Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

We’ve all got our weak points. How are you managing yours?
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When I was training for the Olympic Games, it was imperative that my head stayed still. As a backstroker, once that head starts moving around, you waste a lot of energy and you slow down. It’s like turning the steering wheel of a car everywhere: you go all over the road, you use up more gas, and you take far more time getting to where you want to get to. So, it’s important to keep that head still.

To do that, I had to swim, often times, with a cup of water on my head. Now swimming with a cup of water on your head takes a lot of practice – you’ve got to go very, very slowly with your stroke, you’ve got to hold that head perfectly still, and many, many times that cup would fall off my head. People who were watching me train would look at me and laugh. They would often joke around, not believing that I was actually preparing myself to swim in the Olympic Games. It could have been a little bit embarrassing if I had lost track of what I was really trying to achieve.

It can be exactly the same way for us, as advisors: we can all have weak points in our everyday business practice that we have to strengthen up.

• You might find it difficult to concentrate. So to do that, maybe you want to timeblock fifty-five minutes on, then ten minutes off to relax a little bit.
• You might find it difficult to input notes after a meeting. So to do that, you need to build a habit of immediately after that meeting scheduling an extra fifteen minutes after each appointment when it’s time to put in your notes.
• Maybe you’re turning up to your office first thing in the morning without a routine and simply getting distracted with email and with frivolous activities that really aren’t going to add anything to being most productive. Maybe you need to set your first three tasks at the end of the previous day so once that day begins, you know exactly where you are going to get to and can be focused on taking that very first step.

So,

1. Recognize those challenges in your everyday routine, or sometimes in your personality, that can cost you.
2. Consider how you are going to fix them. Maybe it is allocating a specific time block to putting in those notes and then taking a break.
3. Be patient with yourself, but commit to following this routine.

You’ve got to strengthen up those habits and those distractions, so to speak, so they become stronger points for you in your everyday business. Shore these up, and you’ll continue to make yourself a stronger and more effective advisor.

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