Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

Even though the Olympics open tomorrow and many athletes haven’t even started competing, over the last several days, Olympic medals have already been won and lost.
…
The reason? Many athletes who had the ability to be on that podium are, right now, allowing themselves to get distracted.

When you move into the Olympic Games Village, there are a load of activities happening around you: teams are arriving at all times during the day and night, team managers are being briefed about what’s going to take place that day, and relaying information that some team members are going to be frustrated with. Teams will have their training times changed. Teams will have their lane assignments changed at the venue where they’re going to be competing. Some of them won’t even get to see that venue for a couple of days, instead being bused across town to a different venue. Some who love being with their team and thrive in that environment all of a sudden are going to find their team separated amongst 10 minivans taking them to different venues.

Others are going to hear about officials who have COVID and wonder are they under threat of catching that themselves. Others are going to hear rumors about world records being broken, even while swimmers are warming up, and they’re going to allow those kinds of rumors and that kind of “news” impact them.

Those athletes would have had the ability to get onto that podium, but now they’ve allowed distractions to come along and get in the way, ruining any chance they had to win a medal. The myriad distractions around the athletes at the Olympic Games can get in the way of them performing their best. The athletes who you’re going to see get the medals are going to be the ones who know exactly why they’re there and what got them there and are able to focus on the very day they need to perform flawlessly.

It’s the same for you as an advisor: you know exactly what you need to do to bring excellence to the job. You know what you need to do to prepare for that meeting. You know how you’re going to open that meeting. You have the right language in mind so that you close that meeting effectively, not just letting it peter out, leaving everyone wondering what’s going to happen next.

You know those steps you’re going to perform flawlessly, and you’re not going to permit anything to get in the way. You’re not going to permit headlines to get in the way. You’re not going to permit even that person’s questions—as good as they might be—to derail you from informing them of what they need to know most. You’re a professional, and you’re going to see the job through. Understand that when you do that as an advisor, when you really see that job through, you have every right to expect excellence.

But in order to get there,

1. Have a plan. You’ve got to know exactly what you want to do throughout your whole process.


2. Commit to that plan. Know the steps you want to execute and how each of those steps will go so that one leads to the next, that leads to the next. Know exactly how your process is going to finish.


3. Commit to performing those steps flawlessly. Don’t ease off as you near that finish line.

You may face a load of distractions even before your meeting begins, from an inflation report or an interest rate report to something happening within your office, like a printer getting jammed. You are just going to let those distractions float by and know that when you do finish that meeting strongly, and that person signs on the dotted line and comes on board with you as a client, you are going to share exactly what that successful Olympic athlete experiences as well. You’ve committed to excellence, you’ve seen it through, and now you’re experiencing the fruits of your hard-earned labor and attention.

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