My 15 Minute Daily Planning Method

February 1, 2022

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 in your business, you'll be more productive and live a life that is the best version of you.

Team, on today’s call, I will lay out "My 15 Minute Daily Planning Method" that has helped me stayed organized and consistent as my span of control/responsibilities have grown. This planning method will help you stay in touch with your clients on a regular basis, remind you of the tasks that you do regularly, schedule your day in advance and limit your need to “think” about what you need to do to stay on top of your life and business.

This planning method requires preparation up front (we call this "multiplication method") and effort for it to work as efficiently as I have it set up.  If set up properly, it will save you hours upon hours of time over the long haul and will make your daily planning efficient and complete. It also requires a different mindset. If you want to reach a new level in your life and business, you've got to change between the ears first and foremost.

This 15 Minute Daily Planning Method is broken down into 3 Parts:

  1. Choose your Mail/Calendar/Task suite (Microsoft Outlook, Google G-suite, ICAL) and commit
  2. Initial up-front prep and scheduling
  3. Daily planning and execution

Let me give you a little background.  During the pandemic, I've had more "me time" to reflect. After a thinking session in early May of 2020, I happened to open up a TASK in Outlook and noticed that it had a “Recurrence” function. (NOTE:  Google and Apple refer to a "Task" as a "Reminder"). I was familiar with the recurrence function on the calendar but not the task function as I just never dug that far into it. I became intrigued so I started to play around with several TASKs that I do every day, every week, quarterly or annually.  Most of these TASKs, I had previously done from memory. As my curiosity moved to excitement, I dove in deeper. I played around with it during the summer of 2020 by asking myself certain questions as I was executing my life. As I asked those questions, I built a curated planning system out of pure sport. The questions I asked and the action I took went like this:

  1. Is this something I do more than once? If it isn’t, it goes into my TASKS in Outlook as a simple TASK or remains in my email until completed. If I do it more than once or should do it more than once, I need to create the TASK and set up a “Recurrence" and assign it to a color coded “Category".
  2. Does this recurring task require a specific “time”?  If not, it stays a TASK.  If it does, I set up an APPOINTMENT in my calendar and set up a RECURRING APPOINTMENT and assign it a color-coded category.
  3. If I have a single "follow up task" for days, weeks or months down the road, I go back into my Outlook and schedule that task for a single day. It pops up on that day and I add it to my daily process.

I spent that summer of 2020 setting up 100s of RECURRING TASKs and APPOINTMENTS (they take about 30 seconds each) and have added to them or deleted them as needed ever since. My daily planning session has evolved to the point, so that now when I plan my day during my Morning Ritual, my planning process can be done in less than 15 minutes.

So, my "Daily Planning Session" simply goes like this:

  1. Pull up my Microsoft Outlook and my TUL planner.
  2. Transpose my calendar for the day into my planner... appointment by appointment, hour by hour.
  3. Make note of any recurring tasks that my initial planning produced.
  4. Note any open time slots on my calendar and slot in any scheduled or unfinished tasks into those time slots. On my calendar, I allow 20 minutes for calls and 10-30 minutes or a task depending on complexity.
  5. Note any unfinished tasks from previous day and slot in.
  6. Note my BIG 3, non-negotiable tasks.
  7. Review for accuracy
  8. Execute my day and cross off any finished meetings and tasks
  9. Review my day.  Repeat.

My day is similar but different than yours. Here are some areas I could see you finding this process really beneficial:

  1. Relationship and Database Management:  Use the client's birthday as an access date.  Set up an annual recurring task/reminder.  Set up 3 other annual recurring tasks/reminders at 90-day increments.
  2. Set up a task/reminder to consistently stay in touch with relatives/family members.
  3. Build in recurring time blocks in your calendar to work "on" your business.
  4. Set up your work outs as a task/reminder.
  5. Set up a task/reminder for the upkeep items needed to maintain your home properly.
  6. Set up a task/reminder for all "personal care" appointments.
  7. Set up an annual task/reminder to ignite your quarterly and annual initiatives.

Remember, the key is to be aware.  Is this a task/reminder that I am going to do more than once?  If so, automate it using this process. Ask yourself, what is the downside?  What does this cost?  Will a process like this have a positive impact on my business?   Does this process negate some of my "CRM" anxiety? You know the answer.

Let me ask you: Could this be a quarterly initiative for one of your 12-Week Year quarters?  If so, book mark this episode, come back to it and execute on it.  You can thank me later and remember "Where you see consistency, you will find a system, process, habit or routine."

If you found this helpful, re-listen to this episode and take the time to evaluate your systems, processes, habits and routines. You can follow my content primarily on my Instagram at @askjimmiller,  apple podcast searchable under Ask Jim Miller and my here on my website askjimmiller.com.

Have an amazing week.