Real Estate Forums

San Diego Real Estate · 08-25-2006, 07:59 AM

Are you having trouble finishing important business or personal activities? Consider time blocking -- the practice of dedicating regular intervals of your time to completing high-priority tasks. Think of time blocking as making an appointment with yourself to eliminate distractions and focus on important matters.

Experts recommend blocking your time into 30-minute segments, and that once you begin a segment, commit to it fully. Don't let interruptions or changes in activity throw you off-task. Incoming phone calls, emails and faxes should be reviewed and answered after your blocked time ends.

Remember to stay disciplined. For example, if you're calling past clients from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and get a lead on a new prospect, don't discontinue your priority task of calling past clients. Follow up on that new lead after your blocked time has expired.

Time blocking also can be successful as a structured program for work groups. Group members choose tasks, such as past client follow-ups, and block out the same segment of time. Ignoring all other distractions, group members perform their tasks at the same time, which creates camaraderie and a motivating, energized environment. Participants say that performing tasks collectively washes away inhibitions and compels you to perform the scheduled business-building actions.

Some mortgage business tasks that are ideal for time blocking include rehearsing scripts and objection responses, collecting referrals, maintaining your database, making appointments and creating presentations.

Compiments of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.

Las Vegas Homes · 09-23-2006, 02:24 PM

Yes, time blocking really works! If you think about how many hours per day you spend in returning phone calls, checking emails, etc., you would see that setting aside specified times a day to complete those tasks makes all trhe difference in the world. For example, I work in the Las Vegas real estate market and I only check my emails 3 times a day: morning, noon, and night time. This has saved me tons of time by prioritizing!

Las Vegas Real Estate · 10-08-2006, 11:29 AM

I am with you Las Vegas Homes, I also have learned that blcoking out times to do things like check emails is a real time saver! I used to waste hours just checking voice mails, emails, and so forth! Great post SDRE

Thesa · 10-13-2006, 09:16 AM

Great ideas - I struggle with managing my time - always looking for a way to stay on track - thanks

REMAX LV · 11-13-2006, 01:50 PM

Yes, I also struggle with time management, but I have found that time blocking really works! If you added up all of the minutes/ hours in which you spend a day returning calls and checking emails, you would be shocked. By blocking certain tie frames you end up saving yourself tos of usable time every day!