This January marks Inman’s fifth annual Agent Appreciation Month, which culminates at Inman Connect New York in a celebration of agents at the end of January. Plus, we’re rolling out the coveted Inman Power Player Awards, as well as the New York Power Brokers and MLS Innovators awards.
This post was last updated Jan. 12, 2024.
If you study successful people, you will see that most of them have very structured days. They know what they’re going to do because they have already built routines into their day-to-day (think Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and his bland wardrobe). They know what they are doing the minute they wake up, and they know what they are doing at night to get ready for the next day.
Routines of very successful people are amazing to follow. Do some Googling, and you will quickly find out how people spend their days and what you can learn from them.
Below are the three most essential routines that every real estate agent should implement into their day. These routines can set you up for success as soon as your alarm goes off.
Evening routine
I wanted to start with this routine because it is the one that is the least talked about but arguably the most important. The evening routine is crucial because it sets you up for the next day. This routine can incorporate many different things, from reading to meditation to stretching. I highly suggest picking out your clothes for the next day and setting up your to-do list by order of importance.
OK, so the to-do list makes sense but picking out my clothes? Yes, pick out your clothes. Follow me on this. Every morning you wake up, and your brain is at total capacity or full battery, and throughout the day, this battery’s power goes down like any other battery.
By the end of the day, we are running on “low battery.” So why waste your full battery on something so remedial, like picking out your clothes? Instead of wasting full-battery momentum staring at the clothes in your closet, simply choose an outfit the night before.
Then in the morning, you already know what you will wear, which is also a great trick to help save time in the a.m.
Your evening routine doesn’t need to be a long list of things to do but rather a few things that will set your next day up for success.
Morning routine
The morning routine is what you do the second your alarm goes off.
Side note: If you are struggling to create a morning routine, I highly suggest you check out the book The Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents. I read it every year as a reminder of my morning routine.
What do you do next? Do you check your email or Facebook? If you do either of these, I’d suggest trying to hold off until later. They are time-sucks that will eat up all your full battery. Instead, use the time as soon as you get up to set yourself up for success for the day.
A few suggestions:
- Drink a glass of water immediately — we get dehydrated throughout the night, and our body needs to rehydrate immediately to start operating properly.
- Exercise
- Meditate/visualize
- Recite affirmations
- Review goals
These are five things I do every day when I wake up. After I am done with these, I shower and get ready for the day. I make my coffee, drink more water, and then start reading my customized Apple News app on my phone and all of the newsletters I have signed up for (this is the first time I look at my email — I get about 30 newsletter emails a day with all of the info on what is going on in the world).
This is my personal time when things are quiet, and I can relax a bit before my day starts to get crazy.
I do not respond to an email before 9 a.m. Unless there is an urgent email, I don’t answer any emails because as soon as I answer that email, I typically get a response, and I don’t want anything to interrupt my morning routine. My routines are way too essential to my success, and I refuse to allow anything to cause me to lose focus on what I need to do.
‘Office’ routine
This routine can be called whatever you want. It’s the items you must get done first thing for your business. Things like prospecting, following up on any previous day listing showings, or following up with buyers you took out the day before. These are the items that directly impact your business. They should be items that will keep you focused and on task. You should do these items daily, no matter what.
I have a lot of things I want to get accomplished each day, and each day is different. I have a core of things I always do and have additional items depending on the day.
For example, I write my blog on Tuesdays and post it on social media on Thursdays. So my Tuesday to-do list has this as part of my daily routine, and Thursday has a to-do for me to post it.
How you organize your day doesn’t matter; just make sure you plan it. The more you make sure you are accomplishing the important items for your business, the more success you will have.
Bonus tips
The best advice I can give is to time-block your calendar for your daily routines. Put your routines into your calendar, so you get reminders about them and see them daily.
For example, I have an “event” on my calendar at 6 a.m. that says: Work out, Meditate, Affirmations, Review goals. It pops up every day on my phone as a reminder for me, and it is one of the many reminders I have on my calendar each day.
Write down your daily to-do list items somewhere you can easily access and check off as you do them. I use Evernote for my “office routine.” Every day I know exactly what I have to get done first, and I always make sure to knock out those to-do’s, even if they happen later in the day.
The more you can stick to your routines, the more you will set yourself up for success.
Mike Opyd is the broker-owner of RE/MAX Next. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
