Maximize your time

Oct 16, 2009 I Don't Like to Work

By: Greg Clement

This may be one of the most boring blog posts
I’ve ever written, but also one of the most
important.

So how could that be?

How can something that’s not exciting in the
least be so very relevant to making a ton of
money in this business?

Well, I’ve got the answer.

This blog post is about your time and how
you spend it. So what I’d like to do for the next
few minutes is explain to you how I manage
my time on a daily basis, allowing me to reach
maximum productivity.

One of the main things I do to manage my time
is use the TRAF Organization Method. TRAF
stands for Toss, Refer, Act, or File.

Here’s how it works: every single e-mail I get,
and every piece of paper correspondence that
comes across my desk, goes into one category
immediately.

A.  I Toss it, which means I throw it out or
delete it because I don’t need it.

B.  I Refer it to somebody else to take action
on, which is often the case, with explicit
directions.

C.  I Act on it myself, which means I take
immediate action as soon as I’m done with
the exercise that I’m working on.

D.  I File it away for future use.

As you can imagine I have a short, but powerful,
e-mail folder system on my laptop. I have folders
that are titled Implement, Follow up, and Good
Ideas.

The way that I manage these folders is this:
every time I get an e-mail that is an interesting
article or something that’s interesting but not
urgent, I put it in the Good Ideas section.  Once
a week I go through the Good Ideas folder and
decide if I want to implement anything in it right
now, if I want to follow up with it later, or just
get rid of it.

I believe that e-mails can be one of the biggest
time wasters ever, and if you don’t approach e-mail
the right way, it can be a massive constraint to
making a lot of money in the real estate business,
or any business for that matter.

You have to re-train yourself to NOT constantly
check your e-mail throughout the day.  E-mail
can be addictive, especially if you equate it
with productivity.  If you’re like me, a new
e-mail is like a little present – you never know
what’s going to be inside and it can feel exciting.

While checking e-mail and responding to e-mails
all day may feel like you’re being productive,
you’re not.  You’re actually wasting time that
could be spent on revenue producing activities.

The point is for you to make money to support
your lifestyle. You don’t want to be in the habit
of your lifestyle supporting your business.

I hope this helps.  Start re-training yourself today -
close down your e-mail for one hour and spend
that hour focusing on a revenue producing activity
and see how much you get done.  You’ll be surprised
at how much you can accomplish when you’re not
constantly checking your e-mail.

Popularity: 29% [?]

No related posts.

Tags: greg clement, maximizing time, more money, Real Estate Investing