How Organized Is Your Office? Systems for Real Estate Professionals

From the Mendy Realty archive, first published by Mendy Lipsker.

This topic is not something that I am just writing about. For the past couple of months, I’ve been working and striving to be organized myself. Right now my office is very organized and everything is and continues to be under control. I make sure that no papers are lying around, which gives me a clear mind. Here are a few organizational tips that have helped me.

I have a remarkable filing system. Everything is in its folder, in its place. There are many ways to do it, so if you try one way and it doesn’t work, try another. It is definitely worth the effort to take control of the clutter. A good filing system can help you to better organize your life and work.

Keep Track of Your Daily Activities and See What You Have Accomplished

A lot of people get frustrated because when they are working, they are not sure what they’ve accomplished. I keep track of my daily activities, so at the end of the week or end of the month, I can look back, and see what I have achieved.

You may have a bad day here or there, but you have to look at the whole picture. People get distracted by negative feelings that things are not working out, but if you keep track, and go back and look, you’ll say, “Wow, I did this and this. If I make a couple of adjustments to better organize my day, I can do better.” Make the adjustments and continue to monitor your progress.

Prioritizing is not only determining what to do first, what to do second, etc. but it is also determining which tasks are important for me to do, and which should be delegated to someone else. There are a lot of things you’d like to do yourself, but is that the best use of your time? Recognize the talents in the people around you and delegate so that all tasks get done expertly and in a timely fashion.

Plan Ahead, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”  (Benjamin Franklin)

Organize your day the night before so you know who you are going to call and who you are going to meet.

At the same time, don’t overcrowd your day. People today are too busy. You think you can meet “8 million people,” and don’t think about the fact that it takes time to just get across town. If you are trying to meet more than 3 people, I think you are dreaming.

If you have people coming to see you in your office, you have to plan around that so you can do the other things that need to be done such as making calls or following up.

Sometimes your day doesn’t go the way you planned. That doesn’t mean you can say “Oh well” and give up. Revise the plan and keep going.