits. If you find yourself with an addiction to your phone, you aren’t alone, but smartphones can be as harmful as helpful. Your work may be slow because you check your phone every time you get a text, or you feel compelled to see pictures of your friend’s latest meal on social media. Turn the phone off. This isn’t a new strategy: for decades, time management experts have recommended booking a couple of time slots during each day when you accept and return calls (and emails.)
3. Write it down. If you are old-school, literally write your appointments and to-do lists in your calendar; if you prefer smart technology, there are countless calendar apps to help you track your week. But, if it’s not in the calendar, it’s easy to forget. Being able to see your calendar at a glance is a simple but effective way to keep track of your schedule.
4. Set routines for your day – and follow through. If you follow the same practices daily, it’s hard to foul things up. Sure, the unexpected will happen, but if you put your car keys the same place every time you get out of your car and go into your office, you aren’t likely to lose them. Experts say it takes about 21 days or so to build habits and there’s no time like the present.
5. Sure, you might feel like you are getting more accomplished if you check off several small tasks in short order, but are you getting the important assignments completed? Some planners use the analogy of putting rocks in a jar: put the big ones in first and then add the little ones. It’s trite but still useful: accomplish the most crucial and important tasks for your day first, then you can use the remainder of your time for the small ones.

Finally, schedule one day out of your week for administrative tasks. Real estate requires agents to be in the field often but setting aside designated time weekly to handle paperwork is a good strategy for maintaining organization.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak has over four decades of experience as an advertising copywriter, agency creative director, blogger, and content creator. He joined Vulcan7 as a Content Specialist in 2016. In addition to ongoing website copy refreshes, Doug has produced over 300 blog posts while developing content for Vulcan7’s social media platforms.