Happy Monday. Last week I wrote about sharpening the saw… continuing with that theme today. As we learned together from the Stephen Covey video, to become a master of your time, you need to first be aware of your priorities in the larger context. The framework that I will be sharing with you in this blog is — the Time Management Matrix — it is designed to help you structure your daily activities and deal with them based on priority. Take a look:
Time Management Matrix
Think of each square as a quadrant. The top left, urgent and important is Q1; important and non-urgent is Q2; non-important and urgent is Q3 and Q4 is non-important and the non-urgent. Take a look at this summary of dealing with each quadrant:
Q-1 Tasks: Manage immediately to get them out of the way. Spend the required effort such that they do not blow out of portion.
Q-2 Tasks: Focus disproportionately due to the high payoff from the investment.
In this week’s episode of “Success From Scratch,” the team leaders of The Star Group, Felicia and Greg Johnson shares how JP and Associates REALTORS® has inspired them to give back to the community and their secret to their success as a team.
We make sure that our clients feel that they are #1!
– Felicia and Greg Johnson, JP and Associates REALTORS®
Happy Monday. Have you ever been too busy to stop and get gas? How did that work out for you?
As we start the week, can you relate to this story:
Once upon a time, there was a strong, ambitious young woodcutter who needed work. She traveled to the nearest timber merchant and asked if she could secure a job. The timber merchant could sense the woman was a hard worker and decided to give her an opportunity. “Meet me here tomorrow at daybreak,” the merchant said.
The young woman arrived the next morning where the merchant led her to a dense patch of trees in the nearby forest. “Chop down as many trees as you can today and meet me just before sunset.” The young woman chopped down 18 trees that day. The merchant was impressed. “Well done!” he said, “You are the best woodcutter we have!”
The next day the young woman returned, feeling even more motivated. Her muscles were sore but her ambition was strong. She chopped down 15 trees the second day. On the third day, the young woman arrived before daybreak and stayed until she could barely see the tree she was chopping down. She cut down only 9 trees that day. This pattern continued over the coming week.
“I must be losing my strength,” the young woman thought to herself.
The next week her boss met her in the early morning hours and told her she was fired. The young woman was upset and scared about her future. But she knew she worked as hard as she could and just didn’t have enough time to chop more trees. Her head hanging low, she handed her axe back to the timber merchant. The merchant took one look at the axe and said, “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” “Sharpen my axe?” the young woman replied, “I’ve been too busy trying to cut down enough trees to sharpen my axe.”
I’m curious… can you relate? If so, how can you sharpen your axe this week? Consider this:
Abe Lincoln’s productivity secret was to use sharper tools to get the job done more efficiently. He said: “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” Lincoln, who was a skilled woodcutter before becoming one of the most important presidents in US history, probably meant this both literally and figuratively. Inefficient tools waste your energy. It’s better to spend the majority of your time finding and cultivating the best tools for any task.
If you have 10 minutes, you might consider investing in watching this classic video from Stephen Covey on big rocks and little rocks… no endorsement of the YouTube channel here, it’s just the only one we could find that still has this classic video. It’s worth your time, watch it!
In this week’s episode, Howard Ashkinos shares how his passion for helping others got him into real estate and now, as the Vice President for National Franchising at JP and Associates REALTORS®.
“A true coach is helping somebody get from where they are, to where they want to be” – Howard Ashkinos, JP and Associates REALTORS®
In this weeks episode, Angela Taylor shares how she made a leap of faith from being in full-time children’s ministry into real estate sales. Take a moment to hear how she runs her business by our JPAR trademark, “exceeding expectations” and how her drive has created success for her, her family and her community.
“I decided to work smarter, not harder and made myself the hyperlocal expert.” – Angela Taylor, JP and Associates REALTORS®
Here is what I know, no book, no certification, no training, no coaching program or pill will EVER help you succeed as much as:
The vision you see.
The decisions you make.
The beliefs you have.
The peers you keep.
The priorities you choose.
I’m often asked what’s the secret to my success and the success of our most productive agents? It’s easy… EXECUTION. You see I know – and my team knows – ideas are plentiful yet ACTION is the formula to make ideas successful
So my question today is, what’s holding you back?
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small parts.
Are you ready to stop talking, thinking, stalling or getting ready to get ready?
