Real Estate Analyst seeking insight into how YOU stay organized and what systems you've adopted that allow you to maximize your time and be efficient.
Quick background: I am a CRE analyst. I previously worked at a publicly traded capital markets intermediary before they were bought. Here I worked for three investment sales teams managing an extensive workload ranging from underwriting, due diligence, market research, deal memo creation, and everything in between. Since my departure, I've continued to work as a real estate analyst independently. I am currently in discussions with a few real estate capital advisory firms for full-time employment. 

As I look back on my experience working for a large firm, I feel I lacked in two areas:

1. **Staying organized** \- I had a hard time organizing my hefty to-do list, prioritizing, keeping all parties in the loop, managing multiple deadlines, communicating effectively and efficiently so as to manage expectations.. to name a few. 
2. **Creating a system that allowed me to work "smart"** \- in other words, I found myself taking too long on tasks I've done in the past, having a hard time absorbing new information, reinventing the wheel when I didn't have to, etc. I lacked a system that allowed me to maximize my time and work efficiently and work "smart."

I am seeking any advice or insight into how YOU stay organized and what systems you have in place that allow you to maximize your time and be efficient without sacrificing on quality. I don't want to make the same mistakes I made at my previous job. Thank you, sincerely, in advance.
[{"id": "ff7z4fu", "text": "I\u2019ve found the most effective system for \u201cTo-Do\u201d tasks is Trello. It just makes sense for me visually. Other than that, pen and paper, excel. I try to keep it simple - the less the better for me.", "replies": [{"id": "ff8015d", "text": "Thank you. Did you use Trello with your team or independently?", "replies": [{"id": "ff914l9", "text": "Trello is great either way as it connects to many apps + you can automate things!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ff969p0", "text": "Our whole team uses it, and when we partner with other teams for certain projects, we integrate boards. I can't speak highly enough about it.", "replies": [{"id": "ffaj02e", "text": "Awesome - thank you so much. I will check out Trello. Really appreciate the insight.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ff93tv7", "text": "I\u2019ve tried to use the task manager in outlook too.  I think it is useful if you keep updating it and are consistent. \n\nFor me personally pen and paper work great cause it\u2019s easy to access when something comes up and it feels so much better physically crossing it off than clicking a mouse.", "replies": [{"id": "ff96ce5", "text": "exactly - physically crossing something off a list registers in my mind that the task is complete.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff7zhx9", "text": "Two things that helped me:  \n\n1) learning how to communicate when my plate was full and they need to prioritize what they want from me.  Schedule all your recurring projects and block off the requisite time on the calendar.  Get your team on board with it\n\n2) making my bosses mock up what they want the deliverable to look like.  Saves you from wasting time.  Lots of times people don\u2019t know what they are asking for until they see it and this can be solved early on with dummy data.", "replies": [{"id": "ff80d13", "text": "Thank you - this is very helpful. \n\nA few questions about our first point:\n\n1. Did you ask your team directly what they need prioritized? \n2. When you blocked off requisite time on your calendar for projects, did you invite your team to the calendar event so they could see what you were working on? Were you generally able to get everything done in the time you allotted for yourself?", "replies": [{"id": "ff8vcgn", "text": "first part of #1 was key for me. However, I work on a smaller team, so it is easier for me to understand what projects have priority.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ff8z60x", "text": "1 - generally it\u2019s clear what needs to be the priority.  If not, tell them what you have going on so you can both establish a realistic timeline.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fff5y82", "text": "1 - It really depends on where the work is coming from and how well you can read the social/team dynamics.  If you have \"urgent\" projects for 3 different parties/managers in a larger group who don't really talk to each other you have to do your best to manage it on your own.  If those managers work closely together you can sometimes have them talk out prioritization and make a deal.   Best case there is a way to figure out what they really need by asking questions.  Why do they need this?  What problem are they trying to solve?   Sometimes you can figure out a way to answer the question without doing the legwork they had in mind.    \n\nIn the case where it's just one person giving you the projects, you can easily just ask for priority.   \n\nOne word of caution though is you shouldn't always have to rely on asking.  Some situations will be obvious and you have to be able to read the room.  If you ask every time you have a couple things going on, people will think you need your hand held all the time.  Think like the managers - what would make your job easier if you were them? Do that.\n\n2.  At a previous job I would block off certain time slots every day and let people know that was my best time for productivity and they need to let me work.  This was just a meeting with myself.  Projects can be really hard to spec out time it will take, so no I didn't always get it done.  Repetitive things are easier to know but one-off projects that don't have comparable prior work product on the shared drive would be harder.  I spent many nights working to 10pm or later when I needed to follow through but this was when I was on a PE deal team that had a lot of fire drills.  In my current gig, I have a lot more control over my schedule and can manage expectations and timelines on the front end.  \"I can't do that until the week of the 21st\" is a very reasonable reply.  But this is all after 'paying dues' and parties being able to rely on me giving them what they want.\n\nLast couple tips - \n\nif you're not borrowing from prior work a your company, you're doing yourself a disservice.  Steal the good stuff from projects you heard went well.  Ask coworkers if there's a good model for X that you can check out.  Never duplicate work that you don't have to.  You don't get extra points for building stuff from scratch.  Steal something that works and make tweaks!\n\nHopefully you are working on your technical skill set and making you're you're getting more efficient every time you do something.  Be willing to work extra time to figure out a better way to save yourself time down the line.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff8069u", "text": "I\u2019ve been using \u201cMicrosoft To Do\u201d for a few weeks now and it has been amazing. It allows your team to create \u201ctasks\u201d in outlook and it pops up right on your phone or iPad. You can also flag certain emails in your inbox and it will show up there as well. It\u2019s a pretty user friendly way to communicate and stay organized on your daily tasks and deadlines. I keep my iPad next to my computer and just constantly check to keep myself on track.", "replies": [{"id": "ff887zt", "text": "Thank you. This is also really helpful. I'll check this out.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff8a13n", "text": "Completely off subject but shoot me a PM if you want help picking which capital advisory firm to work with. I work for a lender and all of our opportunities come from various brokers and I have good connections nationwide in that space.", "replies": [{"id": "ff8cfo4", "text": "Thank you! I'll shoot you a message right now.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff8oq5x", "text": "I use onenote on Microsoft office. Have a to do list on my front page, then organized tabs with notes and such for each deal I\u2019m working on", "replies": [{"id": "ffaj5fs", "text": "Thank you. Do you use OneNote for all your deal notes or do you also hand write notes?", "replies": [{"id": "ffat3wf", "text": "I use onenote for all deal notes EXCEPT for property tour notes (can\u2019t really type while touring the property, i use a notebook). But I\u2019ll rewrite my tour notes on onenote when on the plane coming back home, helps me rehash my findings and rethink the deal.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff91aka", "text": "A big thing is automating small tasks - this requires connecting of apps - so try to figure out what the top 3 base systems you want to use then build from there. The more connections they support the better.\n\nHowever, it requires some trial and error - what\u2019s works best for someone else may not work for you.\n\nBest of luck!!", "replies": [{"id": "ffaj7lq", "text": "Couldn't agree more! Thank you - I really appreciate your insight. \n\nWhat systems do you use?", "replies": [{"id": "ffb0v18", "text": "I love Trello &amp; in 2018 they acquired butler which was wonderful!\n\n[quick article](https://blog.trello.com/custom-fields-automation-with-butler?hs_amp=true)  from a year ago on the trello blog - great resource.\n\n[\u201cTrello allows real estate agents or business owners to track the progress of each project and more easily manage the momentum of the company workload. This tool is especially suited to the real estate sector, and even features custom made real estate Trello boards for those in a rush.\u201d](https://www.bravodemand.com/blog/real-estate-marketing-tools/)", "replies": [{"id": "ffbis19", "text": "Thank you! I checked out Trello and feel its the right tool to help me get organized.", "replies": [{"id": "ffcafs5", "text": "Really look into what you can connect to it as well - you\u2019ll find things that you didn\u2019t even know about too.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff9ekfi", "text": "Tips for prioritizing as a broker.. \"Do what makes you dough\"", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ff9y9q4", "text": "Surface pro with pen and Onenote have been a revelation.", "replies": [{"id": "ffaj95b", "text": "Thank you. I've heard great things about Surface Pro. Appreciate your insight.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ffh0wm3", "text": "I know you posed the question, but I\u2019d like to ask you a question if you don\u2019t mind. What is a good path for becoming a CRE analyst? I am in college and it\u2019s one of the jobs I\u2019d like to aim towards.", "replies": [{"id": "ffsot3q", "text": "An analyst is a great job out of college. You would apply for entry-level analyst positions. While you\u2019re in school, take up a few internships if possible to figure out what kind of analyst you want to be and at what kind of shop. There is brokerage, capital markets, development, etc.", "replies": [{"id": "ffspf8k", "text": "Awesome! What do you like about your job?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ffuyt9a", "text": "Various note pad to do lists in my phone. One over all to do list. And multiple per deal checklists that move me along. It\u2019s genetic but has simplified my life drastically over the years.", "replies": [{"id": "ffxbvd8", "text": "Thank you!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fjc6sp2", "text": "Hey late to the game on this one but I am super interested. What sort of specific work did you do as an CRE analyst? You list a few things in the first few sentences but was a primary focus of you work straight number based using comps or what? Sorry if that is super general of a question it just sounds neat.\n\nSecondly, from that what made you go independent and how did that work out for you?\n\nI am new to the game so I am curious about your story so any insight would be awesome to hear. Thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]