I don't typically answer my cell phone. I don't. I'm a Realtor and I'm telling you this. You must think I'm crazy, right? Here's the thing...if I answered my phone every time it rang, I would get nothing done but putting out fires all day, every day. You would agree that's not what life is all about, right?
There are a few other reasons I don't answer my phone most of the time:
1. there may be screaming kids in the background and I'm protecting the caller on the other end of my phone from the horror of the sound of a screaming kid on the other end of the phone line
2. I may be with clients, at church, in a meeting, sleeping (see Part 2 of 5 on Napping), using the restroom, eating, showering, or just simply TAKING A BREAK and I choose not to let the telephone interrupt any of those things. I'm sure I could name a few more, but how many of you can say you've taken a call during at least one of the activities I mentioned above??? There is nothing I hate worse than when someone is in the middle of a meeting and first their obnoxious ring interrupts the entire meeting THEN they choose to take the call and actually answer it and begin talking before they get out of the room...or worse yet, don't even have the courtesy to get up and LEAVE THE ROOM! You can tell I get a little worked up over the cell phone, can't you?
NEWS FLASH:
It is not necessary for you to be constantly available to your friends, family, co-workers, boss, or clients! Stop answering your phone at inappropriate times!
3. If someone is calling me while I'm driving, and I know they are going to ask me for information that I will need to look up, I will not pick up the phone unless I can easily pull over or get into a parking space.
Whew! I'm off my soapbox now. If you're wondering how I am a Realtor and I get away with not answering my phone, its really very simple. My voice mail tells callers that I do call backs 2 times a day on Monday-Friday, and on my calendar, I have 11:30-12:30 blocked for call backs and 4-5 blocked for call backs. I call everyone back then and I'm not a slave to my cell phone.
Call backs are not the only thing I have blocked out in my paper calendar. If there is something I want to get done in a particular day, it is blocked off in my calendar. If its not written, it doesn't exist. Quit telling yourself or others, "oh, I need to get this done." or "I need to get that done." Block out the time on your calendar and GET IT DONE! It's really that simple. I've never been more productive than when I time block. Its to the point now that if I don't time block on a particular day, I feel very unsuccessful at the end of that day. Don't do that to yourself. Whether you prefer paper or electronic calendaring, Google Calendar offers a wonderful FREE system that allows you to color code things, share your calendars, and even invite others to specific events.
Get your life back...STOP being a slave to your phone and TIME BLOCK everything that is important to you! Below is a picture of my calendar. You probably can't tell, but everything that is important to me, including 3 networking events, 3 hours of calling expired listings, 3 visits to Senior Communities, 3 one on one visits, Bible Study, "Helen Time," "Owen Time," and Trick-or-Treating are all blocked on my calendar this week. Block what is most important to you this week and see if you feel more organized and efficient. Its likely you will.
There are a few other reasons I don't answer my phone most of the time:
1. there may be screaming kids in the background and I'm protecting the caller on the other end of my phone from the horror of the sound of a screaming kid on the other end of the phone line
2. I may be with clients, at church, in a meeting, sleeping (see Part 2 of 5 on Napping), using the restroom, eating, showering, or just simply TAKING A BREAK and I choose not to let the telephone interrupt any of those things. I'm sure I could name a few more, but how many of you can say you've taken a call during at least one of the activities I mentioned above??? There is nothing I hate worse than when someone is in the middle of a meeting and first their obnoxious ring interrupts the entire meeting THEN they choose to take the call and actually answer it and begin talking before they get out of the room...or worse yet, don't even have the courtesy to get up and LEAVE THE ROOM! You can tell I get a little worked up over the cell phone, can't you?
NEWS FLASH:
It is not necessary for you to be constantly available to your friends, family, co-workers, boss, or clients! Stop answering your phone at inappropriate times!
3. If someone is calling me while I'm driving, and I know they are going to ask me for information that I will need to look up, I will not pick up the phone unless I can easily pull over or get into a parking space.
Whew! I'm off my soapbox now. If you're wondering how I am a Realtor and I get away with not answering my phone, its really very simple. My voice mail tells callers that I do call backs 2 times a day on Monday-Friday, and on my calendar, I have 11:30-12:30 blocked for call backs and 4-5 blocked for call backs. I call everyone back then and I'm not a slave to my cell phone.
Call backs are not the only thing I have blocked out in my paper calendar. If there is something I want to get done in a particular day, it is blocked off in my calendar. If its not written, it doesn't exist. Quit telling yourself or others, "oh, I need to get this done." or "I need to get that done." Block out the time on your calendar and GET IT DONE! It's really that simple. I've never been more productive than when I time block. Its to the point now that if I don't time block on a particular day, I feel very unsuccessful at the end of that day. Don't do that to yourself. Whether you prefer paper or electronic calendaring, Google Calendar offers a wonderful FREE system that allows you to color code things, share your calendars, and even invite others to specific events.
Get your life back...STOP being a slave to your phone and TIME BLOCK everything that is important to you! Below is a picture of my calendar. You probably can't tell, but everything that is important to me, including 3 networking events, 3 hours of calling expired listings, 3 visits to Senior Communities, 3 one on one visits, Bible Study, "Helen Time," "Owen Time," and Trick-or-Treating are all blocked on my calendar this week. Block what is most important to you this week and see if you feel more organized and efficient. Its likely you will.
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