As a real estate broker, you’re juggling A LOT of work.
Whether it’s helping agents, negotiating with vendors, contract closing and reviews or managing your own book of business, there’s likely more than enough on your plate.
Sound familiar?
Now, you’ve most likely tried multiple productivity hacks and tricks to help become more efficient.
One of those tricks probably being Pareto’s Law.
If you’ve never heard of it, Pareto’s Law states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions.
But there’s one problem…
How do you know which tasks fall under the 20% category?
Today, we’ll share a simple 5-step process to help you pinpoint those 20% tasks.
Ensuring that you’re spending your limited time and energy on your most valuable tasks.
Let’s jump in.
Step 1: List your Tasks
Take out a pen and a piece of paper.
Make a list of every task you’re juggling.
And don’t hold back. List everything.
Even if it’s a small task like sending a thank you card, put it on the list.
Spend a good 5-10 minutes on this step.
Step 2: Define your ‘One Goal’
Now, it’s time to decide what goal you’re focusing on.
Are you trying to recruit new agents? Increase productivity per agent? Reduce operational expenses?
Every goal has a different set of priorities.
For example, if you’re looking to recruit new agents, recruiting calls and recruiting appointments have a higher priority than a lunch meeting with a SaaS sales rep.
So, define your ‘One Goal.’
Because without it, you can’t pinpoint your top 20% tasks.
(This can be your 90-day goal, 1 year goal, or even 3-year goal, you decide.)
Step 3: Score & Time your Tasks
Okay, on a scale of 1-10 give every task on your list an ‘Impact Score.’
An ‘Impact Score’ is a score of how impactful a certain task has on your One Goal.
Once you’re done giving each task and Impact Score, estimate how much time you’ve spent on each task per week.
This reveals how effectively you’re spending your time.
Immediately, you’ll start to see trends.
You might discover that you’re not spending enough time on tasks that move you closer towards your goals!
Step 4: Figure out your Impact-To-Time Ratio
With an impact score and time estimate for each task, this step is easy.
Simply divide impact score by the time spent on the task.
Here’s an example.
Your One Goal → Recruit New Agents
Task 1: Office Errands
- Impact Score: 3 out of 10
- Time Estimate: 3 hours
- Impact-to-Time Ratio: 1 (3 divided by 3)
Task 2: Recruiting Calls
- Impact Score: 9 out of 10
- Time Estimate: 3 hours
- Impact-to-Time Ratio: 3 (9 divided by 3)
Do this for every task.
This calculation will show which tasks offer the most ROI on your time and energy in a clear and measurable manner.
Step 5: Find your Top 20%
Now, sort your tasks on “Impact-to-Time Ratio” ranking from highest to lowest.
Finding the top 20% is easy now.
If you have 50 tasks, the top 10 are your top 20%.
However please note there will be some caveats to this. Some tasks that take a lot of time can be very important to the “One Goal”. To illustrate what I mean in the example in step 4, if recruiting calls took 6 hours instead of 2, the “Impact-to-Time Ratio” would drop down to 1.5.
This step will take a little more finesse than simply ranking from highest to lowest.
But once you identify your top 20% tasks focus on them.
Doing so guarantees you’re maximizing your time and energy effectively.
In case you’re asking yourself: But what about the other tasks?
(The ones that fall under the 80% category.)
Start asking yourself some questions:
- What can I eliminate?
- What can I do really quickly?
- What can I automate?
- What can I delegate?
- What can I streamline or combine?
Final Thoughts
This exercise is a good one to do every quarter as your priorities change.
We hope this helps you focus on moving your business forward, one important goal at a time.
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