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Get It Done: Productivity Tips That Worked For Me

By brioproperties,

Let’s chat productivity. It makes sense because even if we may be getting towards the end of lockouts and safer at homes, life will still be different. Now is still the time to make new habits. When life is less busy its easier to make new habits. So while is still a little less demanding because less is going on, now’s the time to try out new productivity tips.  I’ve compiled a few of my favorite tips that I’ve used over the years.  

Pomodoro Method

A few years ago I discovered the Pomodoro method for productivity. I love using this method for projects. 

The Pomodoro method is a 2 hour block of time where you work consistently for 25 minutes then take a 4 minute break. You cut out all distractions and focus solely on the task at hand. Your phone is silenced (if possible) and you don’t deviate from the task.

During the 4 minute break you can respond to messages, stretch, get a drink, whatever. Then repeat. 

I love this for projects. If I’m working on writing a presentation, or creating a marketing campaign, or anything that is more than a simple task. I found it causes me to focus better than if I sat down and said “I have 90 minutes to do this.” My mind might drift easily or I might slug around because I think on how I’m going to be doing this for 80, 70, 60 more minutes anyway.  With the Pomodoro I focus for the full 25 minutes on the task and leave the distractions to the 4 minute break.

I’m fortunate to work from home almost every day of the month, so I do have less people distractions but if you work in an office I encourage you to give this a try. If you have an office door, close it. If you don’t, just pause your timer and quickly inform the person who needs something from you, that you are in a workflow and ask if you can discuss it later. 

If you are planning on using two Pomodoro blocks back to back (2- two hour blocks) it is recommended that you take a 25-30 minute break in between. Not a break to work on other things but a break to rest your mind and get some good body fuel. 

Saving The Errands

I used to run errands 3-4 times a week. I’d schedule grocery shopping on Tuesday, bank and post office on Wednesday, Menards on Thursday, and fit in that miscellaneous stuff pretty much when I felt like it. 

I eventually began to realize how much time I was wasting by driving the same route usually multiple days to accomplish different errands. I figured I was losing about 120 minutes a week due to “duplicate driving” I call it. Plus I didn’t necessarily have 1 day where I just focused on working without being obligated to leave the home.  I honestly thought I was breaking up the monotony of working at home, but I was actually breaking up my ability to be highly productive. 

As part of a weekly block schedule I instituted “errand days”. Every week (when not in Quarantine) Friday is my errand day. Its when I go to the bank, post office, Menards, do small grocery runs (if you remember from a previous blog I’m a huge advocate for grocery delivery), etc. 

If I have to make appointments for outside the home I leave those for Thursdays. Medical appointments in the morning, others in the afternoon. (Medical appointments in the afternoon are a huge time sucker. (Doctors could have fallen 25 minutes behind easily by the time afternoon appointments roll around.)

On days when I have monthly networking events, I might allow myself two hours of errand time before traveling to the event. On average I have 3 networking events outside the home per month. If it makes geographical sense, I’ll switch up my errand schedule to get some or all of it done before the networking event. This way I’ll Friday morning to do more highly productive work. 

Having Monthly Goals

One of the big things I have loved doing the past 2 years is setting monthly project goals. I pick 4 projects I want to work on in the month. I outline the basic steps (usually 4-5) and I prioritize the projects. Usually the projects are pulled off of a “Off Field Advantage” sheet I create twice a year. (This sheet is comprehensive life at how I run my life and my business. It also accounts for sporadic ideas I’ve had that many didn’t get implemented or finished.)

I have blocks of time devoted to my projects in my weekly schedule. I usually have 3 blocks of 2 hour project time in my schedule.  Then if I find myself (somehow) without anything planned or pressing do, I devote more time to monthly projects (as long as its at least 60 minutes).

And I always use the Pomodoro method when working on them. 

Mornings Are For Projects, Afternoons for Reacting

One of the better things I did for my motivation (and sanity) was I created a rule for myself as the paragraph title implies.

What this means is I work on my “want to do” list in the morning. My projects, the things that normally get pushed off as not urgent, OR the things that are urgent for looming deadlines (usually less than 48 hours). I mastered understanding what was urgent and what wasn’t a couple of years ago so I can now put some items in the morning that aren’t my “projects”. 

I also don’t check my email until after 11:30 and I screen phone calls until after lunch. (To be honest I always screen my calls. If you aren’t in my phone book you go to voice-mail. But I’m not a realtor so I have that luxury.) I limit who I talk to in the morning and I make all my return phone calls in a 1.5 hour time frame in the afternoon. 

Doing these 4 things has made a major impact in my overall productivity. I mentioned block scheduling in here but I didn’t go too in depth for the sake of the blog. I’ll be dedicating an entire blog to block scheduling. So stay tuned!

CategoriesEntrepreneurship

Screw New Years. Start Goals On Your Terms.

By brioproperties,

Why I don’t do New Years Resolutions

I love the New Year celebrations.  I believe it mostly comes from my childhood because New Years has always been a big deal in my family.  Every year we get together as siblings with our parents and a few choice people we bring into the fold to have fun, enjoy laughs and ring in the New Year. But I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions.

New Years Resolutions are often empty promises we make to ourselves.  “This year I’ll [get healthy, slow down, travel more, etc]. We don’t go any further than making that promise in one sentence uttered sometime between Christmas and that fateful stroke of midnight.  As my Grandma liked to call them “A thin statement masquerading as an intention.” It takes more than than saying that statement to create real change.  

I plan in October/November and Execute in December

A few years ago I started my own tradition with making the best of the New Year.  I stopped starting my best work on January 1. Instead by the time January 1 comes around I’m already 30 days into executing on my new goals and ambitions. 

To start with I begin thinking about where I want to go in the next 365 days in October.  I look at all aspects of my life professional, personal, and my relationships. I contemplate where I want to improve and what may be a priority.  How many new properties do I want to bring into my rental management company in the coming year? How many books do I want to read next year? What challenges do I want to give myself?  In my important relationships what do I want to accomplish in the coming 12 months? I write down my list of goals and ambitions and I make sure I have plenty of them. I don’t pick just 1 or 2.  My list usually has around 30. You might think 30 is high but I pick that many for a very useful reason.  

Oh The Webs I Weave

Once I have my list I make webs.  This is my favorite part! If you think back to grade school in maybe 3rd grade when you were learning about writing short stories.  One of the tools we were taught were utilizing story webs. In the center of a paper you wrote the topic and then ran lines off of that center area where you wrote the setting, characters, problem, solution, etc.  It was meant to help you map out where your story was going before you started writing.

I still weave webs, though not so much for stories now days.  Each of my goals from my list becomes its own web diagram. The lines that come out from the center are the steps necessary to meet that goal or things to think about in relation to the goal.  I usually have about 5-7 offshoots on a web diagram. This is an absolutely crucial step, don’t skip it! It’s where your “thin sentences” become executable goals because you identify what you need to do to get from where you are to where you want to be. You’re creating a plan.  

These “web” pages become my constant companion for the next 365 days.  Yes, they are written on scratch paper, and yes it may look like my 7 year old wrote them but I don’t alter it. I don’t make it pretty, I don’t rewrite them.  They go in the back of my annual planner where I know I can reference them. And I will reference them. 12 times in fact. 

Constant Goals V. Execution Goals

My goal list is usually a mix of items that are year long goals (constant goals) and execution goals (items with discernible end points that can be achieved in less than 2 months realistically). 

Constant goals are: number of books to read, health/weight goals, learning a skill or language, etc.  These are items that are for the long haul of the year. They aren’t something that is accomplished in 7 steps and considered done.  They take a longer time commitment and consistent effort over at least 6 months. If possible breakdown your constant goals with deadlines.  I.e. If you have a goal to lose 20 pounds on top of creating your plan set some deadlines of lose. 10 pounds by April, 8 by September, etc. Having deadlines like that helps keep you on track with your constant goals because it adds the idea of a time constraint.  When we have all year, we’re more likely to put it off.  

Execution goals include: classes I want to create, marketing changes, marketing materials, administrative aspects I want updated in my company, etc. These are more projects than goals.  They have concise steps where executing on them in a certain order gets me to complete the project in less than 60 days. These are usually the bulk of goals list. I may have 2-3 constant goals but over 25 execution goals. 

The Lucky Four

The last step in my yearly planning is selecting the 4 lucky execution goals that get assigned to December (the first month in my goal year).  I usually pick ones that would be more beneficial to be accomplished early in the 365 days and/or ones that are rather simplistic that can be easy wins.  Easy wins are a necessity for keeping us on track, especially when the other goals may be more time consuming or more difficult. 

Each month I repeat this process.  I select 4 new ones to accomplish and make sure they are written in my month view for the planner. I do consider how busy my month is and any time off I may be taking when I pick the goals.  If I’ve got 3 speaking engagements and a vacation I may pick 1 larger goal and 2 smaller ones.    

I will admit there are times where I have a carry-over or two.  New projects come up, new opportunities and sometimes I don’t get through all my goals in a month.  I strive for all four to be completed but I am also realistic and understand the nature of my life and industry may only allow for 2.5 to be accomplished in 30 days. I don’t beat myself up for it.  I just make the carry-over ones my number 1 priority in the new month and work harder to get back on track. 

It’s All In The Planner (and Planning)

One of the big reasons I’m able to accomplish all this and execute on itl is because of the style of planner I use.  I use a goal-orientated planner. It’s not just a Day-Runner that functions as an appointment calendar. It helps highlight my goals for the year and month. Each month has a goal section where I can write the goals the steps for them.  The goal annual view helps remind me of milestones I may have wanted to hit (I.e. average 50 podcast listeners, etc). Other than the actually brainstorming the planner is the 2nd biggest contributor to my success. 

Once you have the planer the next thing is to schedule the time to accomplish them.  The first 90 minutes of my day are “project time”. This project is for executing on my goals.  Before I check email, before I answer my phone, before I do any meetings I have my project time.  Nothing changes that (or very, very little does). I even include 2 extra sessions on other days during the week. This forces me to start with what important (my goals) and work on those before I get pulled into any drama or urgency that exists in my world.

Keep In Mind

Resolutions are just thin sentences masquerading as intentions.

Set multiple goals and outline the steps to accomplish each.

Have a mixture of constant year long goals and project execution goals.

Assign goals to certain months.

Written by: Corina Eufinger CEO of Brio Properties/Owner CRC Investments/ Host of Passive Income Revolution Podcast

CategoriesEntrepreneurship Real Estate Investing

Forget Opportunities Create Habits

By brioproperties,

“Opportunity only knocks once.”

It’s a cliche in our society.  It’s used in countless movies and tv shows, quoted thousands of times over.  It’s a crutch for many people who cling to normalcy. It’s even misused by people who have the drive for success. There are motivated people in the world who run their professional lives like the equivalent of chicken with their head cut off frantically trying to find and listen for the opportunity that is knocking.  

I’ve seen it in new entrepreneurs and investors where they are hyper vigilant on being able to recognize the “once in a lifetime opportunity” (also a horrible cliche) that will propel them to success.  They never take the time to make deliberate choices that produce the results they want. They flutter around their spheres of influence seeing and listening to what everyone is doing in an attempt to find their ‘knock of opportunity’ through other people’s habits.  Never actually taking the time to create their own habits of success. 

They fail to understand that if you use habits to perpetuate self improvement, improve your relationships, and exercise self care that opportunities are then attracted to you. Create habits that attract opportunities rather than focusing on finding the one or two opportunities.

Your daily choices that you make turn into the habits that determine the direction of your life. 

Make habits to improve your mind, improve your knowledge, connect with your spouse, engage with friends, find connections in your professional life, etc.  Here’s a few examples of what you can do to create your habits of success.  

MORNING ROUTINE

I’ve talked about the importance of a morning routine in a prior blog so I won’t go into too much detail here.  We’ll skim the cream off the top of the milk. Of course it’s a dairy reference, I’m from Wisconsin.   

Set a morning routine where instead of watching the morning news you exercise, read, and  have whatever your version of healthy breakfast is (Not Cocoa-Cocoa Puffs). Morning routines set the tone for your day and are the most overlooked portion of our days that can create not only success but true joy.  Spending 2 hours in the morning doing what we enjoy that improves us puts our minds in a positive state before we begin the ‘real’ portion of the day. Don’t get caught up on the idea of having to rise early to have a good morning.  You don’t have to mimic the people who get up at 3am, 4am. You can get up at 6am and likely still have 1-2 hours to run through your successful and happiness habits before the real world begins to wake.  


IMPORTANT FIRST THEN EVERYTHING ELSE

Structure your days so you always do the tasks that have the potential to create massive change first rather than reacting to the urgent. There are few scenarios in this world that are urgent that can’t wait a few hours.  Reserve the mornings to tackle the important tasks that will get you closer to your goals. Leave the urgent (and your email!) until you have devoted time to those tasks.  

Also leave the routine items like errands, returning calls, and bookkeeping to the afternoon. I prefer to leave those for the last 2 hours of my day on alternating days.  This provides you with maximum productivity for working on the important, handling the urgent and ending the day with the routine to make sure you stay on top of the day to day.  

TOUCHDOWN AND SHUTDOWN WITH PURPOSE

An evening routine provides additional structure of joy but also sets the tone for the morning.  If we have a crummy night, it will be harder to get up and do our ideal morning routine. We’ll likely sleep-in or opt for “chill activities” like Netflix or the morning news.  So start the night before with having a shutdown protocol..I guess kind of like a computer.

First on the list should be handling household items that “put in a bug in your butt”.  Hate dirty dishes in the sink? Get those done first. Smelly trash throw off your entire evening, then toss it.  Get those 1-2 pesky things done that will mock you out of the corner of your eye if they aren’t done. Then move on to preparing yourself for the next day.  Get your items ready for the following day. Clothing, documents, charge your devices, prep your on the go meals, and get ready for bed, etc.

Lastly, end with quiet items that begin to shut down your mind.  Read, journal, meditate, ASMR videos…whatever puts your mind into a cool down mode.  Like at the end of the workout where you’re supposed to allow your body to slowly cool its jets. Something that quiets your mind, relaxes your body and maybe even makes you sleepy.     

Create habits like this and opportunities will find you in abundance. Then your biggest problem will be selecting the opportunities.

Corina Eufinger

Owner of Brio Properties

Chairman of WAA

@passiveincrev on IG

CategoriesEntrepreneurship

What Is Your Time Worth?

By brioproperties,
In today’s society we are pulled in so many different direction.  We are pulled in the directions of work, family, leisure pursuits, day to day life.

If you have a spouse, children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, we get pulled into their lives.  We become a part of what’s pulling them in different directions. Many times it just feels like we are operating a 3-ring circus.  It’s these moments that it’s very hard to sit down and wonder what your time worth.  Yet, we should be.

Figuring out what our “hourly rate” is for things we do in our lives is something we all need to do. It’s an integral part of moving our lives forward and determining how to allocate our time. The day-to-day or ordinary life tasks can often bog us down and become excuses why we don’t have time to  do something (I.e. attend a seminar, sign up for a masterclass, look at more rental properties). How many of our day-to-day tasks are we better off paying someone else to do? If we paid someone else to do somethings, how could we then spend that gained time?

Two common tasks I personally love offloading are grocery shopping and lawn care.  Most stores offer curbside pickup or delivery. These services are anywhere from $5-$15.  If it saves your 40-70 minutes, what would you do with that time? Evaluate 2 extra properties a week?  Read a few chapters from an investing book?

Lawn care is a touchy one.  I know some people are very particular about their lawns.They like it cut a certain way, the lines have to make a certain design layout, etc.  I’ve known two of these people in my life (gladly neither me nor my husband are one). For the rest of us that aren’t as picky, how much time would you gain if you paid someone else to do this?  What if you hired a service? Paid a neighbor cash to do it? Maybe a son, daughter, niece, nephew, etc? If it takes you 2 hours to mow the lawn where does the $39 to service fall on the worth it scale?

What are some other things you can outsource?  Well beyond grocery shopping most big box stores have in-store or curbside pick up for domestic goods as well.  House cleaning? Services can sometimes be pricey but may be you know an entrepreneurial teenager who would do the major cleaning for $10/hour cash?

Remember, when you outsource something be sure you are using the time to make yourself more productive and more profitable.  It won’t pay to outsource the small stuff if you swap it for tv time or video game time (unless you have a Youtube channel as a gamer of course).

So I ask you, what is your time worth for domestic tasks?

CategoriesEntrepreneurship

The Importance of A Morning Routine

By brioproperties,

Last year I had a book recommended to me by my brother-in-law.  Normally his book recommendations are heavily based in business procedure and protocol. So foolishly…I put the recommendation on the bottom of the list.  Last summer, the timing seemed right so I cracked it open. While I didn’t care for the writing style, the content was important and more interesting than I had thought.

We’ve all heard how our mornings set the tone for our day.  Most people wake up hoping the stars will align and their morning won’t ruin their day.  Roll out out of bed with the alarm, start the coffee, maybe get kids (or spouse) up, tend to breakfast, get dressed and head to work…hopefully not in a frantic already. Yet there are things we can do take control of the mornings and start our days on the right foot.

Wake up at least 2 hours before you start your day

I start my day at 9am so I wake up at 6:15 right now.  Getting up early is very common in the highly successful people. Oprah rises at 6am, Richard Branson at 5am, Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock) rises at 4am, and Bill Gates wakes at 5:30am.  All of these people do it by choice.  They aren’t doing because they have 6am stage calls, meetings or anything else.  They do it to spend time with themselves doing what they feel is important.

Use the time wisely

Start by thinking about meaningful things you can do in the morning that will positively impact your mood and productivity.  What are somethings you don’t normally do that you wish you had more time for? Getting up one hour earlier only to waste it watching morning tv will not aide you. Consider using it for: exercising, reading, meditation, writing, playing guitar, learning a foreign language.  Think of things that are being creative or being active. A list of 3-5 things will do well for one hour of activity.

Prioritize the things that will make a difference

Make your morning routine about things that will get you energized for the day and give you an immediate sense of accomplishment.  Doing this will make it easier to keep going because the accomplishments can remind you of why it’s good to wake up early. Let’s face it the first week will be unique and new….the second week will be killer.

Always wake up at the same time every day..or with very few exceptions.

Waking up every day (even the weekends) at the same time is extremely important for keeping the morning routine.  I rise at 6:45 every day. I hope to get to 6:15 but so far I haven’t been able. I do this Monday through Friday only allowing exceptions for New Years Day and jet lag.  Your body thrives on consistency and regimen. Don’t lie in bed with your phone after the alarm goes off. Get out of bed right away. (I recommend leaving the phone out of sight until the end of your morning routine.) It’s better to sneak in a 45 minute nap later in the day after you’ve been up for awhile than sleep an extra hour.

If I were to recommend two things for your morning routine….

I  recommend starting with drinking a full glass of cold water first thing and in under 10 minutes.  Most of the grogginess we associate with mornings actually stems from dehydration. Drinking the full of glass of water will restore fluid and wake up your body.

I also recommend fitting in your reading in the morning.  It is one of those things we rarely make time for during the day as we get busy.  Compared to exercise it doesn’t really make sense to get in a “quick read” because you have 15 minutes.  Also, the most successful people in the world devour 40-50 books per year. If you spend an hour every morning, it won’t be hard to hit that number.

So what does my morning look like?

6:30 Rise and drink full glass of water

6:50 Yoga

7:15 Listen to quick Youtube business inspiration video

7:30 Get ready for the day (all that personal stuff)

7:45  Read from a book of my choosing

9:00 Start my work day

Happy Mornings!

Corina Eufinger

Owner of Brio Properties

Director of Online Content WAA

Owner of CRC Investments

CategoriesEntrepreneurship

Productivity Is a Constant Demon

By brioproperties,

In the past two years I had noticed a sort of phenomenon with myself. I realized I haven’t been consistently paralyzed by a to-do list.  Don’t get me wrong I’ve had some stressful days that are jam packed and of those days (which aren’t a high number), I’ve only been distraught or depressed at the end of the day a handful of times. Today I clicked yet again on another article regarding time efficiency and productivity.  Everyday it seems I am bombarded with productivity or efficiency material geared towards entrepreneurs and real estate investors.  To the point where I began to wonder: “Was I defective as business owner and investor because I don’t have that overwhelmed feeling?”

Assuming I am not defective in those areas, I began thinking about what other reasons there could be as to why I don’t have that feeling.  Afterall, society was telling me my feelings should be different. It’s a fast paced world and much is expected of us.  There are so many different types of pressure that we feel throughout the day and many of them are subconscious. We don’t recognize it is or interpret it as pressure.  “Oh I’d better watch Dancing With The Stars tonight because everyone will be talking about it tomorrow.” Sounds harmless right? It is in fact another way we put pressure on ourselves.  We re-enforced a feeling that we have to watch it so that we can be able to converse with people tomorrow.   

The first thing I realized as I “meditated” on this idea of productivity is that I have always been a planner, a list maker, etc in some form.  For my 9th birthday I asked for a wet wipe board.  Which I believe my parents assumed was for any other purpose than goal setting and to-do lists at my age. I still remember my Dad coming into my bedroom and being shocked to find my new wet wipe board was already written out with lists and tasks before he had a chance to mount it on the wall for me.  I knew this pre-programming was not the only reason I lacked a feeling of being overwhelmed with my to-do list.  There had to be more.  My life is much more complicated now than when I was 9 years old. Also if it were truly as simple as creating a master board like that, everyone would do it.  

It’s a mentality that involves motivation. Being productive and achieving a mentality of efficiency requires having motivation.  When we are motivated we are less likely to put off the to-do list in favor of watching the latest reality show or sitcom everyone is talking about.  The emerging mentality is that “adulting is hard”.  Adulting is anything that involves responsibilities and a to-do list.  I am curious why “adult” became a verb and a negative one at that. Doesn’t anyone remember the days from when we were kids and how we longed for the ability to make decisions and be able to experience the world? We should not settle for “adulting” being the negative norm and “Netflix and chill” being the positive norm. We need to motivate ourselves to act or else in 30 years we may be disappointed that we spent our adult lives constantly doing “Netflix and chill”. I have a sneaky feeling that those who embrace this mentality are underproductive and in the end depressed about being underproductive.  

Prioritization is a must. As we go through our lives it’s important to prioritize.  As entrepreneurs and business owners it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks that we believe are urgent or falsely important, that we never make time for the actions that could further our investing career (like networking and education).  Urgency should be reserved for something that will expire or be ineffective if done at a later time. (I.e. Going to the bank doesn’t have to be done that day unless you need the funds to cover your mortgage payment.) Important items are actions that would make a difference in the efficiency and viability of your business, family life, etc.  (I.e. Learning the new features that were rolled out by your accounting software, going grocery shopping because your child has no items left for a bag lunch.)  Once you know the difference between the two it will keep your mind clear and keep your stress level down because you can clearly identify the tasks that are truly of impact in your life at any given moment.

Allocating time effectively is something that we all struggle with from time to time, or on a daily basis.  Some people take time efficiency to the extreme by using their kids soccer games to be attached to their smart phones and working or even dreading sleep because it isn’t time productively spent to them.  Time efficiency first stems from knowing where you spend your time.  One of the books I read years ago recommended tracking your time spent from wake-up to lights off for two weeks to get an idea on how much time you spend on various tasks. We might not even be aware of the amount of time we spend watching tv, youtube videos, and web surfing (the biggest productivity suckers of today’s modern age). I was appalled at my two week breakdown when I got done with it.  While I thought I was doing well because I would set a timer for internet surfing, what I didn’t realize was how many of these 15 minute sessions I allowed! My short term memory had trained me to believe that because I had limited myself to 15 minutes that I was doing good. Evaluate how you use your time. Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad Poor Dad says “We all have the same 24 hours in a day. It’s what we do with those 24 hours that ultimately decides our financial future.”

There are two books I recommend for those wanting to delve more into the topic of productivity and efficiency.  There are so many books on the topic but these are the ones I’ve found that are best fit for entrepreneurs.

  • The One Thing by Gary Keller
  • Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Corina Eufinger

WAA Director of Records

Owner CRC Investments

Owner Brio Properties

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