As a Realtor in today's competitive market, you've got a lot going on. You've got the home appraiser, the mortgage broker, the closing attorney... and oh yeah, the client, all demanding your attention.

And if that wasn't enough, you've got paperwork you need to take care of at the office, family to keep up with at home, and somewhere along the way you need the time to be more "creative" for increasing your sales pipeline.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like enough to keep even the most dedicated of Realtors up at night thinking about everything that needs to get done.

The good news though is that there's a real easy way of getting around this seemingly impossible situation.

The concept of capturing your thoughts in a place outside of your mind was first introduced to me by David Allen, author of the book "Getting Stuff Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity." In it, Allen explains how people allow all the commitments they make at work to build up to the point where they spend most of their time trying to remember everything they need to do.

1. Remember to email Steve about my listing.

2. Remember to drop this report off to my broker.

3. Remember to call back the appraiser and confirm tomorrow's meeting.

People can spend so much time trying to "remember" these items, to the point where the very act of remembering them can be a stress producer itself. They're afraid something might slip through the cracks, especially if they're working on seven different projects, each with its own checklist.

Allen goes on to say that the reason for this increased anxiety level is due to the inner workings of our subconscious mind. In the world of the subconscious there is no past or future, there's only the present. So when you say to yourself, "Remember to email Steve about my listing," your subconscious hears it as "Remember to email Steve about my listing... right now."

And if you're not presently engaged in that activity then your subconscious is going to keep "reminding" you about it until it's done.

If you've ever had a thought come completely out of the blue say while driving home from work or even in the shower, then you know what I mean. That's your mind's way of saying, "I thought you wanted to email Steve."

It doesn't matter if you're in the car, in the shower or even at the dentist's office. It thinks you should be doing it right now.

And that's where anxiety comes in. Because in the back of your mind you think you might be forgetting something you need to do and you're stressed about the possibility of it not getting done.

Multiply that stress by the number of stuff you're working on, and it's easy to see why most Realtors feel overwhelmed. They really don't have a handle on everything that needs to get done, since the "reminders" they get are at the most inopportune times.

That's the bad news.

The good news is we have a real easy way to get around it.

Stop by your local office supply store and pick up a small notebook, PDA, or micro cassette recorder, and get into the habit of keeping it around. That way every time something pops into your head ("Oh, I've got to get that email off to Steve."), just record it in one of those devices. Then at the end of the day when you're either at home or at your desk, incorporate those items into the next day's "to do" list.

(As Realtors, you spend a lot of time in your car so I'd recommend the cassette recorder since that allows you capture your thoughts without running off the road while writing it down.)

I still remember the first time I did this. After about 20 minutes, I wrote down forty things I needed to do. After another ten minutes, I had fifteen more. It was unbelievable.

Afterwards it felt like a weight was physically lifted from my shoulders. I no longer had to keep up with all the things I needed to "remember." And the funny thing is, it was just basic stuff too: Call Bob, email Steve, stuff that everyone deals with on a daily basis. But now I had it in my notebook, and more importantly, out of my thoughts until I could sit down and deal with them.

Another vehicle for storing this information is your voicemail system at work. Say you're in your car and you remember an important email that needs to be sent. All you have to do is make a quick call to your office number and leave yourself a message.

Needless to say, this goes a long way towards helping the busy Realtor cope with an otherwise hectic life. Now you don't have to try and remember all the things, all the time. Instead you can work on projects as they come in, handle issues as they come up, and capture the rest in a place outside of your mind.

And by the way, when you combine this with the proper diet and exercise, you can say goodbye to those 3:00 a.m. wake-up calls when you can't get back to bed because you've got so much on your mind.

That's a good enough reason to give this tip a try.

Published: March 24, 2005

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As a popular speaker and author of the resource How to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, Brian specializes in helping busy agents get more leads and close more deals - even in a market as "challenging" as this. For a free report on 2 Easy Ways to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, just email my office and we'll send it right over.