My professional purpose is to help you, the broker, optimize your productivity and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? Because happy brokers sell more real estate. I do that by helping you handle challenges and opportunities that you face every day. If you can effectively manage certain situations that arise on a daily basis, you'll be more productive, live an optimized life and, in turn, live a life that is the best version of you.
Today, I want to give you 20 ideas on how to best to optimize your time during a more tepid market with a goal to maintain your momentum heading into Q4 and 2022.
Now, before I go further, I must point out that this market is still 2x-3x what it would be normally this time of year but the activity on the top end of the pipeline has slowed for most brokers. Society, right now, is focused on reconnecting with friends, family and the things they love to do during these summer months (as they should). I would expect this to continue through August and the majority of September. The challenge you face with a slowing market is that most of you have become accustomed to a "hair on fire" type of pace and it's hard to come down off of that. As a result, when you finally let go and give yourself the permission to relax, you could be setting yourself up for a crash landing. So, first, you need to realize that this is just "seasonality" kicking in and that it happens every year. Every July I have to talk brokers "off the ledge". Every year, I have to remind you not to worry, that the market will come back. This year is no different as I fully expect it to come back in a robust fashion this fall. What you have to worry about is losing your momentum. Go back and listen to Momentum 101, the MMPT I dropped in January of this year. So, the goal for this call is to remind you that if you haven't done so yet:
- Take some time for yourself to really, really recharge. You've earned it.
- Be aware of your "Momentum Meter". If you are breaking good habits that you created, you need reset your momentum. This is what I want to talk about today.
Before I go into the "20 Tips to Regain Momentum Lost", know that I will be breaking down these tips into categories. I see a broker's business being built on 3 pillars or in "Take Flight", I call them the "3 engines" of high performance. If these 3 areas can be optimized in your life and business, you will consistently grow both personally and professionally. They are:
- Pillar 1/ Engine 1: Vision/Clarity and Your Execution Plan - "On a scale from 1 to 10, where are you?"
- Pillar 2/ Engine 2: Productivity Habits, Rituals, Routines, Boundaries, Rules - "On a scale from 1 to 10, where are you?"
- Pillar 3 /Engine 3: Database and Relationship Management - "On a scale from 1 to 10, where are you?"
Here are some easy to execute tips that can help you maintain, create or regain your momentum during a month that involves several weeks of a "no fly zone":
Pillar 1/ Engine 1: Vision/Clarity and Your Execution Plan
- Take a 1/2 day and reconnect to your 3-year vision and your quarterly goal. Recommit to it.
- Take a "road trip" to just think (thinking is asking yourself a question and giving yourself an answer back)
- Create a vision board - Is there any downside to having your goals posted visually?
- Create a new Spotify playlist that make you happy, that fires you up. Music has a such a big impact on us. Use it to motivate you.
Pillar 2/ Engine 2: Productivity Habits, Rituals, Routines, Boundaries, Rules -
- Eliminate social media connections. Unfollow those profiles that such don't serve the version of you that you want to become.
- De-clutter your closet. You wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time. Time to make some decisions.
- De-clutter your kitchen. My guess is that most people have a lot of expired and unused items in their kitchen and pantry.
- Set up reminders for the items you do over and over. Use your Outlook or G-Suite to set up reminders for things you do repetitively.
- Re-sync with your most productive time management system (if no longer in use)
- Track what you eat for a week. If you do this, you will make changes.
- Upgrade your technology if needed. Still working off of 2017 version of your devices?
- Start or regain your momentum around your workouts or walks. Start by walking or working out 3 days straight and let me know how you feel after.
- Create a revised budget for the rest of the year. Do not upgrade lifestyle based on this market. Create a baseline spending budget and stick to it.
- Automate your finances and bill pay. If you have not done this, you are wasting so much time. 5 minutes lost each day is 20 hours for the year.
- Set up financial software to track income, expenses and net worth.
- Mid-Year tax prep. Why wait and scramble next winter during selling season?
- Cancel unused subscriptions and magazines. Unsubscribe from those unwanted emails.
Pillar 3 /Engine 3: Database and Relationship Management
- Create/ Prune your Top 100 - really go through it and make sure you are prepped and ready for the next stage of your business.
- Reconnect with friends and top clients over coffee, lunch, drinks or dinner
- Identify your Q4 holiday gifting and start the planning process
So, let me ask you a simple question: Where would your momentum be if you knocked out 75% of these simple projects? What is the downside of tackling these? What is the downside if you don't?
Momentum is so elusive. It comes and goes based on your "action level". Build self-awareness around the monitoring of your momentum and create action to maintain it, regain it or create it. Hopefully these simple, easy to execute tips are a starting point for you.
Until next time, stay safe and productive. I'm here if you need me.
