Action Versus Motion

Have you ever been watching a movie or reading a novel and found yourself asking, “What’s the point of all this stuff going on?” There may be characters flying around or wandering all over the place, yet it all seems pointless, and the story has stopped moving forward, has lost its ability to keep you on the edge of your seat. So instead of being immersed in the story, you lose interest and turn off the TV or put down the book. A disappointment, and you probably consider the time you invested a waste.

In dramatic terms, that failed movie or book had tried substitute “motion” for “action.” Motion simply means “stuff happening,” while action—the key to a successful story—means things happening that move the story forward, that keep the viewer or reader interested. In other words, action leads to the goal of the story, while motion is, well, usually a waste of time.

In our real estate business, action means controlling your time and doing those tasks that move you toward your goals, while motion is pretty much any activity that doesn’t! And we all know how easy it is to fall into time- consuming motions—the interruption of responding to emails or calls; showing those rental homes to clients we know will never buy; putting out fires with clients or other agents that might have been avoided through the right Quadrant II, proactive “action;” or failing to say “no” and allowing our time to be in others’ control instead of our own. We all have our own particular “motions!”

So, in our real estate business, how do we make sure we’re working on action versus simply being in motion?

One key is to make sure you have those monthly, weekly, daily, and yes, even hourly priorities for what you need to accomplish—actions—to keep you on track to meet your overall goal of making more money per hour. Of course, it starts with establishing all those goals in all that detail. Then you can put in place a system of priorities and time management—David Allen in his book Getting Things Done calls these "Next Actions" and I call them an Action Agenda—ideally using a tool like Evernote, to keep you on track so you can avoid falling into time wasting motion, and focus on the action that moves you forward like that story toward your goals. Your coach is there to help you with goal setting and systems to maintain focus on your priorities, so your career story can have a brilliant plot and a successful conclusion. Please pass the popcorn and don't forget to read Getting Things Done!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching