Almost all the real estate investors I know have a common complaint: They don’t have enough time.

I could remind you that we all have same amount of time, but I know you’ve heard that one already. But it’s true…and we all possess an equal share of this resource. But what is not shared equally is the skill to utilize that time to the fullest.

So what is the biggest difference maker? How are some people able to be extremely productive, while others work hard but just don’t seems to get anything accomplished?

There is a ton of training stuff, techniques, all out boot camps, and you name it on the subject of time management. In fact, if you do a google search for the term “time management”, google returned 880,000,000 search results for me.

But I believe there are two keys to getting the absolute most out of your time.

1) The ability to focus on priorities. Everyone reading this is almost certainly familiar with the 80-20 rule. You’ve probably been told more than once that you should focus on that 20%. But are you doing it? Have you actually created a list of those items that are the biggest difference makers in your business. And, do you keep that list in mind when you are creating a plan for your day?

2) Consistency. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve started some new “program” or “technique”, only to give up after some period of rime. I’ve done the same thing with many different planning systems. I’ve used the Franklin Covey planner, Tony Robbins “Rapid Planning” system, etc.

Something happened along the way with each one of these that resulted in me either moving to another system, or just stop worrying about daily planning. Sometimes it was because the system was too complicated. Sometimes I just got distracted.

The bottom line is that I didn’t consistently use a planning system day-in and day out.

You won’t get consistent results if you don’t consistently adhere to a daily planning system. It might sound boring, but consistency is boring. Consistency may be boring, but addiction to excitement can lead to inconsistency.