The art of focusing yourself and your business

My motivation for writing this article stems from a client I consulted with.  We had a very successful relationship; our work together had increased his business significantly.  He asked for weekly accountability meetings to keep the momentum going. Unfortunately, he stopped showing up because he could not remember our appointment times and was scheduling other meetings over them.  His time management and organizational calendaring skills needed improvement.  He lacked the right kind of focus, and that is what I will be discussing, starting with a conversation about ambition.

***

If your desk is like mine, it might be a little cluttered. You probably have many ideas driving through your brain at Mach 1. You valiantly try to hold onto these ideas and tasks while the phone is ringing and your team members are asking you questions. If you are not like me, your desk is spotless, with everything in its place, and you track all of your to-do items every day and you probably don’t need to read this article.

Ambition and competitiveness

If you are the ambitious type and thrive on competition, you may have a natural-born drive that motivates you from day to day.  You might think that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs would be motivation enough (a series of needs beginning with food, water, shelter, safety, upon which you build higher needs such as love and belonging, self-respect, recognition, and self-actualization). For many folks, though, some of these motivators might be buried or even inaccessible.

Not everyone is a driven athlete or Wall Street whiz kid. Many of us are farmers that plant the seeds and wait for the plants to grow. We have different temperaments and motivation levels that drive our lives.  To level the playing field, many calendaring and planning tools are available to help us be more successful. We can buy apps that give us more flexibility and help keep us accountable.

The daily focus

Daily focus is the most difficult. It is most easily managed by using a calendar and setting appointments for tasks and meetings. Unfortunately, this requires regular planning to set and follow the appointments, but with some drive to reach your goals, this is accomplishable for most of us. The most challenging part of maintaining daily focus is the necessity to plan tasks ahead, get up every morning, look at the calendar, and do them. Your employment situation will help guide your planning.

Planning

Planning ahead is the lynchpin of successful time and project management. This may seem natural for you, but the key to success is to actually take the time to plan ahead.  This means understanding your role and taking control of your direction.   

What is your goal?

Do you have a vision for your business, investments or your job? This can be difficult to articulate for many people.  Here are some examples that might be helpful.

• It can be simple: “Be the developer of solid, clean, and safe multifamily properties for families,” “be the best financial analyst in the company with the fastest turnaround,” or “build my investment portfolio to $10,000,000 over 15 years.”

• We could make it more complex: “Grow our property management company organically by annually increasing our revenues by 15%.”

• Or, it can be more focused: “Increase our real estate assets 15% annually in Bend, Oregon by purchasing older class C medical properties and remodeling them to a class B condition generating a 20% return.”

As you can see, any of these could be a reasonable vision for a person or a company.

Is this overkill or too much planning? My position is that, if you know where you are going, you are going to get there.  If you let emails, incoming telephone calls, and other people’s priorities run your day, not much of what you or your company want to achieve will be accomplished.

Sounds simple

This all sounds simple, but if it were easy, my consulting client would have already done it. His excuse was “I am too busy.” As a result, he was too busy to meet and plan how to improve his time management and increase his company growth and income.  I encourage you to take time every week to focus on your weekly goals so you can manage your calendar.  Plan “think time” to create value.

Too many meetings?  Start negotiating a reduction in your meeting schedule so you can be more effective and open up your calendar.  This will lead to an uncluttered desk and mind.

Clifford A. Hockley, CPM, CCIM, MBA

Cliff is a Certified Property Manager® (CPM) and a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). Cliff joined Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services 1986 and successfully merged that company with Criteria Properties in 2021.

He has extensive experience representing property owners in the sale and purchase of warehouse, office, and retail properties, as well as mobile home parks and residential properties. Cliff’s clients include financial institutions, government agencies, private investors and nonprofit organizations. He is a Senior Advisor for SVN | Bluestone.

Cliff holds an MBA from Willamette University and a BS in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College. He is a frequent contributor to industry newsletters and served as adjunct professor at Portland State University, where he taught real estate-related topics. Cliff is the author of two books, 21 Fables and Successful Real Estate Investing; Invest Wisely Avoid Costly Mistakes and Make Money, books that helps investors navigate the rough shoals of real estate ownership. He is the managing member of a real estate consulting practice, Cliff Hockley Consulting, LLC., designed to help investors and commercial brokerage owners successfully navigate their businesses.  He can be reached at 503-267-1909 , Cliffhockley@gmail.com or Cliff.Hockley@SVN.com.