"Rather than becoming incrementally more successful over time, why not skip a few steps and jump right to the level where you really want to be?"

Breaking Through

By John Bowen

My firm has led many coaching and training programs for financial advisors over the last three years. When advisors enter one of our programs, one of the first things we ask them to do is to define their goals. Universally, we hear from these advisors that they want to be more successful—certainly a worthy objective to pursue.

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When we ask them to quantify their goals, however, we most often hear about incremental steps. Advisors will tell us, for example, that they would like to increase their assets under management by 10 percent in the next 12 months.

There is nothing wrong with this goal. For many people, this would be a wonderful achievement, particularly if their assets have been flat or declining for several years. However, this isn't a goal that will enable advisors to reach the highest level of success. It's just incremental growth.

When you look at your own business goals, you probably find that they too are about incremental growth. If you're like most advisors we know, people around you are encouraging you to be a little bit more successful. Everyone—even those who want you to succeed the most, such as your broker-dealer and wholesalers—is focused on discrete actions designed to achieve relatively minor objectives.

As a result, any progress toward building the business that you have always wanted is incremental. You take small steps toward small goals, without ever making a substantial impact.

To move beyond the trap of thinking of progress as incremental, you need to redefine progress completely. Rather than becoming incrementally more successful over time, why not skip a few steps and jump right to the level where you really want to be? Why not put yourself on the line to make a major difference in your business and the lives of your clients? Why not really create a true breakthrough?

What does it mean to create a breakthrough? It means performing at a substantially higher level than you ever thought possible. It means setting goals that inspire awe. It means pulling out all the stops to see exactly where life can really take you.

In contrast, the goals that most advisors set are far too small. And if a goal is too small, it doesn't get you excited. It doesn't scare you. In fact, it has no emotional impact on you at all. These are sure signs that it isn't a breakthrough goal.

Here's an example from one of our coaching clients. He had about $330 million in assets under management. His initial goal was to get to $500 million in five years. He thought he could manage this. Our thought was, "Yes, you could manage this without breaking a sweat—and do it in the first year!"

We said he ought to make it $1 billion in three years. This scared and impressed him. It upped the bar significantly and made him nervous, but it also got him excited. As a result, he is starting to change the way he is doing business to make this breakthrough goal a reality.

Of course, just setting a breakthrough goal doesn't mean that you will actually perform at that level. Turning that possibility into reality takes commitment.

Commitment is your ability to stay focused on your main purpose and your breakthrough goal. There are six stages of commitment that will enable you to achieve your breakthrough.

Stage 1: Realize what you want. This is the stand you take to achieve your breakthrough. It's a clear decision, not a wish, hope, or longing. It's a choice. It's not based on reason. For example, a decision to run a marathon is not based on reason. It's also not necessarily irrational. But it is a choice—one that requires rigor, honesty and intense focus.

Similarly, the decision to meet an objective is a choice that you make. You make that choice because you are committed to it. Why? Because you said you would. You are the sole source of this intention. And your relationship to this choice is crucial to the eventual outcome. By describing your breakthrough goal in some detail, you have accomplished the first stage of commitment.

Stage 2: Define what you want. Once you take a stand, then explore exactly what it is. What does this stand imply about who you are and who you need to be in order to live this stand? If you decide to run a marathon, you may then want to speak to others who have run marathons. You may be interested in learning and deepening your understanding of what running a marathon really means.

If you want to meet a specific business objective, you may want to speak to other people who have been successful at meeting that objective. You may want to become involved in learning programs to see what it takes to realize your stand. This helps you to define exactly what you are aiming to achieve in your breakthrough and what it will take to get there.

Stage 3: Declare what you want. After you've realized your stand and defined it, it's important to make a public statement. This is a public recognition of what you are up to. When you bring your whole self to this public statement, you can transform your relationship with your own future.

Why? Because your stand becomes part of the public discourse. It becomes a reality in terms of public expectation. It becomes a shared possibility that people make room for in their thinking and planning.

Also, others become available to support your project. They ask about it. They want to know how it's going. This helps you to experience your goal as real. It creates and defines it as a piece of public expectation and public knowledge. This type of public declaration brings your commitment one step closer to reality.

Stage 4: Plan for what you want. The next stage is to describe how you will accomplish your breakthrough. It shows how you will make your ideas a success over a specified period of time. If your goal is to run a marathon, this plan would include your training schedule as well as the people who will help you to reach your goal.

For your practice, this is a business and marketing plan that details the specific tactics that you will implement to achieve your goals. This plan becomes a road map into your future.

In addition, your plan should include specific benchmarks with timelines. For example, if your breakthrough goal is to increase your assets under management by $300 million in three years, then your plan should specify dates at which you will reach the $100 million and $200 million marks.

The plan should also describe how you will leverage the many layers of support that you will need to accomplish your breakthrough. These may include your staff, marketing partners (such as your broker-dealer), an elite advisor study group in which you participate, and a professional coach.

Stage 5: Act for what you want. Planning is great, but nothing happens until you act. At this stage, you undertake the daily and weekly activities that will make your breakthrough a success. The key is consistency—working your plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. It takes energy, commitment, enthusiasm and tenacity.

It is extremely helpful here to create a system for tracking specific results and then regularly comparing them to your benchmarks. Nothing is more effective for ensuring that you stick with your plan. When your status diverges from your plan, then you must take corrective action to get back on track. If you fail to adjust, you will probably not reach your goal.

Most independent business people fail at this level of discipline. Many are able to create beautiful plans, but they most often fail because of an inability or unwillingness to stay on track executing the plans.

Stage 6: Review your progress. Eventually, things can fall off course. Your job at this stage is to set them right. For example, it's helpful to create quarterly and annual evaluation forms for assessing your progress. These forms will enable you to make necessary strategic adjustments along the way and reconfirm your commitment.

Creating a breakthrough is an art form, not a science project. It takes practice. But it's a path with heart.

From the beginning of your career, you've wanted to build a great business. You've wanted it for yourself, for your family, and for your clients. If you're no longer content with the results you have always achieved, a breakthrough will be the key you've been seeking to transform your business.