The Focus Formula: 3 Steps to Plan Your Week and Get More Done

If your calendar looks like a rainbow exploded and you’re wondering how you’re going to get everything done, this episode is for you.

I’m sharing my simple, flexible Focus Formula — a 3-step weekly planning system I use to keep my business and life moving forward, even when deals blow up, kids get sick, and nothing goes as planned.

You’ll hear how I:

• Pick my Weekly Top 3 so I focus on what really matters
• Time block with built-in buffer zones for real life
• Do my quick Sunday Sweep reset to stay on track week after week

If you’ve been feeling scattered, reactive, or stretched too thin, this episode will help you get back in control — without burning out or over-scheduling yourself.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Back to School and Finding Focus
• 2:24 The Rainbow Calendar Problem
• 3:58 Misconceptions About Time Management
• 5:34 Step 1: Pick Your Weekly Top Three
• 7:43 Step 2: Time Block with Flexibility
• 10:04 Step 3: The Sunday Sweep
• 12:12 Progress Over Perfection

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:34

Hey there, I don't know about you guys, but I am taking a massive inhale and an exhale because all of my kids are back to school today, hooray. It was a incredibly fun summer. We have been doing the summer of fun since 2022, and I love my summers, but they are crazy and adventurous and busy and amazing, but I love, love, love getting back into my routine. So I thought today we would talk about my focus formula, which is basically three steps to planning your week for clarity and action. It really helps how to focus when everything feels important. So, for those of you who are new here, I am Lindsay Dreyer. I am a real estate coach, brokerage owner and mom of three under 10. I love helping agents build businesses that support their life. I really think real estate is such an incredible career and it can be so flexible and it's one of the best things. It's just so great when you can get it to work for you. If you haven't found me on Instagram, please do. Or Facebook lindsaydryer on Instagram or lindsaydryer on Facebook. You can't miss me. I'm pretty easy to find. Let's dive in to this episode. So I don't know about you. I live and die by my Google calendar, but sometimes, if that calendar calendar just looks like a rainbow exploded and if yours looks like a rainbow exploded, this episode is 100% for you.

Speaker 1: 2:07

I want to talk about focus and I know that it can be hard when you're a real estate agent and you're looking at your week and you're just like, oh my gosh, how in the world am I supposed to get all of this done? One of my clients needs their hand held at a home inspection, one transaction is going sideways and I'm dealing with the lender and the title company and the agent on the other side and my client. It's like a three ring circus. You've got three showings, you've got like five calls you have to return, maybe you even have a sick kid. Oh yeah, there's this whole thing like a real estate business that you need to be running. I get it as a real estate agent. You are juggling a lot and when everything feels important, it is really hard to know where to start and it's really hard to focus and, like you just don't even know like what you're doing to move yourself forward. So that's why I use the focus formula, which is a simple, flexible weekly planning system for real estate agents who actually live in the real world.

Speaker 1: 3:07

This is not about color-coded perfection, time block perfection. This is about getting clear. It's about staying focused and making steady progress, even when your life completely blows up, which inevitably it's going to. If you're a mom, obviously your life's going to blow up at some point because you have kids, and if you're in real estate, your life is definitely blowing up because there's a fire that probably needs to be fought, like today, or I bet it will be tomorrow. So let's roll.

Speaker 1: 3:40

First, I want to clear up a common misconception, which is you are not disorganized and you're not bad at time management. So I want you to stop saying mean things to yourself. That is not okay. You are just doing a really big job without a clear system, and we're going to fix that today. Like you are managing clients, you are managing marketing, you are managing contracts, you are managing follow-up, you are managing family life, you are trying to manage your own nervous system and no, I hate to break it to you, but usually buying another planner is not going to fix it. So here is what is going to help you. Here is what will work Giving your brain a rhythm, giving your week some intention, some focus, and giving yourself permission to do less but do it better.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Well, do it excellently, because focus, really, it doesn't come from trying harder or trying to do more things. Focus comes from clarity, constraint and being flexible. And flexible is so key because that is where most people fall down is that their time blocking or time management system is not flexible for real life or real estate agent life. So let's get to it. What is the focus formula?

Speaker 1: 5:03

Step one is you are going to pick your weekly top three. Your job is not to do everything. Your job is to figure out what matters most this week. So you are going to look at that to-do list that is a mile long. I'm sure you are going to look at your pending deals, your leads, your projects. I know you have this list somewhere. It might be in your brain, but it might be like on a hundred different sticky notes. I get it. You are going to pick three priorities, not 10. These are the things that if you accomplished them, it would move your business forward or lighten your mental load. We need to lighten the mental load. Examples Maybe you have on your list that you're going to reach out to your 10 past clients, wish them a happy fall or see how they're doing with back to school.

Speaker 1: 5:56

You need to launch a listing, or maybe it's launch three listings. Those are your priorities this week. I need to launch three listings, outline your Q4 marketing plan. Maybe you need to make sure one of your clients gets pre-approved. Whatever your three priorities are, you just gotta land them out, make sure they get done and this is a bonus tip for parents, moms out there you can include a personal priority too. So if there's a family thing taking up your brain, like back to school shopping, that you haven't done yet, name it, claim it. It absolutely counts as a priority, like anything that is preventing you from moving forward or something that is just weighing heavy in the mental load space. Take care of it.

Speaker 1: 6:46

This step is crucial to stop trying to climb like five different mountains at once. When you focus on fewer things, you're actually going to finish them, and that feels really, really good. I am telling you like crossing things off the list, nothing like that dopamine hit, all right. So that's step number one. Pick your weekly top three. Let's move to step number two.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Time. Block the big rocks and I'm going to have a little caveat with flexibility built in and this is where agents most. They just fall off the grid completely because they don't realize that their calendar is a living and breathing entity. So instead of trying to perfectly schedule your week, this is what I do. I give each of my top three priorities a time container, not a rigid time slot. So this could be like this podcast I am going to block a time container on my calendar and it's going to be larger than an hour. It's probably going to be a three-hour block, even though I know it probably is only going to take an hour for me to do the podcast. So that's spacious. That's like planning for emergencies. That's giving you buffer time. So then it actually gets done.

Speaker 1: 8:02

This is about just finding those little pockets of time that you can get things done. So it might be CEO time during nap time, and if nap time doesn't happen that week or that day, maybe you're moving it to the next nap time. Or it's after school drop off, or it's when your kids go to school in the morning and you do your best work. You're blocking off those first two hours for the most important three things you're doing that week. Your calendar is yours, it is. You are the boss. You are the boss of your life and your calendar, and you need to treat it as such, because I am not all about a calendar that falls apart like the second your toddler gets pink eye or gets sent home from school with hand, foot, mouth disease which I think they're allowed to go to school with that, but it still seems wrong. I am about the kind of calendar that allows you to adjust without making you feel like a total and utter failure, because that is truly what it comes down to is we're so hard on ourselves and we're like this just doesn't work. So I'm all about built in buffer zones, because that's what's going to give you that flexibility. Like where I see people really fall off with their time management is that they are not giving themselves enough time. So, making sure you have that buffer and time block your big rocks, which are your three, like your weekly top three that is the key and making sure you have that flexible buffer time.

Speaker 1: 9:30

Now step three is the Sunday sweep. So this can be on Sunday or any day that works for your brain or your schedule, but I like to spend three minutes reviewing and resetting, and this usually involves a brain dump and asking myself some questions of what felt good last week. What totally fell off the wagon and why? Where did I try too much and where did I actually feel focused? And what was I doing to make myself feel focused? Was it the time of day I selected? Did I drink an extra cup of coffee? Did I get a good night's sleep? I like to just understand like, how am I doing my best work? Why am I doing my best work? Be curious about yourself. This is like great information, so then you can repeat your most best focused time. Then, during the Sunday sweep, I like to reset the weekly top three and the time blocks for the next week with the lessons from last week in mind. That is it Like.

Speaker 1: 10:27

This is all about just making incremental progress Again, progress, not perfection, but really focusing on getting your weekly top three done, time blocking them with flexibility built in, and doing the Sunday sweep where you're just resetting.

Speaker 1: 10:43

It's so helpful to having a schedule that can you know, can afford having a kid blow up or a deal blow up and not have your momentum be completely derailed.

Speaker 1: 10:58

You are not aiming for perfection.

Speaker 1: 11:00

You are aiming for progress that feels aligned, that feels good and the focus formula works because it actually honors how our lives work.

Speaker 1: 11:10

It's not about being disciplined or hustling harder. It's about deciding what matters. It's about making space for it and honestly being kind to yourself when the day doesn't go as planned because, as real estate professionals, it usually doesn't and that's how you build a sustainable business, that's how you grow without losing your mind and it's how you go from being scattered and reactive to intentional, confident and in control, which is honestly what I want for all of you. So just remember you don't have to do everything to be a good agent. You don't have to do it all at once to be successful, and you definitely do not have to choose between being a great mom and a great business owner. You're allowed to grow slowly, you're allowed to work smart, you're allowed to grow with intention, and you are so wildly capable of building a business that fits your life. And I know you got this. So talk to you next week and share with an agent who might need to implement the focus formula.