Articles
of Interest
The Time Management
By
Darryl Davis (Reproduced
with Permission)
PowerFact:
Ninety-five percent of the problems you and I have in the area of
time management are not really about managing time at all. What
most of us call time management is really about managing our attitude.
Overview:
In my opinion, time management is really an attitude issue, not
a technique issue. By attitude, I'm talking about being truly focused
on and enthusiastic about your goals. When you're really passionate
about your goals, your vision, your Next Level, etc., you'll automatically
do the most productive things to achieve those goals. Without the
proper attitude, the best techniques in the world won't have much
impact.
Fundamental
Concepts of Time Management
Think
self-management, not time-management.
Time management isn't real. You can't manage a second or a minute.
Time just is. But what we can manage is ourselves in that time.
We can manage our actions.
Work
by objective, not by crisis.
Working by crisis might mean that there is no money in your bank
account. Now we've got to go out and list and sell to get some money
to get out of crisis. Working by objective, on the other hand, is
having goals, designing who you are, determining your Next Level
and living from that. When you do that you have less stress.
So, the concept
is to consciously manage your actions. What determines the actions
one takes? What you're committed to (your objectives, goals and
commitments). For example: Have you ever cooked for a family event?
You have so much to do —cook loads of food, clean the house,
etc. When you're in action, there are no thoughts, judgments or
opinions getting in the way. Ten times more is done in this short
period of time because you're working with this objective, this
goal of what you're committed to.
Take that concept
and apply it to your career. When you're committed to something
happening in your career and you're crystal clear about it your
actions will automatically flow. Time goes by quickly and you get
the results to show for it.
Time
management is a system of organized activities.
We have this in certain areas of our personal lives; they're called
routines. Routines are useful to establish positive behavior patterns
that bring about the results we desire.
Time
can be invested.
You can invest your time. It's like when you invest five dollars
and make ten back. You can invest five minutes of your time and
get back great results. You're in the office from six to seven.
You can return phone calls, clean your desk or pick up the phone
to schedule listing appointments. What would be the best return
on your time invested? Start to look at your time as a valuable
commodity. Invest it as you would invest in stocks or bonds —
like you would invest in anything that would give you a positive
return on your investment.
You
can't get it all done!
This is a truism. You can't. At the end of the day you're going
to still have things that you didn't get finished, so stop trying
to get it all done in 24 hours. It's like a rat on a wheel in a
cage. We work longer hours, we come home stressed, we unload it
on our spouse, and so on. You'll get as much done as you get done.
Period.
Do something
as opposed to nothing.
This is for the procrastinators. Get busy. If you're sitting in
your office taking papers from one side of the desk and moving them
to the other side and then back again, you're procrastinating. If
you're sitting in the office at six o'clock, trying to think of
what would be the most productive thing to do at this time …
you're thinking and thinking, and looking and searching….
stop all that nonsense and just get busy.
Live
a balanced life.
How many hours are there in a week? 168. We have career, family,
personal obligations — including sleep. According to Alan
Lakin, who wrote “How to Manage Your Time and Life,”
a good workweek consists of two twelve-hour days, three nine-hour
days and one four-hour day. That's a total of 55 hours per week.
If you spend 55 hours in business and 73 hours personal hours (including
sleep), that would leave you 40 hours for family. That would total
168 hours. What most of us in the real estate profession do is work
more than 55 hours, and then we take the extra hours from somewhere
else, typically our family.
Work
a schedule.
In my travels I've met many top-producing sales people. What makes
them top-producing sales people is that they work a schedule. If
something falls outside of their schedule they do one of two things.
They'll either not do the business or they'll do the business, knowing
that they have to make up for it somewhere else. What I recommend
(especially if you're having struggles at home) is to make up a
work schedule from Monday through Sunday and give it to your spouse
and your manager and tell them that this is what you're committing
to. In one of my training programs there was an agent in Austin
TX was the top-producing agent in the whole program for a three-month
period. What was really interesting is that he was a part-time agent
and he listed more houses than any other full-time agent in this
program. Why do you think that was? Because he managed his time.
So, when you set a schedule for yourself and you're serious about
keeping it, I promise you that you'll be more productive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
For the past 14 years, Darryl Davis has traveled around the country
coaching agents and brokers on how to achieve their next level of
success. In 1993, he created The POWER Program , the only training
course for agents that meets once a month for a full year. On average,
graduating Power Agents double their production over their previous
year. In addition, Darryl is the author of the best-selling book
How To Become a Power Agent in Real Estate. To learn more about
Darryl please visit www.DarrylDavis.com or call 1-800-395-3905.
|
