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Blocking Time Builds Your Business
Are you having trouble finishing important business or personal activities? Consider time blocking -- the practice of dedicating regular intervals of your time to completing high-priority tasks. Think of time blocking as making an appointment with yourself to eliminate distractions and focus on important matters.
Experts recommend blocking your time into 30-minute segments, and that once you begin a segment, commit to it fully. Don't let interruptions or changes in activity throw you off-task. Incoming phone calls, emails and faxes should be reviewed and answered after your blocked time ends.
Remember to stay disciplined. For example, if you're calling past clients from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and get a lead on a new prospect, don't discontinue your priority task of calling past clients. Follow up on that new lead after your blocked time has expired.
Time blocking also can be successful as a structured program for work groups. Group members choose tasks, such as past client follow-ups, and block out the same segment of time. Ignoring all other distractions, group members perform their tasks at the same time, which creates camaraderie and a motivating, energized environment. Participants say that performing tasks collectively washes away inhibitions and compels you to perform the scheduled business-building actions.
Some mortgage business tasks that are ideal for time blocking include rehearsing scripts and objection responses, collecting referrals, maintaining your database, making appointments and creating presentations.
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