By: Nicole Slaughter Graham

Do you tell your clients that you’re available 24/7? Do you answer the phone no matter what time it is or who you’re with? Do you struggle to take time off?

In a business that doesn’t have standardized hours, it’s hard to set boundaries around your time, but not doing so can lead to unintended consequences. Time management is the latest topic of conversation on the latest episode of the Drive with NAR podcast’s REALTOR® to REALTOR® series. Host Marki Lemons Rhyal speaks with real estate professionals Vanessa Franz Barnes, CIPS, SRES and Natalie Davis, ABR, CRS, to learn more about their best tips for time management.

Lemons Rhyal starts the conversation acknowledging the fact that many real estate professionals tell they’re clients that they are available round the clock. She asks Franz Barnes and Davis their take on the subject.

Franz Barnes, who is an associate-broker with Keller Williams Realty in Celebration, Fla., noted that she sees many agents in the business struggling with the “always on” mindset and that she’s struggled with it herself. Over time, however, she’s learned that excellent customer service does not equate to being available all the time.

“It’s really two separate things. We can still provide exceptional customer service and an experience for them and have boundaries and time with our families,” she says.

Davis, a real estate agent from Denver who serves as NAR’s 2025 REALTOR® Party fundraising liaison, agrees. “I think when we initially get into this business, we have that expectation that we have to be available or we’ll miss opportunities, and that’s really coming from a scarcity mindset, right?”

She continues: “I think as soon as you’re able to prioritize what’s important to you, identify the goal and how you’re going to get there, and then setting some clear boundaries and expectations for yourself, for your loved ones and especially for your clients, helps in creating a smoother experience for everyone.”

So where and how do you get started?

Live By Your Calendar

Lemons Rhyal, Davis and Franz Barnes all agree that a planner—digital or analog—is the place to start.

“Those who live by their calendar have the ability to tell people no because they just won’t fit on the schedule,” Lemons Rhyal says.

Davis noted that every Sunday, she has a meeting with herself so she can prepare for the upcoming week. She takes a look at the week ahead in her calendar, syncs up her analog and digital calendars and figures out what she needs to do to set herself up for success for that week. She figures out who she’s showing up for in the coming days, where she needs to be, what appointments are set and where her downtime is.

Franz Barnes has a similar practice and applies the 80/20 rule to her calendar. “So, what are my 20% activities that need to be prioritized first? Which are your income-producing activities? These are those fundamentals. And then everything else really should fall after that.”

Start Your Day Right

Use the morning to set the tone for the rest of your day. Many people wake up on autopilot and go about their routine without much thought.

“I find that many agents, real estate agents especially, check email or they scroll social media—that’s the first thing they do. And that’s, to me, the worst thing that we can do because then we become reactive instead of proactive,” says Franz Barnes. When you start the day with time management and take ownership of how the morning starts, it can really make a difference, she says.

“I think it’s incredibly important to make sure that we limit distractions and we prioritize our schedule first and block the time on our schedule—physically block it. I think that’s really critical for success.”

Think in Seasons

While you’re building a foundation in the business, understand that the time required to do so will be significant, but it will pay off, and it won’t be forever. As a new agent in a new area building a new business, Davis committed to going all in for the first year. It wasn’t necessarily easy, but she said, it was worth it.

“Sometimes that does require working 50-60-hour weeks, but that was seasonal,” she says. “And then I knew once I was able to establish the foundation for my business that was going to work, from there, I could start to peel back and not have that mindset of being available 24/7 that we talk about.

Don’t Let Flexibility Fool You

Maybe you got into the business of real estate for the “freedom and flexibility,” but the reality is that for some, flexibility causes more problems than peace, at least until one learns how to manage their time.

“You need to think of this still as a J-O-B, and you still need to have structured hours,” says Franz Barnes. Consider what time you’ll go to work and what time you’ll leave, she advises.

A structured scheduled with timeframes and hours dedicated to certain tasks in the business—making phone calls, checking emails, working on marketing, building out listings—can help take some of the guesswork out of what to do next.

For more on how to structure your days and take control of your time as a real estate professional, check out the full podcast episode here.

The Drive with NAR podcast provides insights about the sales strategies, resources, industry tools and safety tips your fellow REALTORS® are using to steer their business forward and stay safe in the field. Check out past episodes and subscribe here.

Nicole Slaughter Graham is a contributing editor at REALTOR® Magazine and the manager of the YPN Lounge. Connect with her at ngraham@nar.realtor.