Organizational Skills are an Extremely Important Technology

[Paul Balyoz]

To operate a successful Real Estate investing business, or any business (really), it's super important to have a good organization system to follow to make sure you don't forget anything, don't miss anything, attend appointments and meetings in a timely manner without forgetting about them, do the things you say you will do, and so on.

I have seen so many people who have not built the skills to manage the crazy amount of information we all have these days, without "dropping anything on the floor" by accident.  The truth is, we are all human beings - and, as such, are not designed to remember too many things all at once, especially if they're tied to specific day & time, or location. We are not robots with calculating mathematical brains - we actually have creative brains instead. Our most powerful mental activity is the creative part, not the memorizing-everything part.

If you struggle with forgetting important things, times, dates, places, people names, meetings, appointments, reservations - please stop beating yourself up about it. Nobody can handle those things very well on their own.  There's nothing wrong with you. The trick is to follow a system that keeps all of your life data organized.

Understand that as your business grows, as your investments grow, you will need to retain more and more data - more and more appointments! addresses! prices! contacts! locations! Repair Lists! Supply lists! If you're struggling now, how are you ever going to handle it later when you have more abundance? You need a way to handle everything you have today, and scale it up to 2X or 3X that quantity of information, easily and comfortably. You may be holding back right now, because you have that sinking feeling in the back of your mind, "I'm going to screw this up royally when I forget important stuff; I know it."  This is an understandable feeling, and probably pretty accurate. It just means you need a way to handle all the things from now on.

Luckily, many other people have gone before us, and figured out how to do exactly that.  Some people have studied the behaviors of the most successful people in our society, and written books telling in great detail how those people successfully do what they do! You just need to find and read those books, and follow the advice, customizing it to your own preferences and environment.

The best of all of those organization systems I have ever found is Getting Things Done by David Allen. It's extremely detailed, but when followed, can help you conquer all the "stuff" of your life. It's not enough to just have a digital calendar and a list of tasks to do. We need a way of handling all the inputs - email, physical mail & bills, twitter/facebook/instagram posts, phone conversations with friends & business partners, etc.  When you have adopted a system to manage all the incoming stuff, and give yourself time to manage all of your ongoing projects at various levels, you become much more powerful at knowing what to work on next, and how to spend your time and energy for maximum results.

It may sound counterintuitive to spend some time each week just on organizing your tasks and projects, instead of getting all those tasks done - but it's worth it, and doesn't waste your time when you know what to do. GTD calls that a weekly review where you edit your task lists, project lists, and review your goals and vision plan to begin new projects that help further your goals towards your vision.

Anyway. I strongly recommend reading books like Getting Things Done to help you stay organized. I have been following those principles for about 10 years now, and succeeded in building my real estate business to a very high degree, all while still working full-time as a software developer. My software development jobs never "got me out of the rat race" after 35 years of hard work. But real estate did; it took me about 14 years. And I'm extremely grateful to David Allen and the GTD system for its powerful effect in my life, enabling me to do this.  I don't think I could have done it without a system like it.

Stop beating yourself up for missing appointments and forgetting stuff - for not having qualities you were never born with. Nobody automatically has those things. Instead, implement a system to track and remind yourself of everything going on, in a way that helps you stay focused on immediate tasks, but still retains the big-picture of what you're trying to do and why. Use a system that helps you make progress on ALL of your projects, both personal ones and business ones. It's powerful, and will let you sleep more soundly at night. At least it does for me.  So many others have done this, and you can, too.  I know you can.