Real Estate Agents: 7 Signs You’re a Chronic Procrastinator

Procrastination can cost you — quite literally. As an agent, your earnings are directly tied to the time you put in, and when you put off those to-dos and delay your work, it only eats into your salary and your professional success in the long run.

Are you a chronic procrastinator?

Is it hurting your business? Here are 7 signs it’s a definite yes:

1. You’ve got all the little things handled, but the major ones are still on your to-do list. Have you called back all your clients for the day, but you still haven’t written that listing, taken that certification course, or sent out your next marketing email? That’s procrastinating through and through.
2. You’re late a lot. Are you always waking up late? Do you always run five minutes late to meetings, showings, and other appointments? Do your colleagues just expect you to be late as a rule of thumb? If so, you’re probably a procrastinator.
3. You’re on social media too much. You should obviously use social media to further your business and stay in touch with clients. But if you find yourself clicking over to Facebook or checking out your Twitter feed a few times an hour, then you’re definitely procrastinating. Just think: if you spend 10 minutes an hour on social media, that’s more than 80 minutes per workday you could have spent on other tasks. What could you have accomplished in that amount of time? 
4. You slip things in under the wire. Do you usually creep right up on deadlines? Submit an offer 10 minutes before the window closes? Return calls just as office hours are winding down? These are all tell-tale signs of procrastination.
5. You find yourself bored or your mind wandering. If you have the free time to get bored, then you’re definitely procrastinating. You’re either 1) putting off major to-dos in exchange for a few day-dreamy moments or 2) you’re simply not being proactive enough in your career. The most successful agents use those down moments to knock out next week’s to-dos or get ahead on their marketing or lead generation efforts.
6. You’re in your head a lot. Are you always dreaming about the future? Thinking about your next big move or high-priced listing? While having high hopes is one thing, if you want to achieve those lofty goals, you need to get out of your head and start taking action. Success is more than thoughts and dreams. It’s about making moves and taking smart, measured steps toward achieving those goals.
7. You regularly move to-dos to the next day. Do you find yourself moving today’s tasks to tomorrow’s to-do list (or even further out) on a regular basis? Are you often pushing things back because you “don’t have the time”? Then you’ve got a problem. The more you delay tasks, the more they build and compound. Soon, you’ll find yourself with way more than you can manage, and your career (and earnings) will suffer as a result. 

You should also look at the excuses you give clients, colleagues, and other people in your life. If you’re late, what reason do you provide? If you skip that marketing course you signed up for, what’s the excuse? If you failed to call a client back, what’s your reasoning? Evaluate how authentic and realistic those excuses are. Did you really need to skip out or be late, or were you just putting off something you didn’t want to do? Often, looking at these excuse-worthy moments can provide powerful insights.

Break the Procrastination Habit

If any of the above statements ring true for you, then you’re probably a procrastinator — and it’s likely costing you valuable time and money.

Fortunately, your fate isn’t set in stone. If you want to break the habit and become a more productive, efficient real estate agent, there are several ways to do it. You can:

• Create action plans.

Often, we put stuff off because we don’t know how to do it, or we’re unsure about how the task will go. Remove this fear by creating a step-by-step action plan for the task. This makes it 1) easier to complete and 2) less stressful to boot.

• Know what tomorrow really means.

Before you put off a task until tomorrow, fully evaluate what it means for your business. If you put off prepping for your listing appointment, could it cost you a big commission? If you fail to call that client back today, could it hurt your reputation or lose you that listing? Evaluate the full repercussions of what delaying a task might bring.

• Increase accountability.

Post about your goals on social media (like Snapchat) or share them with a colleague. Set timelines for when you want those goals achieved, and then use your action plans to start making gradual steps toward each milestone. The more accountability there is, the more likely you are to stay motivated despite that urge to procrastinate.

You can always create rewards for yourself, too. Just remember that the ultimate reward is a successful, profitable real estate business that supports you and your family for the long haul.

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