As the Summer Sets in, Seek Reflection in Your Accomplishments
By J.D. Parker July 29, 2013 2:00 pm
reprintsThe summer doldrums are setting in, and you can feel it in the streets. Restaurants are less crowded, lunch lines are shorter on Fridays, and you are only shoulder to shoulder on the No. 4 train instead of chest to chest. This is the time of year when most real estate agents start to pack it in and head to the beach or the mountains. As you do this amid a hot real estate and mortgage market, I encourage you to seek reflection in your accomplishments this year. Take an inventory of your skills and the projects you have accomplished this year and start to form your second-half plan.
All too often, we check out at the end of the summer, and we come back tanner but no more focused. This year, with a little reflection and some smart planning, you can come back in September with a running start.
Remember to make sure that, as you have your feet up at the beach, you are reflecting about your accomplishments, but are also planning to move your business to the next level this fall. Here are some simple guidelines to follow heading into the second half of the year:
- Pick two projects to complete between September 1 and December 31 and form a plan to execute them. Keep it simple: just do two things really well, and complete the work.
- These projects should be focused around improving your workflow or installing a business process that you are missing.
- Hold yourself accountable to your projects; they must be completed—no excuses.
- Begin to measure your activities if you don’t already: meetings, listings, conversations, etc.
- Once you measure what you are doing, focus the second half of this year by trying to improve what is already working. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
- Put your plan in writing so that you can share it with others. Assess your accomplishments at the end by inviting someone else to hold you accountable.
- Review every deal you competed year-to-date and understand why you were awarded the business. For those transactions that you lost out on, consider why you were not hired and how you can improve your pitch.
- Review every assignment you were hired on year-to-date and assess why it closed. For those that did not transact, assess what went wrong.
