In any career, knowing how to manage your time can play a significant role in how well you perform. But how does one measure their time management skills, and how exactly do you scale up from your current position?
This session from Bayut Academy explores the basics of time management for real estate professionals, where we look at maximising productivity, planning and setting goals.
Before we explore this topic, let’s define what time management is.
What Is Time Management?
Time management is simply the management of yourself.
There are distinct time management profiles. Read the following profiles and determine which sounds most like you. Pay attention to “needs to” recommendations.
- The Juggler
- Goes from one task to another without finishing the first one
- Has a lack of focus and wastes time
- Is easily bored and looks for new challenges
- Can be distracted by anything more interesting
- Runs late often and tries to fit in too much.
The Juggler needs to focus on what’s important, learn to plan, and set limits on tasks and boundaries.
- The Organiser
- Has everything neatly labelled and filed away
- Packs a week before vacation
- Always knows what they are doing and arrives on time
- Organises everything like a military operation.
The Organiser needs flexibility in scheduling and time to relax.
- The Helper
- Takes on too many responsibilities
- Volunteers and quickly says yes
- Does a good job so is asked to do more
- Is constantly on the go
- Is involved with various groups/projects.
The Helper needs to set boundaries and learn to say no.
- The Perfectionist
- Spends a lot of time getting it just right (and can miss deadlines)
- Writes detailed lists before starting anything
- Has issues with delegation
- Has high standards for everyone
- Has realistic expectations of self and others.
The Perfectionist needs to get realistic with priorities and follow the 80:20 rule.
- The Delayer
- Does the best work under pressure but is always stressed
- Works late or on weekends to get things done
- Reacts to whatever is urgent at the time
- Is unrealistic regarding how long things take
- Runs late or shows up at the last minute.
The Delayer needs to focus on planning and prioritising their workload. They also need to set time limits and avoid distractions to increase productivity.
The first step to understanding and improving time management is understanding where your time is currently spent.
Be sure to include everything you did, such as:
- Driving to property viewings
- Scrolling through Instagram
- Coffee breaks
- Chatting with neighbours
- Contacting clients
- Creating contracts.
After writing down your list, jot down how much time was spent on each line item. Now, compute what percentage of your day was spent on productive and unproductive work.
Now that we know where our time is going, let’s look at one of time management’s most important concepts, the 80:20 rule.
The 80:20 rule states that 20% of your activities and tasks are so critical, they contribute to 80% of the total success in the workplace.
What tasks do you think contribute to your success? Write down which tasks you do that generate the bulk of your success and prioritise those tasks.
Prioritisation
First, we need to define productive versus unproductive work.
Productive work is focused on accomplishing goals, while unproductive work tends to focus on what is often referred to as “busy work.”
| Productive Work | Unproductive work |
| Around goals | Busy work |
The first step in prioritising your tasks is to create a “to-do list”. Then rank this list in order of importance. It may be helpful to think about how long each task will take, the deadlines and the tools you need to complete it.
| Priority | Task | Due date/time | How long will it take | What do you need | Other |
Here’s an example of a great task list.
Note the yellow priority column. This is known as the ABCDE method and works as follows:
A Tasks – Something you must do
B Tasks – Activities you should do
C Tasks – Activities that would be nice to do
D Tasks – Anything you can delegate to someone else
E Tasks – Tasks you can eliminate
Within each group, we defined the order of importance. A1 tasks come first, then A2 tasks, etc.
For example, Getting the TruCheck™ badge on your listing is an A task. Checking out your best friend’s wedding photos during work hours is an E task.
Try this technique for your tasks for tomorrow. Write down all your tasks and order them according to priority. While all A tasks MUST be completed, B and C tasks can be moved to the following day.
Here are some tips to help you create better to-do lists:
- Avoid having too many tasks listed
- Always overestimate commute time – you never know if you’re going to be stuck in traffic or searching for a parking spot
- Don’t carve it in stone; it’s okay to be flexible with tasks
- Schedule breaks and rewards-
- Make a list every day. Set priorities and discipline yourself to work single-mindedly on the most critical tasks.
Outlining what you need to accomplish versus what you want to achieve makes it a lot easier to get better results. But, how do you know what you should be doing?
By setting SMART Goals!
S Specific
M Measurable
A Attainable
R Realistic / relevant
T Time-bound
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To summarise, a smart goal is a specific goal that is measurable and has a defined deadline. For example, ‘I want to be the best broker in the UAE’ is just a wish, as there is no defined way to measure this. It is also missing a time-bound date – making it vague.
Let’s look at a SMART goal: “I want to sell at least 20 houses by the end of this year” This goal is specific and measurable, attainable, relevant to your career, and time-bound.
The Eisenhower Matrix
Alternatively known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, the Eisenhower Matrix is a tool used to choose and prioritise tasks by urgency and importance, as outlined below. This tool shows the following:
- Tasks that are important and urgent – those tasks that you must complete immediately.
For example, prospecting or following up on a call you had received earlier would be a top priority and fit these criteria.
- Tasks that are important but not urgent – tasks that can be planned and scheduled.
These could be tasks like TruChecking your property listing since it involves planning out your visit to the property.
- Tasks that are not important but urgent – delegate or limit time spent on them.
These tasks are unimportant but may be pressing (as far as taking your immediate time)
For example, attending a scheduled meeting on a topic you don’t think needs urgent attention.
- Tasks that are neither important nor urgent
Replying to your personal Instagram DM’s or checking out your Facebook feed are some examples of these tasks. It’s best to leave these tasks for later.
Identify your tasks’ priority and urgency and try plotting them in your own Eisenhower matrix.
Time Management is Self Discipline
Although on paper, time management seems relatively straightforward, what do you do when you’re constantly bombarded by calls, messages, DMs, and day-to-day distractions?
Your answer lies in self-discipline. Let’s say you plan on prospecting for 2 hours, from 9 am to 10 am. It is essential to focus on prospecting and avoid distractions during this time.
We suggest keeping your phone and email notifications turned off – or having a work phone and a personal phone. Keep an eye on your work phone for calls from leads and prospects.
Other distractions could be your colleagues in the workplace, a birthday celebration in your vicinity, or anything else that may catch your attention. If you find yourself too distracted, get a pair of noise-cancelling headphones to block any surrounding noise.
A lot of productivity is also not about how much we work but when we work. Every person has a different chunk of time they’re most productive – for some, it’s right at the break of dawn; for some, it’s after lunch.
Use productivity tracking apps like Rescue Time or pay attention to when you’re most productive. Once you’ve figured this out, make sure you’re well organised and don’t spend this time searching for a file or cleaning .
- Take advantage of productive times and be organised
- Keep your workspace uncluttered
- Organise files on your computer in a logical way and place documents you need on the cloud, so you won’t spend too much time searching for them
Research shows you can get 4-8 hours back in your week when you’re better organised.
If you’d like to figure out your most productive times of the day:
- Install RescueTime or similar apps and enter data
- Schedule your high or low energy times
- Time block
- Track and adjust your productive times.
Once you’ve figured out when you’re most productive, you can start Time Blocking.
As the name suggests, time blocking is simply dividing your day into blocks of time to accomplish a task, focusing solely on that task, and avoiding distractions.
The key is to plan in advance and review your calendar weekly.
To effectively block time, it is vital to be able to estimate time accurately.
Take a look at some typical tasks in the day of a real estate agent. How long do you estimate each task will take?
| Task | Estimated Time |
| Creating a CMA for a four-bedroom villa in Arabian Ranches | |
| Scheduling two weeks of social media posts | |
| Writing three property descriptions | |
| Driving from Bayut Academy and entering an apartment at Princess Tower | |
| Filling out a lease and making edits if need be | |
| Making 60 calls to a warm database |
Use this exercise to help you block time more effectively.
FOCUS!
Another crucial aspect of productivity is to learn to focus. Although we have the same amount of time in a day, research has shown that 75% of employees are not focused.
Shocking, right?
Not really. Look around you – with the number of distractions we face daily, staying focused is more complicated than it seems.
We call these distractions ‘time-bandits’ because, like the name, they steal your time from you. It could be your colleague who loves talking about his children, unnecessary meetings, your phone – or anything else distracting you from productive work.
However, one thing top performers have in common is they are laser-focused on their tasks.
Here are some ways you could stay laser-focused at work:
- Create structured to-do lists
- Eliminate time bandits
- Focus on productive work
- Adhere to a schedule and practise time blocking
- Use productivity apps to stay focused
- Uncover your most productive time of day and plan your day accordingly
A combination of being focused, better planning and understanding you and time better can work in your favour. We have a few tips on effective time management for real estate agents if you want to explore the topic further.
Explore more valuable resources on our Content Corner in the Agent Portal to elevate your real estate career. You can also join us for our next comprehensive training at Bayut Academy, our in-house series of workshops.