QUOTE
“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle — when the sun comes up, you had better be running.” Thomas L. Friedman
“For those who say I don’t have enough time, the question is who does?”-Unknown
LESSON/PRINCIPLE
We have exactly the same number of hours every day that were given to Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Donald Trump, Bill Gates and the other great achievers in history. The question isn’t whether we have time to do the things we have to do to achieve our goals; it is what we do with the time we have that matters.
As I mentioned in a previous post “THE ONE THING” as entrepreneurs, business owners and real estate agents we have the advantage (or disadvantage) of dictating how we’ll spend our day. If we aren’t careful we end up doing a little bit of everything—usually tackling what feels is urgent instead of what is most important to generate income and grow our businesses.
Time management is the number one problem facing every real estate agent (and sales person in general) because:
- As independent contractors we can do whatever, whenever we want—and if we don’t do anything nobody else is going to get on our backs and demand better
- We’ve never been taught how to use our time
Many experts advise “mastering the morning routine” from the time you wake up until 12:00 noon.
Take time to create your day; that’s the way you’ll create your destiny. But it isn’t about managing your time, or even about managing your activities. In my personal experience and the agents we’ve coached through the years what mastery is about is:
- Managing Your Energy
- Managing Your Emotions
Read it again. Mastering the morning routine is about managing your energy and your emotions, because nobody can manage time. Time is fixed. Every person has the same 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 4 weeks in a month and 12 months in a year. When you learn to manage your energy and emotions you’ll have a seriously productive day.
Think about it. You know you’re better at performing activities at certain times. For most, morning is the time when most people experience the most robust energy and willpower. So morning is the time to produce.
Those who seem to have “more time” have learned to manage their energy and emotions and tackle their most important activities at certain times—usually during the morning hours.
ENERGY: For top producers, every moment counts. Identify when your willpower is at its peak and use that period of time to perform the crucial activities (the one thing followed by whatever else measurably moves you along) that will contribute most to your business success. Do the other activities when you feel more tired.
EMOTIONS: Learn to recognize your emotions. How do you feel when you interact with a client that says “NO” or when a deal doesn’t close? What reactions do you have? Do you get stuck or paralyzed?
Remember, working hard isn’t enough. Work intelligently. You’ve heard this sad statement too many times already, haven’t you? “My father/mother worked hard all his/her life but never had anything to show for it.” This is just another way of saying that someone just never quite figured out how things work.
APPLICATION
In our coaching program you’ll learn to deal with your energy levels and emotions so you can tackle your most important business activities at the highest level.
When it comes to “time management” (remember: you can’t manage your time; you can manage your energy and emotions), the most common habits of top producers follow:
–Prepare for tomorrow (the last thing you’ll do today before leaving work)
–Schedule your time (to establish a sense of control)
–Start early
–Organize (otherwise, 10% of your working hours will be lost while you look for things)
–Prime time (produce when you have the most energy reserves)
Pay attention to your energy levels and emotions. In the following video I cover the importance of energy and emotions and the impact they have on your business and productivity. Use employee monitoring tools if you need to delegate tasks to your team members.
For more information, e-mail me ([email protected]) or visit www.montielorganization.com to get programs on how to develop more business relationships, create content, increase your database and expand in your market area.
REMEMBER THAT WISHFUL THINKING IS NOT A STRATEGY. TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Download the report “THE 7 STEPS TO BECOME A TOP PRODUCER”