Recently, I chatted with an agent who asked for ideas on dealing with the barrage of emails and phone calls from clients and others and how that wreaks havoc with their schedule. We talked about time blocking—I prefer the term task blocking as it focuses more on WHAT versus WHEN—which, in our business, can be tough to stick with, and other approaches to controlling our daily agendas, given that we’re especially prone to interruptions and lack of structure. All too often, we may find ourselves in a stressful situation and under pressure to respond to a crisis.
Instead of trying to fit too much structure onto such a slippery environment, we figured the better approach is simply to do our best to remember—and focus—weekly, daily, and hourly, our priorities. (And to implement the Getting Things Doneapproach from David Allen’s book as we’ve discussed in other Playbooks!)
Stephen R. Covey, in his The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about “Putting First Things First” as one of those seven habits, that of effective self-management. Of course the place to start is with a business plan that includes distinct goals that in turn can be broken down into activities that can be prioritized. All well and good from a planning standpoint, but what happens when things start hitting the fan in the midst of the busy selling season?
Covey goes on to set up an approach to defining our activities so we can better understand where we should spend our time—and where not to. All our activities can be viewed as either Important—meaning they produce results—or Not Important, and also as either Urgent or Not Urgent. If we look at those two factors we can put them into four quadrants:
I Important/Urgent—finalizing that listing presentation for an unexpected opportunity
II Important/Not Urgent—fine-tuning your listing presentation so it’s always ready
III Not Important/Urgent—responding to emails and texts from friends or answering the phone every time it rings
IV Not Important/Not Urgent—improving your score in Angry Birds.
Unfortunately, we frequently find ourselves spending far too much time in quadrant I dealing with Important and Urgent items in a crisis—that inspection response deadline, the demand to show a home on short notice—and that’s what can add to our stress level. The key, of course, is to not only minimize the time we spend on items that are Not Important, but to focus our time and planning and execution in quadrant II, those actions that are Important but not Urgent . . . yet! The more time we spend in quadrant II, the less we’ll need to spend in that stressful quadrant I, and the more successful our business should be.
Easier said than done, of course! Yet, if you keep these ideas in mind as you approach your daily work, you’ll find yourself headed in the right direction.
Your coach will be there to help you as you assess your own activities and focus on those that are Important, but not Urgent, helping you achieve greater results with less stress.
David M. Hassler
Director of Business Development
