As agents and brokers go about their business on their own time, clocking in and out during regular business hours isn’t exactly the norm. However, with flexible hours comes the risk of having a poor work-life balance. A survey by Sage Small Business found that small-business owners today work longer hours than they did six years ago in 2012. It’s easy to get lost among scheduling chaos and everyday business, but these tips from a recent Entrepreneur article will help conserve your time and energy, aiming to make your workday as short as possible:
Make time for the unexpected. A client calls with a problem, an agent is out sick on an important day—there are always unforeseen circumstances that may be out of your planned agenda. Make sure you leave spaces in your schedule to create some breathing room if any event arises.
Follow a schedule. As important as it is to leave some leeway time in your workday, it’s just as essential to make a schedule and stick to it. Schedules are more than just to-do lists, which can cause additional stress (“How can I get all this stuff done this week?”). Give yourself a clear path forward with a schedule, and on the days when your allotted time for unexpected events doesn’t get used, spend that cushion off of your phone and take time to reflect.
Utilize your first two hours. Before each day begins, plan ahead the night before so your time is optimally used. Research shows people are the most productive within the first two hours of being awake, so avoid wasting that time on the news, traffic, or other mindless tasks and instead channel your productivity. Make a small list of “tough tasks” that require your total focus for the day, or tap into your creative juices to solve trickier problems at your brokerage.
Source:
“How the Strongest Business Leaders Do Twice as Much in Half the Time,” Entrepreneur (July 10, 2018)
