Control your tools, Control your life

The other day, I was talking with a client about time. She mentioned that she did not have enough time to get all her work completed during a day.

We spoke about two major points: Interruptions and priorities.

First, interruptions. When I started selling real estate in 1980, (yes, back in the dark ages) there were no cell phones, no email, no voice mail, no Internet, and no smart phones. We had those little pink "while you were out" slips written up by the office staff to tell us who had called while we were out of the office.

We played telephone tag. A lot. Very, very frustrating. I call you. Leave a message. You call me. Leave a message. Ad nauseum.

We ran all over town delivering paperwork. Our MLS was a newsprint book delivered once a week. We had just moved form 3-hole property listing pages copied and delivered to the offices in town which we had to manually put into our own 3-ring binders.

Was my life more peaceful? You bet. Less efficient and effective. You bet, too.

My client and I discussed a typical block of time when she was working on a project. It did matter what kind of project. Preparing a listing. Preparing an offer. Doing an MLS search for a buyer client.

She said she was "constantly" interrupted.

I committed heresy and suggested she turn off/close her email program on her computer. Close her door and put a "do not disturb" sign on it. Turn off or hide her cell phone. She was quite troubled at these suggestions.

Why you might ask? Because we have been trained/habituated to be constantly available to these new tools.

Where is it written that when you obtain your real estate license, you give up your life and have no boundaries between your personal and business lives. Not healthy in my experience.

You can take control of your tools and your life and be more successful and more at peace. Really.

Next, priorities.

Many of us, have very active minds where ideas (both good and bad) percolate to the surface unexpectedly. We are afraid that if we don't act on the idea immediately, it will be gone.

I call it chasing butterflies or BSOs. That would be Bright Shiney Objects that may or may not have anything to do with our business or personal success They are just flights of fancy or more likely .

How about this? When you get a great idea, post it to Top Producer as a "to do" for yourself on a future date. You will know two things: first, it is not lost. Second, you can get back to work on the task at hand.

In the future, you will be reminded to work on/think about/decide whether your hot idea is really hot. Many time after the passage of a little time, the idea is not so hot and does not deserve your attention.

Consider taking control of your life and your tools. You deserve it.