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Do you have a clear picture of what your success will look like for you?

When I begin working with advisors, coaching them, I ask them to think about what success looks like and what they want to experience four years from now. What will they actually be building toward? What, when they achieve it, will give them the greatest feeling and sense of satisfaction? What will it do for their time? How will they feel when they achieve those opportunities open to them?

They need to have a very clear mental picture for where they want to get to, and then, in as crisp a picture as they can, put it down in either words and/or actual visual photos. The power of a picture is so important!

So, take a look at this picture. What do you see? Not a whole lot. Obviously it’s a building site, but other than that, you can’t really see what’s going on. That’s why when municipalities are building things like this – when they’re having contractors construct buildings – they also have them provide a picture just like this. It’s so that people who are inconvenienced – with sludgy cement water coming down the street, or by those long hay bales that are protecting the street causing the pedestrian crossing to be cordoned off – so those who are inconvenienced for the time being can see a picture of exactly what is going on and what this is all for.

They can look at the picture and realize this is worth it; this is where they are heading. This is what is going to be built, but this is just the initial stage for right now. It helps people get over the temporary inconvenience.

You, as an advisor, need to have a clear picture of where you’re heading.

When I started swimming when I was eight years old, the following year, in 1976, I saw the Montreal Olympics and saw this image of John Naber. I cut that image out and put that on my logbook so I would see it every single day.

Then, twelve years later, this was the shot of me at the end of my performance. You see how similar those two images are. That image of Naber was seared into my brain: that’s where I’m heading.

You, as a financial advisor, need to have the same clear picture for where you’re heading.

So,

• Take some time to construct a clear picture of what you’re building. Get away from the office, maybe for half a day when you’re planning, and use visuals like I used on my logbook to put down exactly what you’re trying to achieve.
• Look at that picture constantly. Each day, obviously, when I was swimming, I was recording stuff in my logbook, so I’d be looking at the image of Nabor daily, and realizing, “Hey, this is all worth it. This temporary pain is worth it because that’s where I want to head.”
• Keep excited about that image. Recognize that the short-term challenges, short-term inconveniences, or seemingly some of the short-term setbacks are OK. Take those in stride. Those are all part of the process, getting you toward achieving that final perfect picture of what true success is going to feel like.

Once you get there, all those issues and challenges are going to fade away, just like, once that construction site is built, people will forget having to cross the road and being inconvenienced because they have a beautiful, grand structure now that they can totally enjoy.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.