Audrey Poltor

We are all very aware of the benefits of good time management:

• you actually gain more time by taking some time to manage your time efficiently
• you will become motivated and energized
• you will reduce procrastination or "the dread"
• you reduce anxiety when you know you have plenty of time to complete everything on your list

But, HOW on Earth does one actually do this? First, there are a few key things you must do before you can organize any aspect of your time:

Find something enjoyable in whatever you are doing.

Try to be an optimist and seek out the good in your life. I know, I know....this is the most difficult.

Find ways to build on your successes. This seems to have a domino effect.

Stop regretting your failures and start learning from your mistakes.

Remind yourself, "There is always enough time for the important things." If it is important, you should be able to make time to do it.

Continually look at ways of freeing up your time. Are you wasting time doing unnecessary things on your computer???

Examine your old habits and search for ways to change or eliminate them.

Try to use waiting time­­-review notes or read goal related material.

Keep paper or a calendar with you to jot down the things you have to do or notes to yourself.

Examine and revise your lifetime goals on a monthly basis and be sure to include progress towards those goals on a daily basis.

Put up reminders in your home or office about your goals.

Plan your day each morning or the night before and set priorities for yourself.

Maintain and develop a list of specific things to be done each day, set your priorities and the get the most important ones done as soon in the day as you can. Evaluate your progress at the end of the day briefly.

Look ahead in your month and try and anticipate what is going to happen so you can better schedule your time.

Try rewarding yourself when you get things done as you had planned, especially the important ones.

Do first things first.

Have confidence in yourself and in your judgement of priorities and stick to them no matter what.

When you catch yourself procrastinating-ask yourself, "What am I avoiding?"

Start with the most difficult parts of projects, then either the worst is done or you may find you don't have to do all the other small tasks.

Catch yourself when you are involved in unproductive projects and stop as soon as you can.

Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Put your efforts in areas that provide long term benefits.

Be sure and set deadlines for yourself whenever possible.

Delegate responsibilities whenever possible.

Ask for advice when needed.

ok, so more than a "few" things.....but trust me; try them for a week.

You will be amazed at how much more productive you will become.

www.investingrocks.com

Happy Monday Charleston Real Estate!!

I have experienced working in a Business Casual environment where there were "grey areas" of appropriate vs. inappropriate. I would like to think that common sense tells people that something you might wear to do yard work or to the beach might not be suitable for work. Even in a business casual work environment, clothing should be pressed and never wrinkled. Torn, dirty, or frayed clothing is unacceptable. All seams must be finished. Any clothing that has words, terms, or pictures that may be offensive to other employees is unacceptable. Clothing that has the company logo is encouraged. The term "casual" is often misleading.

We run our company from a very relaxed yet professional atmosphere. We work in a professional office setting in an executive office suite. However, we are a young couple and feel that we should dress as ourselves and portray "Real" Real Estate professionals. Joey usually wears nice flip flops with his dress slacks and a very nice polo shirt on top. I normally wear dresses and sandals. Nothing is ever inappropriate.

We are trying to develop a brand image for our company, BSO. We feel that relating to our clients is highly important in helping them to feel comfortable with us. Think about it: when approached by a salesman wearing a suit and tie, you instantly feel the urge to reject whatever he is selling. He could be giving away free gold coins, but you start preparing yourself to say no before he even begins. I know that I do. I start to feel pressured and anxious to leave. When we are approaching a homeowner with a property of interest to us, we try to relate to them in appearance. We have found this to be extremely effective when dealing with lower income areas.

What are your thoughts on this type of attire when put into a business situation?

www.charlestonrealestateinvesting.com

Good Friday Charleston!

Although our brokerage is in its infancy, we have been an established Real Estate Investment Company for quite some time. We are building a successful name for ourselves here in Charleston, SC. In a previous post, Joey mentioned that we are currently seeking help to locate some new properties. We are finding less time to devote to the most important task in Real Estate Investing; PROSPECTING!!! We are recruiting and interviewing new candidates immediately.

It is very important to have excellent organizational skills when running a Real Estate office, or any office for that matter. I'm not talking about having labeled bins and paperclip holders, although being tidy is equally as important to remain efficient. When I say organization, I mean having goals and priorities in place and implementing them.

First, develop your strategy. A strategy is a coherent set or plan of personalized actions designed to push your intentions in the right directions. I like to think of it like this: You can know the name of all the streets in town, but without a map; how will you navigate through them. Think of your strategy as a Roadmap For Success. You must communicate all aspects of your strategy to every member of your staff. In our office, we have a giant dry erase board that clearly states the goals and necessary duties required to achieve those goals. Nothing has been omitted.

You then want to make absolutely sure that your team knows what your expectations are of them. Ensure that they fully understand your core values. We make it very clear to everyone that we do not "hold hands". We will try to make sure that our staff has every tool they need and are fully aware of their duties. But, we do not tolerate or have time for people who need constant guidance. Maybe that's wrong for some organizations, but for us, it works.

After organizing your goals and staff, make sure that all of your priorities are in place. Financial aspects are number one. If you can't pay your bills, then you can't have a business. Marketing is the next priority. If no one knows you are in business, you will eventually lose your business to the guy who marketed his. Then, just be consistent with your strategy and make sure everyone else is doing their part.

More to come in Part 2............stay tuned

www.investingrocks.com

First of all, you may all wonder where all of the highly "brain stimulating" posts are derived from. Yes??? I have to toot on my own horn for a moment for this explanation. After almost ten years, I am back in college again. A senior at that!! I am studying in pursuit of my BS in Legal Studies with the full intent of attending Law School here in Charleston within the next two years. The class that I am currently taking is just so fascinating and amazingly time appropriate for where my incredible husband Joe and I are at in our professional lives. I have already learned so much in regards to thinking and the importance of positivity and clear goal setting. I want to share with all of you the mastery of thought training. You will find this to be the most important thing you will ever do, and it just may change your life.

Ok, so back to the lesson at hand. This week, I discovered that the tools of Critical Thinking are crucial to the organization of your life. What exactly does it all mean? We all have thoughts racing through our minds at a constant speed. But when you leave the thinking to run its own course, it can become biased or even distorted. Ironically, the entire basis and quality of our life is structured around our minds and our thoughts. Shouldn't controlling your mind be at the very top of your priority list?

Here is a quick checklist for reasoning your thoughts:

1- All reasoning has a purpose; state it clearly and be realistic

2- All reasoning is an attempt at solving a problem; think of this as a mathematical problem and break it into manageable sections and sub-questions

3- All reasoning is based on assumptions; are they justifiable?

4- Identify your point of view and try to look at others as well

5- search for opposing information as well as supporting information

6- draw your conclusion and state the consequences; pros and cons

Seems like alot of steps for just one problem, right? Sure, but anything that is worth anything requires a bit of work, right? The point of doing this consistently is that it trains your brain to think logically and not impulsively. Soon, it will become automatic and you will see amazing results!!

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reply and I will be happy to answer

Try this: Imagine you are walking through a busy airport. What sounds do you hear? Visualize all of the people running frantically to their gates. Do you hear a general fuzzy background noise? Now, imagine that you hear your flight or even possibly your name over the PA system. Your attention is now jolted and you are now focused on that very sound.

The part of your brain that is activated by this alert mechanism is called the Reticular Activating System. It can be compared to a coffee filter that clears out the clutter between the subconscious mind and the conscious mind. To be more specific, this system takes messages from your conscious mind and delivers them to your subconscious mind.

So, What the heck am I talking about?

The point of all of this is to show you how you can use your Reticular Activating System to achieve anything you want. In the airport example, the RAS is telling you to listen for your name to be called. You can actually trick yourself into believing whatever you want.

First, you can deliberately program your Reticular Activating System by choosing the exact messages that you send you your subconscious mind. You can say affirmations and set goals that you repeat daily. When you say and visualize the things you want, you actually attract them to you. The opposite is true as well, you can attract things you don't want just by repeating or focusing on them. I am a huge fan of Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon has said that if we keep thinking that we CAN'T achieve a goal, our subconscious will never allow us to achieve it.

Second, your RAS cannot distinguish between real and fantasy. This is the best part! This means that you can train yourself to believe whatever you wish!

Ok, to summarize, tell yourself that you have what you want, you are what you want to be whatever that may be. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel about yourself.