What is Productivity, as a concept? What does it really mean to be productive? It could mean you produce X number of widgets in a given amount of time. It could mean you sell X number of homes in a year. It could mean you make X phone calls during your three hours of prospecting time. It could mean out of those X number of calls you actually contacted X number of people. So think for a moment of the most productive person you know of. Why are they productive? This question was posed to me on a conference call last week. A senior Wisdom Course Leader, Paul Turo asked us to look at what it means to be productive. So do you have this super-achiever in your mind? Now why are they more successful/productive than you?
Did any of these thoughts pop into your head? She is more educated, he is younger/older, she is better looking, he has more training, she is smarter, he has family connections, etc. Consider for a moment that none of these things have anything to do with how productive this person is.
Now, if you were to take on this person’s work habits, how would you appear? What work habits? Let us take a look at how to define work habits. When you start your day, are there certain habits you have before beginning to really work? Do you need a cup of coffee? Do you need to read your e-mail? Do you worry about the day ahead and play out scenarios that may never come to pass? Do you need to read the news? These are all work habits. Do you schedule or time block your day? Do you follow your own schedule. or do you let circumstances pull you out? Let’s go back to the previous question. If you were to take on this highly productive person’s work habits, how would you appear? Yes, like them. This may seem overly simple, but it is the whole idea behind shadowing and models.
In real estate we often hear there is no need to reinvent the wheel. In Gary Keller’s book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, he tells us that people have come before us. Take what they have already proved works. At Keller Williams Intown Atlanta, the #1 individual agent for 2010 is Anna Kilinski. It would be very easy to say that Anna is successful because she is young and attractive and her father is the Regional Director. That would also be unfair. Anna is successful, in part, because of her work habits. She recently shared with our Real Estate Rescue group that she works Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The key word here is WORKS. She does not do personal things during the day. No picking up the dry cleaning, no grocery shopping, no anything that does not directly have to do with real estate. That is a work habit.
Work habits are just a piece of the Productivity puzzle and I challenge you to look at yours this week. What could be tweaked? What is missing that if it were there would make a difference in your income? I wish you a very productive month. Remember, this is your business, you get to say how it goes.
Posted by sara on July 22, 2011 at 6:44 pm
great post… I actually have an eBook called The Productivity Puzzle; What’s Your Missing Piece (www.theproductivitypuzzle.com) that speaks to much of what you are talking about. I especially appreciate how you let readers choose what productivity means to each indivdual as it’s something different for everyone.