Pasadena: "I just completed the Pasadena marathon," said Jay as we began our coaching session. "I honestly wasn't sure I could do it. If you would have told me a year ago that I would run a marathon in twelve months, I would have told you not to hold your breath."
This was a conversation between Jay and Kevin Nichols, his performance coach. Jay had good reason to be excited. Over the past twelve months he transformed his life personally and professionally. When he first engaged The Oechsli Institute in a coaching relationship, he was stagnant. From a professional perspective, he was a seventeen-year veteran who had created a successful business—but he hadn't been growing for a couple years. From a personal perspective, although he felt fairly healthy, he had gained weight and hadn't exercised in a couple years. Initially, Jay's excuse, or rationalization, was the financial tsunami. He felt like he didn't have time to exercise and was just trying to keep his own head above water. Needless to say, this had been a radical transformation and I'm going to let Nichols tell the story.
"I explained that we're not physical trainers, but I did help Jay set some serious goals, consisting of not only business goals such as new assets and new affluent client acquisition targets, but personal goals as well,” said Nichols. One of Jay's personal goals was to run a marathon. It was something he had always aspired to and from Jay's perspective, he associated running a marathon with the peak of physical fitness. Jay had been neglecting a vital function to his professional success (physical fitness) and he was starting to realize it."
So, why is it important for an advisor to focus on a personal goal, such as physical fitness, when trying to grow his or her business? As you know, our ongoing research on affluent investors and elite financial professionals has led us to create a model of optimum business performance that we have named the "New World Advisor." The New World Advisor model includes seven components, one of which is balance. This is a component that can be easily overlooked, but as you will notice in our model, it one of the foundations of great performance.
A top financial advisor must have the mental and physical stamina necessary to perform consistently at a high level. Physical fitness is to the human body what a tune-up is to a car engine—it allows both to perform at their potential. In contrast, an advisor who neglects physical fitness has a much harder time meeting his or her potential. Let's take a look at the numbers our research has uncovered:
Average Days Per Week of Exercise
0-3: 62.7%
4: 13.8%
5: 15.3%
6: 3%
7: 5.2%
So, 62.7 percent of advisors are not getting the physical exercise they need. From this, we can deduce that more than half of financial advisors do not have the energy necessary for elite performance—consistent execution of high-impact Rainmaker activities.
You do not need to run a marathon in order to be physically in shape, but the majority of financial advisors, like the population in general, do not get enough exercise.
Incidentally, when I asked specifically about Jay's business, I was informed that he was excelling; “He is bringing in new clients at an accelerated pace and has over seventy million in his pipeline.” These two achievements should not be viewed in isolation. New World Advisors understand the importance of taking care of the balance in their lives and the correlation between personal success and professional success. This dual goal focus forced Jay to have an elevated level of self discipline and prioritize his days like never before—he had to carefully organize his time in order to exercise regularly and execute his high-impact rainmaker activities.
The beauty of it all is that Jay's fitness routine afforded him the necessary energy for his Rainmaking efforts. His demanding days of social networking, meeting with clients, holding intimate events, and numerous organizational involvements are fulfilled with the necessary energy and passion.
This brings us to the following questions:
Are you amongst the 62.7 percent of advisors who are not getting enough physical exercise?
Do you tackle everyday with vigor and energy?
Are you meeting your professional goals?
When Jay was prompted regarding how this balance component had affected his personal and business life he stated, "I feel great. I've never had more energy and confidence. I'm convinced it's having a positive impact on both my clients and prospects."
Want to assess the balance in your life? Take our FREE Balanced Lifestyle Profile Assessment and ensure that you, in fact, have this component of the New World Advisor.
Once again, we want to thank all of you who have emailed comments and questions to us. We will continue to do our best to answer each one.
If you have any topic suggestions or special requests, please contact Rich Santos, publisher of Registered Rep. and Trust & Estates magazines, at [email protected].
