The Zen of Timeblocking & How Your Out-of-Control Schedule Kills Your Chi

So you woke up this morning determined to have a really productive day as a Realtor.  You got your morning workout in and breakfast was yummy!  You walked into your office, started pulling down your email and clearing your voice mail.  You're writing your daily action list (to-do list) and getting fired-up for your lead generation time coming up from 9am to 11am when you hear it.  That crackling monotone voice over the speakerphone.  You can only pick out every two or three words.  But the gist of the message is that your deal on 123 Main Street that is supposed to close by 5pm today has an issue.  Something about the loan docs being held up in final review.  What do you do?

Over-Kill!

For a lot of us, dealing with this would consume the major part of the day.  We would be blasting out calls and emails, and having discussions with the parties until at least 2 or 3pm.  After that (and be honest with yourself here) you would never get to your lead generation for the day.  Ok... ok... If you want to lie to yourself and tell yourself that you would still do it, let's take a look at how that would work:

• It's 3pm... you're pi$$d-off, hungry, worried and drained from dealing with morons.  Yeah... that's the polar opposite of the mental state you should be in for effective lead generation.  Heck, if you're really honest with yourself, you know you wouldn't even be effective at answering a sign call right now.  If you got one, it would sound like this
• You ~ Hello this is me
• Lead ~ Yeah... I'm out in front of the house you have on Main Street and I...
• You (interrupting) ~  That's sold.  Have a nice day. [click]

The problem is this - Your chi is dead!  Your mojo is gone!  You spent your whole day putting out one fire.  All of your experience, your intelligence, and your energy went into solving one problem.  You put out a candle flame that might have gone out on its own and you used a huge fire fighting bomber plane to do it.  Oh... by the way... 90 days from now your family is 'that much' less likely to eat since you didn't get any meaningful lead generation done.

There is one way, and one way only, to avoid this trap.  It's called TIMEBLOCKING.  I know... It's not a sexy topic.  But here's the little secret... IT WORKS!

Let's take a look at my 'Monday, Wednesday, Friday' timeblock schedule here.  You back yet?  Did you see it?  So what would my day have looked like if this had happened to me on a Wednesday?  Let's run through it:

1. 8:40am - I get the message.  After listening, I determine that the docs are going to be late because the underwriter has not gotten to them yet.  Because of my timeblock schedule, I am only allowed one return call on this message.  Who should I contact that would be the most likely to solve the issue? - The Buyer's Loan Officer.  They are in sales.  They value their relationships with the Buyer and with my team.  Is it their fault?  Probably not and it really doesn't matter.  Can they fix it?  Maybe.  But I know that if they can't fix it, it can't be fixed. (in case you're counting, so far it has taken me 2 minutes to hear the message and decide on this course of action)
2. 8:42am - I place the call to the LO.  The message sounds like this; "Hey Greg it's Roy at KW calling you about the deal we have scheduled to close today on Main St with our buyer Mrs. Smith.  I know you have been working super-hard on this and the Buyers and I have been really impressed.  Something just came up on your end and I think it's a great opportunity for you to really show-up as a lender and blow our clients away.  I just got a call from Cathy over at the title company.  She says that docs are held up in underwriting and we may not fund in time to close this evening.  I know nobody wants that to happen.  Can you please take care of this right away?  I really appreciate it and I know our Buyer will as well.  Please call me at 1:10pm today on my cell at (530) 555-1234 and let me know how you are handling it so I can update our Buyer.  Thanks... (that message took 2 minutes at the outside).
3. 8:44am - I'm back on schedule clearing my messages.  Lead generation starts at 9am like clockwork baby!

Because my schedule is timeblocked, I look at my days like this - My lead generation time from 9am to 11am as well as all my other timeblocks are appointments.  They are just as important as my $400K listing appointment (lead generation is how I got that appointment in the first place) or the appointment for me to have dinner with my family.  So, for me, I could not choose to blow off the appointments to handle the issue (you would not blow off a listing appointment to handle this issue... would you??).  I needed a way to delegate the task to someone who would be just as motivated to solve the issue as I am.  It's easy to figure out who that person is.  They are the people who have a financial incentive to see the deal close and who have one or more relationships to nurture in the deal.  Simple.  Greg will do as good a job as I would if not better.  If not, he doesn't get paid and he damages two valuable relationships.  Can the problem be guaranteed to be solved?  No way!  But what I know is that, if Greg can' t solve it neither can I.

As a real estate coach, a real estate team owner, and CEO of a residential real estate brokerage I have heard all the reasons, the excuses, and the "special situations" that lead us to believe that timeblocking doesn't work.  Or, at least, it doesn't work for you.  Guess what... TIMEBLOCKING WORKS!  The sooner you give into this fact, the better off you will be in all aspects of your life.

5 Productivity Mistakes that Make You Look Like an Amateur (Part 1 of 5)

Significant Other - So... how was your day to day honey?
You - Ugh!  Don't ask!!
Significant Other - Why?  Were you slammed?
You - Yeah.  It was just crazy!
Significant Other - Really?  What did you get done?
You - Uh... well... uh... er... I don't remember now.  But I was buried all day!


If this sounds familiar, you should know two things:

1. You are not alone.  And...
2. You are not as "Busy" as you think you are.

That's right!  I said it!!  YOU ARE NOT AS BUSY AS YOU THINK YOU ARE!!!  The 'all-caps' and the 'bold' type should get the angry responses going.

Here's the thing.  The word "busy" means that you are occupied with the tasks required of you by your business.  But you have a choice:

You can either be busy being busy,
or you can be busy being productive.

In order to be productive, you have to plan your daily work and work your daily plan.  There is no other way.  If you do this correctly, the necessary tasks of your daily work become organized appointments that are just as immovable as that $300,000 listing appointment, or the appointment to pick up the kids from school.

So here is number 1 of the 5 productivity mistakes.  If you are busy getting nothing done, chances are you don't use a daily written to-do list.  Stephen R. Covey wrote a book entitled, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".  In it he found that highly effective people "begin with the end in mind".  Whether they are planning their life, their decade, their year, their month, their week, or their day, a highly effective professional uses a hand-written to-do list.  In fact, if you are one of those people who has a hard time getting to sleep at night, it's probably due, at least in part, to you laying there, going over in your mind what you need to get done.  Try this tonight:

• Take a pen and a legal pad to bed with you.
• Before you close your eyes, write down everything you can think of that you need to get done tomorrow.
• Set it on your night stand and go to sleep.

Chances are good that you will sleep like a baby.  The second part of that same habit is this:

• Start each day at 8:30am or earlier with a new to-do list.  
• Carry over items that did not get done from yesterday's list
• Add the items from your night stand list
• Put your least favorite tasks first
• Clear your voice mail and your email as you are writing the day's to-do list
• Keep your list with you as you are running around and check off the items as you complete them

Remember this... busy days lead to sleepless nights, busier tomorrows and stress.  Productive days lead to checks and more personal play time.

In part 2 we'll look at time-blocking and break it down into a few simple steps that will have you wondering why you didn't do it sooner and how you ever got anything done without it!