All Sorted.
After the feast of four-i at last week’s EA Masters I’m concerned not to overload you this morning. One thing I do know though is that the vast majority of you have no lack of ideas and innovations you’d like to implement however time and resources are an issue.
My bet is many of you have spent time over the weekend thinking, “how on earth will I get it all done?” and the answer is, you won’t. But you can get more done than you think is possible, so long as you have a proper system for getting things sorted – here’s mine.
I’ve read so many books and heard lots of brilliant speakers talk about time management so I’m not able to attribute the sources of all these ideas but neither do I want to claim them as originating from me – let’s call it distilled wisdom and can I thank the many people who’ve contributed.
1. The starting point is to make a list of everything you want to get done – and I mean everything. Now some of you are already allowing negative thoughts to creep into your mind, “I can’t do that”, “there’s way too much”, and so on. Ignore the inner whining and just do it.
2. Next, create a Not doing Now list. Transfer anything on the master list that you’re not prepared to make time for in the next three months. Let me give you an example. At the start of this year we decided to amalgamate the Property Academy and EA Masters websites into one. We met with several web designers and got quotes and initial ideas but then realised that we didn’t have the time we wanted to do the job properly. So this has been placed on the Not doing Now list but it will be taken off there and added to the diary (more on that in a moment) now the 2019 EA Masters is concluded.
3. Now add to your diary all the things you are prepared to make time for but not right at this minute. For example, we’re looking at other sectors to expand into, (including Housing Associations, Commercial Property Agents and Housebuilders) – I don’t have time available right now to research each of these properly but I have allocated several blocks of time over the next 8 weeks to do so. The key is to allocate time in your diary to get things done and to work on projects not just for appointments.
4. Finally, do all the things you can clear immediately.
Your master list should now be empty. Everything should either be done, have allocated time in the diary or be on your Not doing Now list.
5. However you need one more tool, what some call a “capture tool” which for me is a notebook I carry everywhere. As an idea or project is identified I write it down at the back of my current notebook. When I’m next at my desk I then do it or transfer it to my diary/Not doing Now list.
With this approach you will be surprised at your output and there’s another dividend – your mind will be a lot clearer too. There’s little worse than a clogged brain trying to remember everything that needs to be done – this system will sort that issue too.
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