If You Touch It - Deal With It
I’m talking of course about the piles of paperwork and stuff you promise to ‘get to’.
Your Real Estate business creates a LOT of paperwork and unless you deal with it, your life and mind will be cluttered every day.
As Real Estate investors, your time is often limited to after-hours and weekends unless you are doing this full time. Either way, you have to use your time wisely and have a CLEAR mind to focus on what you need to do best:
Building your portfolio.
So the rule is: Touch it once & deal with it
Too Much to Do – Too Little Time
I often hear this from clients when I’m helping organize their business system & what ends up happening is paperwork piles up & is buried under new paperwork daily. They have zero motivation to deal with the mess to get to the ‘touch it once’ system.
What I tell them is simple: Chunk It. Take the piles of paperwork and chunk them down to smaller piles. So now, you have something you can handle rather than one massive mess to sort through.
We continuously procrastinate doing jobs we hate but I agree with Philip McKernan that there is no such thing as procrastination – you just don’t want to do it!! You just decide to do something else with your time.
Real Life Example
I was, and still am to some point a ‘procrastinator’ for lack of a better term and when I applied my chunking idea to the years of receipts I wanted to digitize as suggested in here, it went much smoother.
The amount of scanning I needed to do would take days so I chunked it into months. Interestingly enough, as I finished one month I was eager to move on to the next one.
Psychologically, I was achieving positive results reaching these small goals and it inspired me to continue going. At the same time, if I was to stop after completing a month that was also ok because it was all I had expected when I began. Small steps, positive results = achieving the larger result in the end.
I find looking at the entire task daunting and it’s why I personally don’t want to do it. However when I use this chunking technique, my paperwork seems to disappear right before my eyes. Think of it this way; even if you get just ONE more thing done from the large task, you are still THAT much closer to finishing right?
Try this out and your paperwork may one day be off your desk, organized in a digital filing system as well as physically filed in its proper place for retrieval at a moment’s notice.
How about you? Do you have a system that works? Do you need help with your paperwork? Drop me a note below and share your thoughts
Comments (8)
I do have the book Paul, and I got about half way through and have not really gone back to it. I started using the 'dot' technique to see how much I was actually touching paper and ultimately I had overdue bills with a lot of dots on it. Everyone needs a system based on the way they think and how they approach the day and this is where I come in to help other entrepreneurs with their organization. I'll have to finish David's book because it does come highly recommended!!! Thanks Paul :)
Joey Ragona, over 14 years ago
Read "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I think it'll expand a bit on this fantastic concept, and implementing GTD in your life will greatly enhance your productivity. The premise is simple, and not unlike what you've posted here: for everything you touch in life, you have three choices: do it, delegate it, or defer it. But you make the last choice CONSCIOUSLY, not by default or through laziness or a feeling of being overwhelmed- and you defer it to a specific point in time, not indefinitely.
Paul Strauss, over 14 years ago
Thank you Mike - yes you are right with the K.I.S.S. method to apply in the organizing area of your business. The more complicated the less you are inclined to do it. You hit the nail on the head with delegation - it's the most powerful part of being an entrepreneur but one that 99% of us fail to utilize because we are control-freaks. I too was/am like this and what seems to work for me is, organizing my system first so I understand it and can 'teach' someone else to do. They then follow that system and we are both on the same page, even if they do the 'inputting' differently that I.
Joey Ragona, over 14 years ago
Great Article, Comes down to the old K.I.S.S saying. I find once you get organized you don't need to worry about the piles of work you didn't want to get to. If you are having a huge problem with a certain part of your business the solution hIre someone to do it for you. Organization is key to success. Hiring extra help will let you focus on bringing in the next big deal. Good comments all round.
Mike Jakobczak, over 14 years ago
Max, We all do - as our business grows (which is usually faster than we realize) we end up buried in paperwork. I know for one, that's not why I got into business and then become frustrated trying to catch up. once you employ the 'touch it once' theory, you are always in control! I'm happy it helped you out!!!
Joey Ragona, over 14 years ago
Interesting article. This is one area I struggle with. Staying organized.
Sharad M., over 14 years ago
Thanks Derrick! :)
Joey Ragona, over 14 years ago
That's a really cool way to look at it Joey!
Derrick Sakai, over 14 years ago