Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

When people hear my Olympic story and that I won a bronze medal by swimming my goal time, what do you think is one of the first questions I hear?
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“Imagine what would have happened if you had set a faster goal time!” That was often one of the comments I heard. And, usually when I’m speaking to a group, sometimes it’s one of the first questions—”Do you think you could have gone faster?” “Do you think you could have won gold if you had set a faster goal time?”

The answer to that is, I have no idea because I hit the time that we set. I thought I could swim my race in two minutes, so we set down a plan to achieve that. My best time leading up to that was two minutes, two point nine seconds. So dropping to two minutes meant dropping nearly 3 seconds. That’s what we believed I was capable of doing. Whether it was going to win a medal or not that day, whether it was going to win gold, or whether it was going to come stone-cold last, we had no idea. However, we had to put a line in the sand somewhere and set a goal that was right for me. That was as fast as we thought I could swim, and then, we had to wait to see what happened on the day. Nevertheless, I understood that if I hit two minutes on the day, whether I came first or eighth, I was going to leave content.

We can see the athletes at this year’s Olympics who are content with giving it their all, and, regardless of where they’ve finished, they know they’ve left it on the track, they know they’ve left it in the pool. They know they had a set objective, they’ve reached that, and regardless of what placing it’s led to, they’re content.

So often, I speak with financial advisors who are disappointed with last year’s result because they didn’t have a goal to begin with. They have no way to measure contentment. They’re just going around on that more, more, more hamster wheel. When I ask them why they’re feeling a little disappointed, they really have nothing to relate it back to. And so, I encourage advisors to set a clear objective that, should they reach it, is going to leave them content.

I was talking with an advisor last week who mentioned that he’s on track to achieve close to $850,000 GDC this year. It’s just him and one part-time assistant. When he started reflecting on those numbers, he’s getting thrilled about this, and he’s starting to realize, “This is enough, this has me content.” This is all he needs to be doing, all he needs to finish the year with. He has that objective in front of him, and he’s already enjoying that feeling of contentment because he sees he’s on track to reach his goal. Regardless of what others in his office are doing, or talking about—5%, 10% growth for 2025 and those kind of projections—he’s focused on what he needs to do to provide the most amount of contentment for himself.

I’m encouraging you to take that approach as well. But you’re not going to know where that contentment level might be unless you have recorded it first. Then you need to take the time to sit back, reflect—how would I feel upon reaching that? Would I be more than satisfied? Would I be thrilled? Would that give me the feelings and the sense of accomplishment that I’m really looking for? Ultimately it’s that sense of accomplishment and contentment that you are looking for.

Now, there’s an entire industry—the advertising industry—that is predicated upon pitching discontent. It’s based upon keeping us wanting more, more, more, more. That is not what life’s about. Life’s about finding that point of contentment so you enjoy what you’ve worked for, so you enjoy what you’ve focused on and achieved.

So, to do this most effectively, especially as we draw closer to Q4 of 2024,

1. Be clear. What is it you want? You don’t often get asked that. Most of the time, headlines or advertisements are telling us what we “need.”


2. Write it down. I’m a big advocate for recording what you want.


3. Sit back and reflect. Ask yourself, how would I feel upon achieving that? What would that allow me to do? What would that allow me to do with my family? What would that allow me to do regarding vacation times, all of those kinds of things? And figure out, does this have me content?

Once you know that objective will have you content, then it’s a simple step of setting down what needs to happen next, and breaking it down to months, weeks, and then each day. That’s all the Olympic athletes who are going to leave Paris content with their efforts have done. And it’s what you can do, too, to make sure you remain content with the business that you’re building, or maybe that you’ve already built.

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