Productivity is something we’re all constantly trying to maximize. Just head to your local bookstore or run a quick Google search and you’ll find thousands of books, blogs, and articles discussing different ways to increase productivity. But what can you do, as a landlord or real estate investor, to enhance your output within the constraints of a busy schedule? Read on to find out more.
Productivity is a funny thing. It means different things to different people, yet we all pursue it in some form or fashion. Typically defined as your ability to produce something within a specific period of time (or with a limited amount of resources), productivity often feels elusive. But if you really put forth the effort to figure out the driving factors behind productivity, you can find success.
Everyone is unique, but we hope you’ll find the following “hacks” helpful in your own career:
As you know, cooking your own meals and eating them throughout the week can save you a lot of money. In fact, the average individual can save thousands of dollars per year by simply packing lunch from home. But if you want to make this practical, you have to be efficient with your time.
One hack is to meal prep all your lunches on Sunday. It’ll take you a couple of hours, but by cooking in bulk and separating each meal out into individual containers, you’ll save a lot of time throughout the week.
“Believe it or not there are still many ‘peckers’ in the world,” real estate investor David Pere writes. “These are the people who type by using just their pointer finger (or sometimes just the middle finger) and this not only makes them very slow, but also extremely inaccurate, and unable to focus on anything else while typing.”
With all of the typing that’s done these days – from computers to smartphones – actually learning how to type fast and accurately is important. This productivity hack might not apply to all readers, but could help those who grew up in an education system where typing wasn’t taught.
Email is a great tool for communication, but it’s also one of the biggest productivity killers. Every time an email pings to your phone, you have to stop what you’re doing and check it. Sometimes you respond right away – other times you don’t – but you’re distracted, nonetheless.
One helpful idea is to log out of your email – or at least turn off push notifications – and only check it four times per day: when you wake up, right before lunch, mid-afternoon, and an hour before you end your workday.
When you think about it, most of the tasks that you procrastinate aren’t all that difficult. If you were to actually do them in the moment, your productivity would skyrocket. And this is where the two-minute rule comes into play. If something takes less than two minutes to do, you do it now.
“It’s surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less,” entrepreneur James Clear points out. “For example, washing your dishes immediately after your meal, tossing the laundry in the washing machine, taking out the garbage, cleaning up clutter, sending that email, and so on.”
In terms of being a landlord, two-minute tasks look like correctly filing away a document, cashing a check on your phone, or cleaning off your desk at the end of the day.
Think about all those emails you send each month that are essentially identical. From rent reminders to inquiries about properties that are for sale, repetitive communication unnecessarily zaps up a lot of your time.
One productivity hack is to create templates for your most commonly used correspondence. Then, when you send one of these messages, all you have to do is plug in names/addresses/etc. and you’re ready to go.
How many times are you riding in the car, sitting in a coffee shop, or walking down the street when someone tells you something that you need to remember? It happens a lot, right?
One thing you can do is always carry around a notebook and pen. Ladies can easily fit a notebook into their purses, while men can buy a small moleskin notebook that fits into their pants pocket.
In addition to carrying around a physical notebook, it’s also smart to use a service like Evernote. By installing the app on all your devices and integrating it into your internet browsers, you can quickly record, save, and annotate any web page, post, article, video, or document you run across. Then, using the power of the cloud, you can access it anywhere.
Before hitting the hay for the night, you should make it a point to always create three goals for the following day. Not only does this help you shift your focus to what you’ll do tomorrow, but it also allows you to hit the ground running in the morning. You might not always complete all three goals, but at least you have something to strive for.
You are only one person who has 24 hours in a day. And considering that you’re sleeping for roughly 25-33 percent of that time, you really don’t have much time to get stuff done.
This is where a property manager comes into play. By hiring a property management service you can trust, you can offload duties and focus your energy on the things that truly matter.
At Green Residential, it’s our goal to make our clients’ lives easier by offering comprehensive property management services that streamline cumbersome tasks and help landlords make more efficient use of their time.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can assist you, feel free to contact us!
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