Do you ever feel like you’re running a race that you’ll never finish? I’m sure as a realtor your time is super limited, you’re busy meeting clients, marketing yourself, networking, previewing homes, writing up offers and the list goes on!

The truth is, most of my realtor clients are convinced they are expert multitaskers but according to Psychology Today multitasking is a big fat myth! What we are actually doing when we believe we are effectively juggling multiple tasks is stopping one task and focusing on another, we are never actually effectively doing both tasks. You can read the article here it’s a great eye-opener! The biggest takeaway is this – if you believe you are multitasking you are actually making more mistakes and draining your energy trying to do all the things. If you’re thinking right about now that there’s got to be a better way, you’ve come to the right place because there absolutely is, and it’s called batch working.

Batch working is when you dedicate chunks of time to specific tasks without interruption – that last part is the most important when it comes to batch working – zero, nil, no interruptions. No kids asking you what’s for dinner, no client’s calling, no text messages or social media updates, no email notifications dinging your attention away. Batch working only works when you put all distractions on airplane mode.

If you’re still not convinced Batch Working is right for you here are some of the benefits:

• Focussed attention
• Increased productivity
• Decreased distraction
• No context switching
• Saves time and energy
• Allows for more thoughtful creation

Um, can I get a YES PLEASE to all of the above? What would your world and projects look like with increased focus where you spend less time accomplishing all the things instead of feeling like there is never enough time?

I know you’re probably thinking “But I’m a realtor my schedule is unpredictable and my clients need me, how am I supposed to find the time to batch work?” The answer is boundaries. Set clear intentions and boundaries, get help where you see the need (online VA’s can help A LOT), make the decision that certain hours are off-limits, and commit to being more productive and not more frazzled.

Here’s the blueprint for batch working your tasks:

ONE | PLAN

The very first step is to make a list of all the tasks you seem to never have time for or that end up “falling off your list” or make you feel overwhelmed. Some of these might include social media posting, blog writing, blasts, videos, updating your website, email correspondence, creating flyers in Canva, etc. Decide how much time you’ll dedicate to each task and when you’ll do it. Then write it down in your planner/agenda ( because we all know if it’s not written down, it won’t get done!)

TWO | MAP IT OUT

This is a task in and of itself, you’ll need to carve out an hour or two to take all the things you want to accomplish, like blog posts, social media posts, and blasts, and map out your content for a four week period. Mapping out your content will help focus your attention as you get clear on how you want to connect with your audience, or what topics you want to discuss on your blog. Create Google docs, or sheets with all of your ideas to help organize this process.

THREE | DO THE WORK

In this step, you are actually writing your blog posts, recording your videos, designing your Canva flyers, crafting your social media posts – you’re batchworking. In this step it’s important to not just minimize but aim to eliminate all distractions. This might look like:

• Closing (and locking) your office door
• Putting your phone on airplane mode
• Turning off email notifications
• Heading to a space outside of your home to work
• Putting your phone in another room and shutting it down

Whatever distractions exist for you, aim to get out in front of them, or the moment your phone dings with a text from a client, you’ll be off to the races and your focussed creation time will be a thing of fiction.

FOUR | REVIEW AND SCHEDULE

In this step, you should take an hour to review your work and then schedule your blog articles, social media posts, blasts etc. Reviewing your work allows you to find mistakes you might not have noticed the first time around, or to look at it with fresh eyes. A fresh perspective might make you see things differently and you may need to make a tweak or two. Scheduling your work allows you to implement, without scheduling your blog posts, life can get in the way and it falls off the to-do list. A great way to avoid this is to have automated reminders on your phone, or use apps like Plann (for social media) or WordPress (for scheduling your blog posts).

FIVE | GET HELP

I’m including this as a step because if you are a realtor without a team you may be trying to do all the things and be all the things to all the people. After trying to schedule your tasks, you might feel completely overwhelmed and have realized just how much time is involved in performing all the tasks. If this sounds like you, it might be time to get help. A great place to start is with a VA who can handle tasks like posting on social media, reviewing and scheduling your work, putting together your blasts and organizing your digital files. And of course, templates are your friend if you are DIY’ing your own marketing materials. When it comes to Canva we’ve got you covered with our time-saving templates that are ready for you to plug and play your listing photos and info!

Have you tried batch working before? Let us know how it went below.