The way you start the beginning of the year will define how the year unfolds for you. Set yourself up for success by creating good habits. Change your habits, change your life. You are always just a handful of habits away from creating your best life. Yes, it really is that simple. I recommend implementing the following habits right away:
- Focus on things and events you can control and stop worrying about things you can’t control. Focus on your prospecting activity such as calls, emails, and marketing. Do not focus on outcomes.
- Exercise daily, even if it’s just a walk around the block or 10 pushups. Do something (anything) every single day. How will physical exercise help your finance practice?
- You will have more energy
- You will have sharper focus
- You will enhance your mood; exercise releases endorphins
- You will have improved ability to prioritize, allowing you to block out distractions and better concentrate on the task at hand
- You will have improved memory (scientifically proven)
- You will enjoy increased productivity
- Place a book near your bed so when you wake up, you can easily read one chapter instead of checking messages or scrolling through anti-social media. Feed your mind something positive every morning.
- Set blocks of time in your calendar to accomplish important tasks. This way, you can’t make the excuse you don’t have time to get things done. This includes prospecting. If you block off a time in your calendar for prospecting, you remove all those excuses.
- Using positive words throughout the day will impact the way your mind operates. Change “I can’t do this” to “I can’t do this yet” or “I’m in the process of learning how to do this”. Your prospects and clients can sense if you are timid or unsure of yourself. Speaking with conviction will go a long way to convincing prospects to work with you.
- Learn how to say no to things you don’t want to do, or to people you don’t want to meet. Take control of your time. Become laser-focused on things that will help you and your practice grow.
- Stop watching news. It’s 99% negative and toxic. Want to be depressed and anxious in no time? Watch the news. You are better served to read or watch something educational. As an advisor, there are endless opportunities to work on your craft. Spend an hour learning how taxes affect your clients rather than watching mind-numbing news.
- Unless you can name the show or movie you want to watch, don’t turn on your TV. Otherwise, you will aimlessly search for something to watch and you’re doing this because you are bored. If you are bored, learn something. Become inspired. Get together with a friend. I’m not suggesting never watching TV—do so if you legitimately want to watch something. Too many of us waste precious hours surfing the net or looking for something to watch.
- Create musical playlists for daily activities to inspire and keep you going. Examples would be playlists for working out, cooking, leisurely walks, and meditation.
- Remove and avoid negativity in your life. This could include disassociating with certain people. If anyone constantly makes you feel bad, it’s not worth having them around. This includes clients. If the phone rings and you wince when you see the name, it’s time to get rid of that client regardless of how big they are to your practice. Keeping them will hurt your practice long-term.
- Improve your skills every day. There’s a Spartan saying which states: “the more you sweat in training, the less you’ll bleed in battle”
By working on your skills, you will be better prepared to handle setbacks and rejections. The better you get, the more successful you will become. The more successful you become, the more valuable you will be to the marketplace. Would you rather make mistakes in prospecting meetings and lose the business? Or would you prefer to make the mistakes in training and close prospects like a beast?
