It’s summertime and I am thinking about my calendar for 2012 (Sorry folks, I do not believe the world will end in 2012 – it’s a calendar, it will start around again!) The summer is when I find myself better able to think about my business plan and where I want to be in the upcoming days of my life. Life is about experiences to me so I start off with planning my vacations and time off. The bonus to this plan is I work in real estate – it is a well understood phenomena in this business that if you want to increase your activity, try to go on vacation. So I encourage all agents to plan time off first, in order to stay in business. It’s a fickle universe with a weird sense of humor.
Getting back to the exercise. I like to print out each month on its own page. So I start with this year’s calendar and a draft copy of what next year could look like. For each day it is my intention to be out of the office I will pull out my pen and ‘X’ off that day. Some things stay the same – I cross off every Sunday, Monday Holidays that my normal employed family has off, the extended holiday weekends like Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas (or your preferred December holiday).
At this point I check this year’s calendar to add in any business commitments that come up every year – real estate conventions and training seminars. Now I block out one day out of the month during a business period to work ‘on’ my business instead of ‘in’ my business. For me it is always the 21st or a date real close if there is a conflict. It gives me time to see the bigger picture of where my real estate business is going. This one can be a hard comitment to keep at first, was for me at least, but now I look forward to it!
Certain festivals and ongoing parties that are sure to happen go in next. Then I look at when and where I would like to go and be for 2-4 one week vacations during the year. I find it is better to spread them out over the year so my energy and activity stay strong. Remember this is still a draft and can be altered.
What I have found is that by planning on the calendar the fun things I want to do, the work comes that allows me the funds to do them! Planning your work around your life allows you to counterbalance the two and stay productive. Give it a shot and go ahead do little day dreaming on a lazy summer afternoon what you want to see happen in the coming year. (And if you are one of the believers that it is going to be the last year on record – I hope you make it stupendous!)
The Real Estate Class 