Welcome to the December 2008 edition of Clear Your Roadblocks To Success.
It’s 9:30am, Sunday, December 14th and I’ve just had my breakfast after shoveling the snow off the driveway and it is still snowing. I’ll go out again after I’ve finished this final newsletter of the year as the temperature for the week will be an unusual low of -10C° and a high of -3C° and I don’t want the snow to freeze on the driveway.
I’m thinking of what to offer you as we approach a challenging 2009. The best two things that I believe I can offer you are:
1.) Don’t create a vision, business plan and goals in 2009 … do it now in 2008 before the start of 2009!
2.) Give thanks for everything that you were given and for every result in 2008.
Create the time now and work on your vision, business plan and goals from December 22nd – 24th or December 29th – 31st.
Make a decision now to seize these days before 2009 seizes you like years gone by without a vision, business plan and goals.
Choose to make 2009 a year like no other year.
Create a holiday activity list of business and personal activity from December 22nd – January 4th that can include;
- Stay clear of mind over the holidays and choose to limit the consumption of alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, food, salt, sugar and television … especially Constant Negative News.
- Dream big. Use a journal to give thanks for all areas of your business and personal life. Write your vision, business plan and goals. Read A Strong Start To 2009.
- Purchase a hard copy “week at a glance” 2009 time management system. Stop kidding yourself that you can run your life on a Crackberry of Crackpod. For certain success, you need a big picture time management plan and the screens of a Crackberry of Crackpod are just too small. A big vision requires a big plan.
- Learn to eliminate fear. Read and complete the assignments in my book, “Curing The Unmet Needs Disease”
- Create a list of things to improve on in all areas of your business and personal life. After the list is complete, choose to take action on the ones that will help you to have a strong start for 2009. One of my business examples is I purchased more filing cabinets because I realized that one of the reasons that paper is piling up is because I have run out of space. Here are some other examples:
- Visit with friends and family
- Give to community service groups
- Walk in nature
- Drink lots of water and take Echinacea and vitamin B & C to counterbalance the overindulgence of the season
- Exercise
- Attend a church service
- Practice deep breathing, meditation and prayer
- Be silent for a day
- Wash your car – weather permitting
- Clean out your closet of all ill fitting and out of date clothing
- Complete one home repair item
- Commit to taking a course on personal development
- Start to read an inspirational novel
Commit to practice. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his new book that there are no over night successes and that it takes 10,000 hours to get really good at what you do. This is about working on your business versus working in your business.
What you practice in private, you will be rewarded in public.
Your outer business practice is a reflection of your inner personal practice.
What is your practice? Are you addicted to looking for what is wrong about what is right? Just like the media are committed to reporting on Constant Negative News?
This brings me full circle to reminding you that you have two things to practice over the holidays, giving thanks for 2008 which lays the foundation for A Strong Start To 2009.
Giving thanks over the holidays reminds me of a story which I have entitled, You Are In The Wrong Place that a client of Tony Robbins told the Anthony Robbins & Associates Franchisees, which I was a part of back in 1991/1992.
May you choose to commit to your inner practice to be the best that you can be and through your practice, may you meet and exceed your dreams for 2009.
Happy holidays from Laura and Simon Reilly.
This edition of Clear Your Roadblocks includes;
Enjoy the read;
Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
sreilly@leadingadvisor.com
1 877 248 6019
A Strong Start To 2009
Now is the time to create a strong start for the year by creating a strong vision for 2009. This gives your business plan a foundation, allowing you to set goals you can use to reward yourself during your journey into the New Year.
Now is the time to create a strong start for the year by creating a strong vision for 2009. This gives your business plan a foundation, allowing you to set goals you can use to reward yourself during your journey into the New Year.
Without a vision and business plan, stress and exhaustion will seep in, which contributes to low self-esteem. The two, though, must go hand in hand. When you have a robust business plan without vision, there will be loads of work with little sense of direction or feeling of progress towards your final goal. When you have a vision with no business plan, the end result usually involves chaos and frustration.
When you have both, you become strong willed, enthusiastic and confident. To create a strong vision and the inspiration to go forward, you need to look at your past.
Schedule one or two days of uninterrupted time in a place where you can be anonymous. Get away from your business and personal life so that you are not reminded of all your day-to-day busyness.
Review your 2008 calendar and write down everything you accomplished during the year in the different areas of your business. Consider: administration, computers, systems, customer service, financial, marketing, office management, planning, product development, production, sales, team building and training.
At Leading Advisor, for example, we upgraded all of our computer systems, choosing to invest in our business this year, rather than add more clients, contributed articles to Advisor.ca, gave presentations to Advocis Ottawa, Canada Life and Funeral Plans-Canada, scheduled time for quarterly reviews, published my book, created a new website and sustained reasonable sales while we expanded our vision.
Most of all, we assisted our clients to remove the roadblocks that have been preventing them from realizing their full potential.
Next to each of your accomplishments, write down how each made you feel.
Thinking about your accomplishments and the feelings that they give you, write down the positive beliefs you have today as a result – those that will support and help you realize your vision in 2009.
For example, after we published a book to help financial advisors we felt certain, committed and confident; we believe we will get our message out to more financial advisors in 2009.
Remind yourself of what you have accomplished. Reviewing your accomplishments will inspire you to go forward. Unfortunately, most of us forget what we have accomplished and fail to give thanks or even acknowledge ourselves for the great work that we are doing.
Imagine that it is December 31, 2009 and you are looking back at the year. Ask yourself the following questions and write down your answers: What did you accomplish? What goals did you set and achieve? What made you happy? These questions can be asked in all of the following categories:
- Personal – consider education, fitness, travel, income, relationships and your own sense of well being.
- Business – think about your vision, administration and office or computer systems, finances, marketing, office management, production, products, sales, your team and training.
How will it make you feel to have achieved all of these accomplishments by December 31, 2009?
For myself, writing a book required hours of dedicated concentration and focus – not my natural style or way of doing things! There were many times when I felt like quitting. One of things that I did to inspire myself was to imagine that I was at the pearly gates being asked, “Is there anything that you regret not doing?” The answer was simple – I could not let my life go by without completing my book. This strategy caused me to do whatever it took, getting up early, staying up late and working many weekends during the summer months.
Once your vision is complete, create your 90-day goals. These bring your vision into short-term focus. They’re attainable and they make it possible for you to reward yourself along the way. Identify or define a few short-term steps and you can take action on now, instead of getting overwhelmed with the “perfect” plan.
As you work toward achieving your 2009 goals, answer the following questions, in writing, at the end of every week: What are your top five achievements for the week? Why are they significant? How do they make you feel? What further progress could you make?
The answers to these questions will allow you to acknowledge your achievements and make adjustments to your game plan along the way.
A strong vision establishes your foundation and gives you the commitment needed to build your business and properly serve your clients.
You Are In The Wrong Place!
John was in the brokerage business and having lost everything, including the money of his family and friends, he walked down to the shore. John was planning to swim out and drown himself so his family and friends could get the insurance money.
As John was sitting alone on the shore, mentally beating himself up about how stupid he was, that he should have had made better choices, that he had been given incorrect information from his company suppliers, that the government should have put some safe guards in to prevent him from getting into this mess … his train of thought was interrupted by a voice that said “you are in the wrong place!”
He looked up to see a little old man standing beside him. The old man repeated, “You are in the wrong place. The ferry left from over there over half an hour ago”.
John looked annoyed and told the old man to go away and leave him alone and that he wasn’t here to catch a ferry.
The little old man persisted and again told him “you are in the wrong place!”
The little old man introduced himself as Abe and asked John why he looked so distraught. John told Abe that he had lost everything and that he had nothing left.
“Everything!” exclaimed Abe.
John said, “Yes, I’ve lost everything. I have no money left.”
Abe asked John if he knew how to make change for a dollar.
John said, “Of course I know how to make change for a dollar, doesn’t everybody?”
Abe explained to him how immigrants come to this country and they don’t know how to make change for a dollar.
Abe asked John if he could change a ten dollar bill and John said, “Sure I have two fives.”
“I thought you said that you had no money!” exclaimed Abe.
Abe asked John if he knew his way around the boroughs.
“What do you mean? Of course I know my way around the boroughs!” John replied.
“Well, immigrants who come to this country, they don’t know their way around the boroughs.” said Abe.
“What about the language?” said Abe, “Do your know how to speak the English language?”
With that, John started to understand what the little old man was getting at, and that he had assets that he wasn’t taking into consideration.
Abe asked John to go and buy a journal with his $10 and list every ability, experience, expertise, skill, strength and talent that he had, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Abe asked John to complete the task and meet him at the same place and time the very next day.
John agreed and set off to purchase a journal and went to work to complete the task that Abe had given him.
As John started to write, he could still hear his ego beating himself up about how stupid he was, that he should have made better choices, that he had been given incorrect information from his company suppliers, that the government should have put some safe guards in place to prevent him from getting into this mess … but he persisted and the more he focused and wrote and focused on his ability, experience, expertise, skill, strength and talent … the better and better he felt.
As he started to feel better, he started to come up with ways to reignite his business. He began thinking of products and services that he could offer that he had long since forgotten about. From his introspection, he realized he had gotten soft sitting on the laurels of a Bull Market and living off the spoils of easy commissions, and he had neglected to look after his client’s needs of critical illness, disability and life insurance.
John wrote well into the night and had completed a vision, business plan and goals for the next 90 days. He couldn’t wait to meet with Abe to tell him about what had happened.
When John met up with Abe, John shared how much better he felt and that he now had a new found inspiration and passion for his business and to the clients that he served.
He thanked Abe with all his heart and the asked the old man, “How did you come to talk with me yesterday?”
Abe replied, “My wife of forty years, just died of cancer and I was feeling like it was the end and I looked up and said, “Lord give me a sign” and then I looked over and saw you and you looked in even worse shape than me.”
This story goes back to 1991/1992 when my partner and I had the Vancouver Anthony Robbins Franchise. Even though our franchise had won number one in sales in 1991 for Tony Robbins’ Unlimited Power Weekend Video Seminar, we were still feeling a lot of negativity because sales results were unsustainable.
Looking back, this had nothing to do with Tony Robbins or the Franchise and everything to do with the Franchisees because many of us were in the wrong place.
All the franchisees were invited to the Robbins Research International Head Office in San Diego for a conference with Tony. There was more than a fair share of blame, fear and infighting going one.
To our surprise, the opening speaker wasn’t Tony Robbins but a client of Tony’s. I’ve lost track of this persons’ name so let’s call him John. John’s opening remark was “You are in the wrong place.”
As you approach the end of the end of 2008 and look forward to 2009, remind yourself of your clients and the difference that you have made in their lives and notice how it makes you feel.
Thank you for sharing your time.
Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
1 877 248 6019
“Curing The Unmet Needs Disease”
International Values and Behavioral Analyst, Business Coach, Speaker and Author
Executive Coaching Tips for Financial Advisors
Speaking at a City Near You