4:30 a.m. Thinking, February 13th, 2010
If you ask people what their biggest struggle is in following their time-blocking, there’s a pretty huge chance that they’ll tell you it is the interruptions they get throughout the day.
There are lots of ideas out there, from scripts to signs on your door (see a picture of the sign on my office door below) to working at a time when the chances of interruption are the lowest.
I was skimming through the http://e-myth.com site the other day, when I came across an article on dealing with ‘Time Bandits’. Go check it out – there are lots of links to other, very pertinent articles there if you are struggling with the presence of Time Bandits in your life. 
What really grabbed me from the article was how closely the ideas and practises it describes mirror the things that I advise my coaching clients on every day, as well as the students in the room when I am teaching.
Time Block, Work ON Your Business, as well as IN Your Business, Eat the Elephant One Bite At A Time – they’re all there.
If you think about it, as a real estate agent, or indeed, any commissioned salesperson, you are running a business, right? Therefore, the advice that is intended for business owners is perfectly appropriate for you.
What follows is a list of 5 Time Bandit Busting Tips from the article – give them a whirl and see how much they help you!
- Prioritize and Stay Focused Evaluate your daily tasks and prioritize. If nothing else gets done today, what are the one or two items that absolutely must be done? The most successful CEOs of Fortune 500 companies only focus on one or two priorities for a given day.
- Delegate as much as you can. Let go of the idea that nobody can do what you do the way that you do it! With the right systems in place, you can properly delegate the tactical work that keeps you from working on your business. There is critical distinction however, between delegating and abdicating, and you can read more about that here.
- Set and meet deadlines for yourself and your employees. Set reasonable deadlines for all jobs and stick to them. Hold yourself accountable just as you would an employee. It’s true; work expands to fill the available time so set expectations.
- Don’t postpone unpleasant tasks. Those “bitter pills” that you put off can come back to haunt you in so many ways. A situation may become more acute with time, not to mention the fact that it will be sitting in the back of your mind (or somebody else’s mind) becoming a distraction. It’s best to take care of important matters that are unpleasant immediately. Resolution is so much better than wasting precious time wondering “what if…”
- Learn to say “No.” Beware of over commitment! You are the only one who can truly protect your time. Learn the art of saying “no” politely. If this seems daunting, try this: when confronted with an opportunity, don’t commit immediately. Take a moment to listen to your intuition and refer to your schedule; you may find that declining is the reasonable answer. People know you’re busy, it’s okay to set boundaries.