Time management books, like diet books, are ever present on the best seller list.
Why? Because it is really difficult to finally master the art of managing/balancing your time (and controlling your weight). If it were easy, everyone would live stress-free, balanced, and skinny lives.
There are great tools available to help us in the quest to get it together. David Allen's book, Getting Things Done, is one such resource. Today, it is ranked #10 on Amazon's list of best selling business books.
For me, there is one, very simple tool that works: Time Blocking.
When I worked with Real Estate Champions a few years' ago, my coach, Tim Tully, explained the simple elegance and power of Time Blocking. In our coaching documents, there were two Time Blocking schedule pages. Beginning at 6 a.m. and going through 10 p.m., each day of the week was broken down into 30 minute segments.
Tim assured me that Time Blocking would change my real estate career and my life.
When I looked at the two very straightforward pieces of paper, I was extremely skeptical.
"This is going to change my life? This schedule of 30 minute intervals for each day of the week?"
"Try it, Susie," Tim assured me. "It works."
Tim explained that I was to begin with tasks like prospecting, listing appointments, showing appointments and administrative duties. Block out time for each throughout the week.
Next, fill in blocks for exercise, personal and family activities, and time off.
"Pick a couple of days that you want to take off and mark through them," Tim said.
"What? Take days off? It's July!! It's the height of our season!"
"Go ahead and mark through two days."
At that point, I knew his TIme Blocking tool was a farce. Who in the world would recommend I take time off during our summer season? We had a very narrow window of time to do business in my market. And if you missed that short window of opportunity, winter would be very long.
But, I followed his advice and did what he asked. I followed my Time Blocking schedule and found that it worked. By week 4, I had become "an agent in command," rather than "an agent in demand." I found I had time for my biggest priorities and smallest administrative tasks.
Plus, I had my life back.
I realized the full power of Time Blocking in mid-August that year. I was fishing with my youngest son, with my cell phone off. It was glorious to watch him land two, good-sized rainbow trout.
The next day, I landed a deal on a million dollar listing.
