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.

*****************************************************

Let's stay connected!

💼 Coaching with Lindsay – happyagent.co/coaching

Get personalized strategy, support, and mindset shifts to scale your real estate business without sacrificing your joy.

🎓 Happy Agent Academy – happyagent.co/academy

Your go-to resource for freebies, on-demand courses, templates, and tools to help you grow a thriving real estate business.

📩 Join the Happy Hustle Newsletter – happyagent.co/subscribe

Weekly insights, strategies, and real talk to help you build wealth, lead boldly, and create a business you love.

📲 Connect with Happy Agent Co. on Instagram or Facebook – instagram.com/happyagentco

📲 Connect with Lindsay on Instagram or Facebook – instagram.com/lindsaydreyer...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hey there, I don't know about you guys, but I am
taking a massive inhale and anexhale because all of my kids
are back to school today, hooray.
It was a incredibly fun summer.
We have been doing the summerof fun since 2022, and I love my
summers, but they are crazy andadventurous and busy and

(00:56):
amazing, but I love, love, lovegetting back into my routine.
So I thought today we wouldtalk about my focus formula,
which is basically three stepsto planning your week for
clarity and action.
It really helps how to focuswhen everything feels important.
So, for those of you who arenew here, I am Lindsay Dreyer.

(01:18):
I am a real estate coach,brokerage owner and mom of three
under 10.
I love helping agents buildbusinesses that support their
life.
I really think real estate issuch an incredible career and it
can be so flexible and it's oneof the best things.
It's just so great when you canget it to work for you.
If you haven't found me onInstagram, please do.

(01:41):
Or Facebook lindsaydryer onInstagram 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 Googlecalendar, but sometimes, if that
calendar calendar just lookslike a rainbow exploded and if

(02:02):
yours looks like a rainbowexploded, this episode is 100%
for you.
I want to talk about focus and Iknow that it can be hard when
you're a real estate agent andyou'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 theirhand held at a home inspection,

(02:22):
one transaction is goingsideways and I'm dealing with
the lender and the title companyand 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 evenhave a sick kid.
Oh yeah, there's this wholething like a real estate
business that you need to berunning.
I get it as a real estate agent.

(02:44):
You are juggling a lot and wheneverything feels important, it
is really hard to know where tostart and it's really hard to
focus and, like you just don'teven know like what you're doing
to move yourself forward.
So that's why I use the focusformula, which is a simple,
flexible weekly planning systemfor real estate agents who

(03:05):
actually live in the real world.
This is not about color-codedperfection, time block
perfection.
This is about getting clear.
It's about staying focused andmaking steady progress, even
when your life completely blowsup, which inevitably it's going
to.
If you're a mom, obviously yourlife's going to blow up at some

(03:28):
point because you have kids,and if you're in real estate,
your life is definitely blowingup because there's a fire that
probably needs to be fought,like today, or I bet it will be
tomorrow.
So let's roll.
First, I want to clear up acommon misconception, which is
you are not disorganized andyou're not bad at time
management.

(03:48):
So I want you to stop sayingmean things to yourself.
That is not okay.
You are just doing a really bigjob 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 aremanaging follow-up, you are
managing family life, you aretrying to manage your own

(04:09):
nervous system and no, I hate tobreak it to you, but usually
buying another planner is notgoing to fix it.
So here is what is going tohelp you.
Here is what will work Givingyour brain a rhythm, giving your
week some intention, some focus, and giving yourself permission

(04:30):
to do less but do it better.
Well, do it excellently, becausefocus, really, it doesn't come
from trying harder or trying todo more things.
Focus comes from clarity,constraint and being flexible.
And flexible is so key becausethat is where most people fall

(04:51):
down is that their time blockingor time management system is
not flexible for real life orreal estate agent life.
So let's get to it.
What is the focus formula?
Step one is you are going topick your weekly top three.
Your job is not to doeverything.
Your job is to figure out whatmatters most this week.

(05:15):
So you are going to look atthat to-do list that is a mile
long.
I'm sure you are going to lookat your pending deals, your
leads, your projects.
I know you have this listsomewhere.
It might be in your brain, butit might be like on a hundred
different sticky notes.
I get it.
You are going to pick threepriorities, not 10.
These are the things that ifyou accomplished them, it would

(05:37):
move your business forward orlighten your mental load.
We need to lighten the mentalload.
Examples Maybe you have on yourlist 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 toschool.
You need to launch a listing, ormaybe it's launch three

(05:59):
listings.
Those are your priorities thisweek.
I need to launch three listings, outline your Q4 marketing plan
.
Maybe you need to make sure oneof your clients gets
pre-approved.
Whatever your three prioritiesare, you just gotta land them
out, make sure they get done andthis is a bonus tip for parents
, moms out there you can includea personal priority too.

(06:19):
So if there's a family thingtaking up your brain, like back
to school shopping, that youhaven't done yet, name it, claim
it.
It absolutely counts as apriority, like anything that is
preventing you from movingforward or something that is
just weighing heavy in themental load space.
Take care of it.

(06:46):
This step is crucial to stoptrying 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 crossingthings off the list, nothing
like that dopamine hit, allright.
So that's step number one.
Pick your weekly top three.

(07:07):
Let's move to step number two.
Time.
Block the big rocks and I'mgoing to have a little caveat
with flexibility built in andthis is where agents most.
They just fall off the gridcompletely because they don't
realize that their calendar is aliving and breathing entity.
So instead of trying toperfectly schedule your week,

(07:29):
this is what I do.
I give each of my top threepriorities a time container, not
a rigid time slot.
So this could be like thispodcast I am going to block a
time container on my calendarand it's going to be larger than
an hour.
It's probably going to be athree-hour block, even though I

(07:50):
know it probably is only goingto take an hour for me to do the
podcast.
So that's spacious.
That's like planning foremergencies.
That's giving you buffer time.
So then it actually gets done.
This is about just finding thoselittle pockets of time that you
can get things done.
So it might be CEO time duringnap time, and if nap time

(08:11):
doesn't happen that week or thatday, 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 doyour best work.
You're blocking off those firsttwo hours for the most
important three things you'redoing that week.
Your calendar is yours, it is.

(08:33):
You are the boss.
You are the boss of your lifeand your calendar, and you need
to treat it as such, because Iam not all about a calendar that
falls apart like the secondyour toddler gets pink eye or
gets sent home from school withhand, foot, mouth disease which
I think they're allowed to go toschool with that, but it still
seems wrong.
I am about the kind of calendarthat allows you to adjust

(08:55):
without making you feel like atotal and utter failure, because
that is truly what it comesdown to is we're so hard on
ourselves and we're like thisjust doesn't work.
So I'm all about built inbuffer zones, because that's
what's going to give you thatflexibility.
Like where I see people reallyfall off with their time
management is that they are notgiving themselves enough time.

(09:18):
So, making sure you have thatbuffer and time block your big
rocks, which are your three,like your weekly top three that
is the key and making sure youhave that flexible buffer time.
Now step three is the Sundaysweep.
So this can be on Sunday or anyday that works for your brain
or your schedule, but I like tospend three minutes reviewing

(09:39):
and resetting, and this usuallyinvolves a brain dump and asking
myself some questions of whatfelt good last week.
What totally fell off the wagonand why?
Where did I try too much andwhere did I actually feel
focused?
And what was I doing to makemyself feel focused?
Was it the time of day Iselected?

(10:00):
Did I drink an extra cup ofcoffee?
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 forthe next week with the lessons

(10:22):
from last week in mind.
That is it Like.
This is all about just makingincremental progress Again,
progress, not perfection, butreally focusing on getting your
weekly top three done, timeblocking them with flexibility
built in, and doing the Sundaysweep where you're just
resetting.

(10:43):
It's so helpful to having aschedule that can you know, can
afford having a kid blow up or adeal blow up and not have your
momentum be completely derailed.
You are not aiming forperfection.
You are aiming for progress thatfeels aligned, that feels good

(11:05):
and the focus formula worksbecause it actually honors how
our lives work.
It's not about being disciplinedor hustling harder.
It's about deciding whatmatters.
It's about making space for itand honestly being kind to
yourself when the day doesn't goas planned because, as real
estate professionals, it usuallydoesn't and that's how you
build a sustainable business,that's how you grow without

(11:27):
losing your mind and it's howyou go from being scattered and
reactive to intentional,confident and in control, which
is honestly what I want for allof you.
So just remember you don't haveto do everything to be a good
agent.
You don't have to do it all atonce to be successful, and you
definitely do not have to choosebetween being a great mom and a

(11:48):
great business owner.
You're allowed to grow slowly,you're allowed to work smart,
you're allowed to grow withintention, and you are so wildly
capable of building a businessthat fits your life.
And I know you got this.
So talk to you next week andshare with an agent who might
need to implement the focusformula.