Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

Easy question: Are these Olympic medals handed out at the end of the first lap of a four-lap race or at the end of the fourth lap of a four-lap race?
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Well, of course, those Olympic medals are handed out at the end of the fourth lap of a four-lap race. They’re not given out for starting well; they’re given out for finishing excellently.

I learned that after 13 years of training for my Olympic medal: when it came down to four one-hundredths of a second, it came down to finishing well. And I had trained for that, especially when I came over to the Cal swimming program. We practiced our finishes. We knew it’s the end result that counts.

In New Zealand, we used to spend a lot of time practicing our starts as we were tapering. We didn’t practice our finishes as much. When I came to the US that’s what we nailed. We drilled in how to finish properly. Be it on your left hand, be it on your right hand, it didn’t matter. Finishing well was what we were focused on most. And it didn’t matter how far ahead we were of the next competitors. Our job was to swim excellently, which meant regardless of how far ahead we were, we were to finish that race super strongly, as best we could.

I say that because we’re coming down into three weeks left in this year. Four weeks, maybe, but that final week when Christmas Day is on the 25th, between the 25th and New Year’s, it can get a little lighter. The chances are, as an advisor, unless you’re doing year-end tax planning and you’re needing to do that in that final week, you’re probably going to find things pretty quiet between Christmas and New Year’s. But we still have three weeks between now and then. What are those items that you need to be taking care of most?

Maybe you are in a situation where you can afford some rest days. That’s great, but bookend those. Make those specific time slots. You might need to be thinking about planning for next year, 2024. Again, set yourself time blocks where you start and stop, specifically planning. It’s easy to let these three weeks just kind of bleed into each other, be it taking some time off, focusing on some work for a little bit of time, and then easily getting distracted. After all, it’s year-end. Don’t do that. You’re a professional. Take your time seriously.

So to do this most effectively,

1. Set a plan. Look at the next three weeks on your calendar.


2. Prioritize. Look at what needs to be done thoroughly between now and year-end.


3. Set the time aside to do it and do it! Set those time blocks aside where you focus: maybe it’s for 90 minutes on New Year’s planning, maybe it’s for an hour on year-end trading to finish off this year, and then take a break. And maybe for some of you, it’s catching up on some rest. Do that.

Don’t just let the borders and activities bleed into one another. Make a definitive year-end plan, finish strongly, make 2023 a phenomenal year, and get 2024 off to the strongest start possible.

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