{"id":236,"date":"2021-09-10T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T16:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=236"},"modified":"2021-09-10T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T16:57:45","slug":"four-simple-rules-to-juggle-between-being-a-rapid-responder-and-getting-stuff-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=236","title":{"rendered":"Four Simple Rules to Juggle Between Being a Rapid Responder and Getting Stuff Done"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I once called a REALTOR\u00ae (let\u2019s call him Joe Sloe) and got this recording, \u201dHi, this is Joe Sloe. Please leave me a message, and I\u2019ll return your call within two business days<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hahahah! Can you imagine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Sloe is long gone from the industry, by the way. Gosh, I wonder why! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this day and age, people expect you to be a rapid responder. They\u2019re sure as heck not going to wait around for two days<\/em> to hear back from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposite of Joe Sloe is Desperate Dan. He\u2019s the guy who answers his phone on the first ring in the middle of a business meeting, quickly realizes you\u2019re not a hot prospect, and tells you in a snarky voice, \u201cHey, I\u2019m in the middle of a meeting. Can I call you back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if you <\/em>were the rude one for interrupting his meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desperate Dan prides himself on being a rapid responder. His phone is constantly going off with alerts for emails, text messages, Facebook, and 17 other Apps, every one of which he checks immediately as if his life depended on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Desperate Dan has a serious problem. He\u2019s 100% distracted 100% of the time. He can\u2019t even make it through a meal with his wife and kids without checking his phone. How sad is that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan is also completely unorganized and never seems to make any progress on his giant pile of To-Dos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s why Dan is so Desperate (?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s my message to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be Joe Sloe, but don\u2019t be Desperate Dan, either.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I think you should be a rapid responder? Certainly! But within certain limitations that support your overall productivity. \u200d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few simple rules that I follow. Perhaps they will inspire you to consider designing your own set of personal productivity rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #1 – When I\u2019m in any scheduled meeting, including an Appointment with Myself<\/a>, my phone is OFF. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning my phone off for one hour is completely harmless to my business. On the contrary, it\u2019s the best thing to minimize distractions when I want to get stuff done. The only exception to this rule is if I\u2019m waiting for a critical phone call to complete a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #2 – Except for phone and text messages, I\u2019ve turned off notifications for everything <\/em>else, especially (and most importantly) email. Email is rarely as time-sensitive as a phone call or a text message, but I still check it several times a day, on my <\/em>schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STOP allowing yourself to be constantly distracted by your stupid (smart?) phone. Who\u2019s in charge? You? Or your phone?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #3 – I purposely allow extra time between every appointment throughout the day to review and respond to messages. For more information on this, check out this recent post: How to Stop Being Late for Everything<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #4 – I follow a Morning Routine, which includes reviewing leftover emails from the previous day. By doing this consistently, I keep my inbox clean, and nothing ever gets \u201cburied and forgotten.\u201d First thing in the morning is the best time to do this \u201cclean-up\u201d routine before your day turns crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you create a similar set of rules, you\u2019ll be astounded at your increased productivity. And guess what? You\u2019ll still <\/em>respond rapidly, most of the time. It will still <\/em>be the exception when you don\u2019t. Your clients won\u2019t even notice the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about creating balance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once called a REALTOR\u00ae (let\u2019s call him Joe Sloe) and got this recording, \u201dHi, this is Joe Sloe. Please leave me a message, and I\u2019ll return your call within two business days.\u201d Hahahah! Can you imagine? Joe Sloe is long gone from the industry, by the way. Gosh, I wonder why! In this day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}