On any regular business day, a property manager has a huge number of tasks before him to accomplish. Tackling maintenance issues, negotiating vendor contracts, holding discussions with potential tenants, looking into concerns and demands raised by current tenants, marketing etc. are just a few of them. With such a busy schedule every day, it is no wonder that many property managers end up feeling stressed and overwhelmed all the time.

But did you know that proper planning and some minor tweaks to your work habits could help you increase your efficiency and get more things done in a single day?

Plan, plan, plan……..and then write it down

Proper planning is key to achieving efficiency and productivity at work. And writing down all what you are planning to achieve today can help you concentrate on those tasks which are of the highest priority. Here are a few more tips to help you plan your day better.

  • Plan your day such that you complete your most important tasks in the morning, when you have the most energy for decision-making.
  • Break up bigger tasks with more number of steps into smaller, easier-to-handle tasks so that you can keep track.
  • Plan all activities for which you’ll need to leave your office, such as meetings with landlords and vendors, in the afternoons.

Get organized

Organize your workplace and files so that you can easily find a document or a receipt without turning your entire office upside down. This not only saves you time that would have otherwise been spent on searching for a two-year-old invoice in the stacks of files that you have lying around on your office floor, but also frees you from mental stress and exhaustion caused by visual clutter.

Set up block out time

All experts agree that time blocking is a great way to get more out of your time. Every day, set a suitable block out time when you can concentrate on your work without being constantly interrupted by mails and phone calls.

Distractions can hamper your efficiency and break your workflow. Each time you get interrupted or take 5 minutes out to check your Facebook, it can take an average of 10 minutes for you to get back to your task with the same focus. So avoid surfing the Internet or attending mails and calls during your block out time, and let your staff and associates know that you are not to be interrupted during this time, unless it is an emergency.

Do similar tasks in a batch

Improve your productivity by doing similar tasks that require similar resources in a batch. For example, if you have 10 applications from prospective tenants to review today, do all of them in one batch. Batching not only helps you do the tasks with increased concentration, but also improves your creativity and mental alertness.

Don’t multi-task

Contrary to popular belief, multi-tasking can actually hamper your efficiency. It can decrease the quality of your work, lead to more mistakes and cause undue stress. So focus on one task at a time and move on to the next only after it is fully complete.

 

Kurt Jacobson is a snowboarding enthusiast with a background in real estate. Having moved 11 times in the past nine years, he thrives on helping others learn from his experiences. When he’s not out shredding the mountain, he writes about all things rental related for the RentFinder.co website.