Your schedule means everything in real estate. How are you spending your time? Are you researching new and effective strategies and planning a time to implement them? If you want to be a top producer you need a schedule that will hold you accountable for your execution.

Here’s the thing most people get wrong about their schedules:

They don’t follow them.

You get to the office around 9:05…

You then check your email…

Something is on fire (this is a metaphor…a house literally isn’t on fire)

You rush to go put that fire out.

And the next thing you know, it’s lunch time!!! Am I right?

The point of this schedule is to structure when you open your email for the first time. And to structure how you share items on social media. And to carve out that much needed lead generate time (no matter what type of lead generation you focus on).

Remember when you had to be clocked in for your first job?

And if you were even a minute late the time clock would show your boss…

While, that type of accountability has a way of generating productivity.  And there is nothing like pen & paper to really track where the hours in your day are going.

I use a daily planner DAILY. It keeps track of what I need to do. And it keeps track of what I’ve done.

Here’s how I use my daily planner to get results…

Step 1) I write down what I want to do in each hour-long slot like this:

Step 2) I set a timer with my iPhone and keep track of what I actually do during each hour:

I write what actually happens in a red pen so I can see the difference…

Step 3) I look for ways to improve time usage at days end…

This helps me find ways to improve my daily productivity. There are so many distractions that can just ruin our daily plan. And it honestly helps to keep track of them.

The color coding with the different pens also really helps. You’re able to easily categorize where time is slipping away from you. And then correct yourself tomorrow when you notice yourself making the same mistake.

The iPhone timer system also really forces you to focus on a clear ending point for your project. As a real estate business owner, you no longer have the luxury of having a boss to hold you accountable. This can lead to deadlines slowly eroding away.

This allows you to keep a clear mind throughout the day. Why does that matter?

Simple: You cannot work 100% on lead generating if you’re worried about a customer support email. And you can’t forget the customer support email once you see it!

So, don’t see the customer support email until after you’ve lead generated.

Tools To Manage Your Time Better…

One of the best tools I’ve found to manage myself better is “RescueTime.”

They have a free app that you can install on your computer. It will monitor your computer usage and show you where you’re losing time during your day.

I think you’d be surprised at how ‘productive’ you actually are after using the app for one week.

Here’s my results from the first week:

As you can see, my productivity score was only a 56.  Could I have shaved a few hours off of my work week if I got that to be higher?

Here’s another way to think about your schedule…

If it’s not in your schedule, it doesn’t exist.

What do you think?

Are you going to manage your schedule better this week? If so, how are you going to go about doing that?