Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

AdvisorBlast – Quick Tips to Accelerate Your Practice 
In this issue: Tiny steps lay the foundation for big achievements.

Do you want a steady stream of high-quality client referrals? Fantastic client relationships? A system to smoothly provide outstanding client service? To earn your CFP® or ChFC® designation/credential?

Thinking about achieving big goals can be exciting! After speaking to audiences, I always feel honored when people enthusiastically share their goals and ambitions with me. Often when I ask them what their very first step to reaching that goal is, they quickly breeze over it and instead want to talk about the thrilling end result of their activities. A vivid picture of what you want to achieve is stimulating and motivating.

On the other end of the process, the first step is not always so alluring. It can seem tiny, insignificant, and perhaps even boring. But the first step lays the foundation for what you want to build. Like a building’s foundation you may not even notice it when looking at the end result, but it is what makes the glorious building possible.

What is the first step toward your big goal?

If you want to develop a source for lucrative referrals, identify complementary professionals to build relationships with and send an email introducing yourself, inviting them for coffee to talk further.

If you want to build more intimate relationships with your clients, use a CRM system and input details about their interests, dreams, hobbies, and family members so you have that information at your fingertips when it’s most useful.

If you want to provide outstanding service, take time to create and analyze an accurate client list to identify how many people you will offer various benefits to so you can determine an accurate cost to do this.

If you want to earn a professional credential, maybe you need to come into the office an hour earlier each morning when it is still quiet to study, which means getting to bed an hour earlier at night.

Sending email, doing data entry, pulling together a client list, or going to bed at 9:00pm – none of these activities are particularly glamorous or exciting, but they may be your first, crucial steps to building what you want.

The same principle applies to health and relationship aspirations, too.

Want to lose 15 pounds? Plan your meals for the next week and go to the grocery store to get what you need. Set a time in your calendar to go for a daily walk or run. Grocery shopping and calendar planning – not enticing, but powerful.

Want to develop closer relationships with your children? Make fifteen minutes tonight to ask about their day, and just listen. Quiet, focused listening – not dramatic, but valuable.

As we approach the end of the year, it is a perfect time to start thinking about your big goals for 2015. Once you have identified those exciting objectives, make the time to identify and commit to taking the first step, even if it seems small and inconsequential in and of itself.

As the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu said, a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. So, take the first step, however trivial it might seem. Tiny steps can lead to big results.

Paul

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