I’m not literally asking you to eat a frog,(unless that’s your thing and then by all means,) but instead I’ve adopted the ancient philosophy of checking off the most daunting, annoying or tedious task first thing in my day. The belief is that if you cross this off your list the rest of the day should/could be a cakewalk. We all know in the real estate business your day can/will change at a moments notice but at least when the next crazy problem or monotonous task comes up you won’t have that previous problem still on your plate.
So what should you do?
MAKE A LIST
Every morning I try to make my daily “to-do” list which will hopefully help me make the most efficient use of my time with my day.
NARROW IT DOWN
Sometimes this list can be overwhelming. Try and pair it down to the most important 10 things. From this narrow it down to the three most important, then pick the hardest one and tackle it first.
WHAT NOT TO DO
We can all have the best intentions of taking on the world every day with a list a mile long, but then we get on our computers and think “oh I’ll just take a quick peek at Facebook” and all of a sudden an hour has went by and the rest of our day becomes a chore. Try and eliminate distractions until you have successfully crossed the majority of things off your list. Use your favourite blogs, social media sites or personal “catch ups” as a reward once you’ve completed a number of tasks.
It’s easy to do the simple tasks first and push the tough things to the very last, which means I’m constantly thinking, worrying and stewing about it throughout the day. Instead I’m now going to take a deep breath, finish whatever it is I’m dreading and will hopefully be able to be move through the rest of the day with ease.
For you it might not be work related at all. Perhaps it’s working out. If you know that at the end of the day you won’t want to go for that run but you know you really should- try doing it first thing in the morning and see how energizing and motivating it can be to the rest of your day.
It could be a follow up call, giving sellers bad feedback from a showing, asking for an abeitment during a sticky offer negotiation, doing the laundry that’s been piling up for weeks or just cleaning off and organizing your desk- whatever it is try doing it first and maybe you’ll see a brighter day ahead of you.
Jennifer Aunger, OREA YPN Committee member & Guest Blogger
Leave a Reply