Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

AdviserBlast – Quick Tips to Accelerate Your Practice

In this issue: Is learning more costing your business? Why ignorance could be the secret key to your success!

Since we were children we've been conditioned to listen attentively when others speak. It's the polite thing to do. During school we were taught to listen so we could learn and achieve. In our work lives we have been trained to listen to clients (which is wise), colleagues, and industry experts, as well as pay close attention to the news and analysis brought to us by the media.

In our age of instant world-wide communication today, there are more voices coming at us than ever before. Are you still politely listening attentively just because someone is talking?

What's the implication of constantly listening?

Because of the sheer volume of information available (and much of it is "good" information), we can get sucked into thinking we need to listen to everything and everybody to be up to date. But our efforts to be well-informed and knowledgeable by listening to the overwhelming plethora of voices speaking today is taking so much time that our actual 'doing' time is getting reduced.

When we fear missing out or appearing to be rude, we find it difficult to just say 'no' and stop listening to all the chattering voices swirling around us every day. Because we don't want to appear arrogant (as if we think that we already know everything and have nothing to learn), we can struggle to actually get down to the work of implementing what we already know to do.

The time and energy people devote to trying to alleviate their fears of missing out on new information is often greater than the time and energy they spend using what they already know to move forward productively. In this case the 'good' is actually worse than the 'bad.' At least when we can see that something is harmful or useless, we avoid it; but when the information coming at us is all good, we can spend more time on it than is fruitful. We can be slow to recognize that while it may be good information, it may often be irrelevant. And, if that then keeps us from focusing on our objectives, the information can actually be harmful. Just because it's good, doesn't make it helpful.

Are you justifying how you spend your time by saying you are learning more, when you are really getting distracted from doing more with what you already know?

Is your bid to stay informed costing you starting and accomplishing great things? You don't have to know every detail about everything! Because you are bombarded with so much information each day, start critically evaluating what you listen to.

1. Remind yourself of the strategies and tactics you have identified that you need to implement to realize your business objectives. Let these needs guide how you spend your time rather than allowing the demands of all the voices coming at you control you.
    
2. Identify your high-value sources of information, and quickly scan or simply ignore the rest.
    
3. Never be frightened to be ignorant of the stuff you don't need to know.

If you stop some of your listening this week, what can you finally start doing?

Stay focused,
Paul

Copyright Paul Kingsman 2009
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Paul Kingsman provides financial services professionals practical tools to achieve consistent, outstanding results. As a motivational speaker and executive coach, he is a sought after expert on how to make your split seconds count. Having won an Olympic medal by only four one-hundredths of a second, Paul knows the importance of keeping focused and now teaches people how to overcome distractions and achieve their own success. His experience as an adviser for Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo has given him an insider’s understanding of the unique business challenges faced by financial services professionals and an ability to guide his clients in implementing results oriented solutions.

To find out more about how he can equip you or your team to achieve your own Split Second Success® through his presentations or executive coaching, email him at Paul@PaulKingsman.com

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