Don’t work for time, make it work for you!
Life these days seems to only get busier and busier, never slowing down. Renters seem to expect more than ever before out of onsite staff. With the rigors and demands of a multifamily career, applicable time management skills are the key to taking control of each and every day.
Plan Your Day
One of the most important aspects of time management actually begins before you even start your day. Effective, results-focused planning will do more for you than just about anything else.
1. Focus on results & outcomes. Plan your day either when you first get to work or the night before. Identify the “big picture” outcomes you hope to achieve that day. Once you have identified the main outcomes you hope to achieve, it becomes easier to prioritize the activities that will help you to achieve them.
2. Make your activities specific and measurable. You might plan to achieve the outcome of establishing a great reputation by planning to respond to 10 online reviews and address the concerns that any negative reviewers may have brought up.
2. Schedule your activities for specific times. Planning your activities for specific times during the day will convert your dreams into reality. For example, plan to respond to 10 online reviews and address any concerns brought up from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM. Do your best to stick to the schedule that you create each day, but also recognize that sometimes you may need to adapt your schedule to the needs of the day. Take your pick of paper planners, the calendar applications installed on your phone, or third party apps such as Google Calendar.
Get rid of distractions
Certain distractions can also be the cause of poor time management. Do you find yourself often scrolling through social media apps for no apparent purpose. Try out the following activity: every time you open up Facebook or any other social media app, ask yourself “Why am I doing this?” More often than not, there won’t be a real, purposeful reason. If that’s the case, close the app and redirect your energy to something more important.
On occasion, you might find it necessary to put your phone on airplane mode or turn off notifications on your computer while you finish up a pressing task or activity.
Take time to think about what things distract you from being more productive and find out ways to eliminate them. That being said, you don’t want to turn yourself into a workaholic robot. Short breaks from the tasks at hand can actually increase your overall productivity.
Group your to-do list
Do you ever find yourself getting stressed out with your to-do list? Does it seem that there is a never-ending list of tasks? Tony Robbins, a world renown peak performance expert, recommends that you try chunking the tasks on your list:
“Chunking simply means grouping together information into manageable chunks, so you can use them to effectively achieve the outcome you desire without stress.”
If you have to respond to online reviews, give three property tours, inspect two apartments, follow up with 10 prospects, respond to 20 emails, and perform myriad other tasks, identify the common features certain tasks have and chunk them together. For example, responding to online reviews and emails could perhaps fall under the category of customer service. Property tours and follow ups could fall under the category of leasing. Grouping related tasks will help you to feel less stressed and to focus on a few important areas/outcomes, rather than focus on endless to-do’s.
By effectively planning your day, removing unnecessary distractions and grouping related activities, you will decrease stress and maximize the short amount of time you have each day!
What time management tips do you have to share? Join the conversation!
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Taylor Fish
Taylor is a staff writer for Multihousing Friends and a student at Brigham Young University.