Defeat The Time Assassins That Are Killing Your Momentum – Episode 55
Every advisor I speak with wishes that they had more time. But the truth is, it’s not just about the number of hours in a day—it’s about how we use them. For elite advisors, capacity is everything. Building capacity allows you to serve more clients at a higher level, scale your business and still live the extraordinary life you desire.
The challenge: Too many advisors are plagued by what we call time assassins—hidden traps that quietly steal your productivity, energy, and growth.
The good news: You can identify and eliminate those time assassins in your practice, freeing up your ability to build true capacity. Here’s a look at how to vanquish the time assassins, courtesy of Val Chaney, CEG Worldwide’s managing principal of coaching.
Defining time assassins
Chaney defines time assassins as those reoccurring activities and mindsets that get in the way of advisors being able to truly serve their highest and best clients effectively. These are the things that keep advisors focused in their business instead of on their business.
Chaney sees four especially prominent time assassins at work within advisory practices:
- Over-servicing unprofitable clients, who prevent advisors from engaging in the highest and best forms of the work that they do.
- Being inefficient in client meeting preparation, the client meeting itself or the follow-up to client meetings.
- Saying yes to activities that advisors should be delegating to a team member or a staff member, or eliminating altogether out of their business practices.
- The administrative downward spiral of emails and fighting fires that are coming up throughout the day because their processes are ineffective.
Eliminating these (and other) time assassins gives advisors the capacity—the time, the energy and the clarity—to actually go out and focus on right-fit clients, work with centers of influence, and be really strategic in their planning and the activities that they’re doing for their business and for their clients.
Identifying your assassins
To understand which time assassins are targeting you, conduct a simple time audit. Look at your calendar. Where are you spending your time and your days, and what are the activities you’re doing? That’s easy to track on a weekly basis because it’s right there on your calendar. Those are the things we’re looking for. Are you spending all of your time putting out fires? If so, you know you have an assassin lurking in your business.
In addition, consider your energy: What’s your energy like when you’re doing certain activities? Pay attention to your body and your mental clarity. Are there activities you’re doing that are adding little value to moving your business forward? If so, there’s a time assassin lurking there. Remember, being busy doesn’t mean we’re being productive. And when advisors start to look at their calendars and really notice the activities they’re doing and the impact it’s having on their energy and their mental clarity, they are often shocked to find that most it is out of alignment with their growth goals.
Eliminating the assassins
Got a handle on your time assassins? Take them out with action steps such as:
- Be ruthless about saying no. When we think about the term “assassin,” we think about ruthless striking forces coming against you. That means you have to flip that around and be ruthless in your prioritization. Utilize your power to say no to low-value tasks and either eliminate them or hand them off to team members who are energized by them. Instead of asking yourself if you can do a task—of course you can!—ask: Should I do this task?
- Systematize processes so they’re repeatable. Put standard operating procedures in place around your processes so they can be followed consistently, time and time again.
- Get really skilled at delegation. Trust your team to take ownership of tasks and duties, and get them off your plate.
- Leverage technology as much as possible. There are AI-assisted note takers, CRM automation, scheduling tools and so on. All of those things, and plenty more out there, can help to eliminate time assassins.
Chaney’s final advice: Don’t wait for that “perfect moment” to get going on this. That moment will not come. Start now. Start small. Eliminate one assassin at a time—and watch the positive ripple effects that take place when you do.
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