Episode Transcription 

This is the Ultimate Advisor Podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful, and scalable practice. Each week we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets and create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed up, you’ll be joined by your hosts Bryan Sweet, who is moving fast towards a billion dollars in assets under management, Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to hire improve their operations and company culture, and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump into another amazing episode of the Ultimate Advisor Podcast.

Brittany Anderson  01:00

Welcome back to your Ultimate Advisor Podcast. This is Brittany Anderson once again here with Bryan Sweet and Draye Redfern. And we are going to talk today about keeping your focus. Now, we have talked about shiny object syndrome in the past, there are a couple different episodes dedicated to this. But really what today’s topic how it’s different for you is we’ve spent the last two weeks talking about overcoming fear, putting fear to work for you, not eliminating fear, but making it work and help you pursue what matters most what sets your soul on fire, how you can look at failure as an opportunity for growth. And through these things, when you start actually taking action. When you are picking yourself up dusting yourself off and moving forward through the fear, you’re going to realize an abundance of opportunities. And the bottom line is for our fellow entrepreneurial minded advisors out there, shiny object syndrome is a real thing. So that’s what we’re trying to avoid as you realize more abundance in your life. As you overcome obstacles and you reach new levels of success in your business. in your personal life. We want to help you keep focused, this is a huge topic of conversation in our mastermind, I think this comes up about every single time we get together is how do you avoid shiny object syndrome? How do you decide which opportunities to pursue? And how do you make sure that you don’t get off track because success breeds more success? Bottom line. So, one of the first things to think about that I think is maybe a little bit of a shift from what you’ve heard in the past, is the only shiny object you should really be chasing is joy. So think about this, okay, it goes back to the adage of, you know, if you don’t have a full cup, how can you fill somebody else’s. So if you start out, and this is really the underlying foundation of how you build culture, I couldn’t help but bring that into this conversation, that when you’re pursuing joy, what you’re really doing is establishing values. You’re establishing what matters most to you. So, one of the things that attracts so many advisors just very bluntly into our programs, whether it’s the accelerator, whether it’s one of our masterminds, whether it’s a summit that we put on in host, one of the biggest attractors is the fact that Mr. Bryan Sweet, can take at least 16 weeks completely disconnected from his business every single year. And not only does it do well, it continues to thrive and grow. So it’s not just staying at some flat plateaued level, it’s actually realizing growth. And part of the reason for that is that Bryan has defined what joy means to him, you know, joy to him is not working, you know, forever and ever. It may have been like this in the beginning, but not working 18-hour days, seven days a week, you know, that’s not the life he’s chosen for himself. He wants one where he can travel he wants one where he can have experiences with, you know, friends, with family with clients. I mean, that’s the stuff that’s fun. That’s how you build and deepen relationships. So again, I want you to really embrace the idea, the notion that you have to stop putting yourself last to chase other people’s to do lists. Okay, so stop doing that. If you look at what you’re trying to pursue, especially as a growing advisor, we hear this time and time again, where they’re in that comparison game. They’re, you know, looking at, well, this person did it this way. So I should probably do the same thing. It’s like, Well, did you do the work of deciding what your personal values are? Because if you haven’t done that, it’s really tough to define success. And it’s really tough to keep focus, which is the whole point of today’s podcast. If you don’t understand What your own values are and what brings you joy. I can’t tell you how many advisors we’ve talked to that are stressed out, that are overworked, that are tired, they’re just tired, because they haven’t taken the time to look at what that bigger picture looks like. So one thing that you can do is, you know, think of the last time a brilliant idea was put in front of you, and how badly you wanted to pursue it. But then when in reality, you kind of took the bird’s eye view, and it was actually something that could get you off track from your biggest goals. So again, we all have opportunities that get put on the table in front of us. But what are the things that are contributing to your joy? What are the things that are contributing to a positive future to the impact that you want to make? And what are the things that are detracting to or detracting from those things, so identifying your core value system, and sticking to them? You know, I’ve referenced this before, but Roy Disney, who was the behind the scenes, he was the brother to Walt Disney, everybody knows who Walt Disney is. But Roy was the behind the scenes the operations guy, and he had a quote that floats around out there that says something like, making decisions becomes a lot easier when you know what your values are. So when you’re looking at focus, when you’re looking at deciding which fears to lean into which failures are worth your time, and energy, because the other side, the reward is so monumental, when you start identifying those things, it really helps put the focus into play, it really helps you say no, to the shiny objects, to the things that could bring you or take you off track, and really, you know, hinder you from realizing your truest potential. So Bryan, you know, we have put in play a couple things that sweet financial, and in our other businesses, you know, where we really try to filter decisions. So I’d love for you to chime in and talk a little bit about that.

Bryan Sweet  06:56

I think at one point, if you would have looked up shiny object syndrome in a dictionary, I’m pretty sure my picture was in there. So I’m pretty capable of speaking on this topic, and, and still, you know, fall back in that little disease category every once in a while. So the little filters that you talk about are really, really essential. And one of the things that I think is so important is you can avoid having the shiny objects syndrome affect you by being aware, and then having a process to review each opportunity to see is it getting me to that highest goal or my number one priority that I have, at this particular moment. And just a recent episode, where you and I were ponderings, a potentially very lucrative, very interesting opportunity. And we got all excited, and we had some meetings, and then you and I just sat down and literally went through a filter of is that really moving us forward to our biggest objective, and it became very clear, great opportunity, amazing potential, but it was very easy to say no. And that was, so it was like a burden got lifted off your shoulders by having a methodology where you could clearly define whether that’s something to take advantage of at this moment. So we use a couple of filters, ones, just the impact filter, which is a Dan Sullivan process, and very easy to determine what a project looks like, when it’s done and done, right. And then we created what we call an elf filter, E-L-F. Easy, lucrative and fun to take a word from Joe Polish. And that’s a filter that you can run through that essentially says, Is that going to help you move forward on your biggest number one B hag goal. And I would highly, highly, highly recommend creating something like that for yourself. Because it is so easy. And if you just keep your eyes open the opportunities in this industry, it’s almost scary the number of those that you can take advantage of but just because they’re there, doesn’t mean you should do it. And the more you get distracted, the less likely you’re going to get any of those done. And then that’s when you become you know, frustrated and not get the results that you want. So I was, you know, literally really proud of ourselves having made that decision. And I felt probably the best about saying no that I felt in a long time because I knew the reason why.  So that’s You know, just one really minor thing, but it’s a very easy thing that I think everybody can utilize and get immediate results. And so that’s something you should just give a whirl to. And, you know, it’s also, you know, part of a toolbox that we’ve created, and part of our dream architect process. And, you know, we plug that concept into everything that we do. And I think, part of why so many advisors are interested in licensing the dream architect process are utilizing it is because all of these things are built into that. And it’s a system where, you know, we can help clients stay on track with their goals. And, and, you know, advisors don’t really have to do anything to do that. So it’s really interesting how, you know, business experiences and client experiences, intermingle and in that capacity, and I think anytime, you can take a business decision, and especially if you work at all with business owners, share those concepts and ideas with them to help them make better decisions. It’s a great thing, because, as you can well imagine, if you have shiny object syndrome, every business client that you work with, has opportunities, and they want to take advantage of them. So if you can create your own system that works very well, please share it with your clients. Because if they can focus one, they’re going to do better, to that’ll give them more money, because they’re, you know, being more productive in their business. So they’ll think very highly, and they’ll also talk more highly evaluate other business owners, which will lead to more referrals. So Draye, maybe you could share some, you know, work that you do to keep focus these days. And you know, you’ve been doing a lot of delegating. And I know you’ve been hiring lots of employees, it’s almost scary than the number of we chat with you. So I’d love to hear more about that.

Brittany Anderson  12:10

Hey, Brittany here, stopping and pausing for a moment to talk about something that we’ve had so many of you inquire about, and that is our Ultimate Advisor Mastermind. Now, I’m going to start by saying if you are not a growth minded individual, if you are not somebody who is focused on taking your business to the next level, if you’re not focused on engaging your team, and helping them to help you in turn, level up the business, the service model, how you provide that wow experience to clients. If those things are not your focus, just fast forward right now, because the Ultimate Advisor Mastermind would not then be for you. However, if you are looking to take your business to the next level, if you want to experience exponential growth and feel supported along the way, if you want to start working smarter and not harder, if you want to help your team members to work within the God given talents that they were provided, and use those skill sets in a way they haven’t yet to help support you and your business to help them realize their biggest goals, their biggest dreams. If you want creative approaches to marketing, I know that can be an intimidating word. But we’re not talking here about the fancy Facebook stuff, or you know, the latest and greatest but rather looking at how you can market what you do, how you can express how you’re different, and how you can truly differentiate yourself in a crowded market space. If those are problems you’re looking to solve, then you absolutely want to go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com to learn more about how we can help you on your path and journey to growth.

Draye Redfern  14:09

The shiny object syndrome, I think my name would be just below Bryan’s in the dictionary. We are cut from the same cloth when it comes to that. But Bryan’s right here. So in the last six weeks, we’ve hired at this point now 11 people, which is a lot of people in a short amount of time. So we’re growing, we’re going fast, and there’s a lot of fun things that go along with that. But I think it’s easy to have focus be driven elsewhere. All of the examples that Bryan and Brittany just mentioned. I think for me, the thing that helps too, I would say put the blinders on eliminate additional distractions. Try to go from shotgun to laser, as far as the focus is concerned, is having a solid foundation that’s built on routines. So for me having a really solid morning routine and a really solid evening routine, morning routine, as I’m sure everybody’s heard of, at this point in time, like, you should limit your inputs, especially for the first hour of the day, because your subconscious is still the most active, as far as more ideating and creating high level strategies and things. So limit, you know, people inputs, phones, emails for the first hour, what a lot of people don’t necessarily think of is the evening routine, when it comes to your focus. Because so many of us, especially the entrepreneurs, and just you want to grow the practice, is, you know, we’re taking the work home with us. And then you’re thinking about it at the dinner table, when you should be present with your family or your kids. And then it’s 2am, and you’re all over. And that darn idea is not going away. And then fast forward, it’s 5am. Now, you haven’t slept for the last three hours. And now you’re going to be sluggish the next day, using some form of evening routine, to you know, limit that because you got to be sharp, you got to keep your focus. And doing those things, you know, in conjunction together, we can work really well together. So for me, by the end of the day, I’ve got like 50 or 60 browser tabs open, it’s awful. It’s an awful, awful habit, I close them, I close my entire Google Chrome windows, because then I can’t go access those things. Again, I clean my desk off. And I just get things ready for the next day or I map out the following day. Those things, especially mapping out the following day, helps to immediately like remove a lot of that pressure, but also stay focused. So I limit the distractions the following day on the computer, less tabs I can play in my day, the previous day of what exactly is going to go on. So just helps to sort of like you keep the keep the blinders on, if you will, of moving towards only the things that are the most impactful. Also, it’s not easy for me, I really, really struggle with it. Because, you know, like, it’s the old adage like, well, I could just do it myself and the half the time. But you keep taking all those half of the times that adds up. And if you were to delegate the delegate those things, you could have saved a lot of time. So for me, protecting my time, and protecting my attention is a big, big deal this year. So I am delegating everything that I can it is so unbelievably uncomfortable. But I would say that that’s one of the main reasons why we’re growing so much is because I’m getting the heck out of the way. I’m not quite to the point yet where I can pull out Bryan Sweet sort of thing and take 16 weeks off a year. But one of these days that will that will happen. Because it’s not my superhero ability to be able to do everything, can I do everything? Yes, but it isn’t my or the organization’s best interest, no. And so if there’s anything that someone else can do, they should, that is pretty much my slogan, or my motto inside of the office and all of those things together, having solid bookends to the day, the morning and evening routines. It’s foundational, it’s it limits the 3am nights, it starts you off with more of the high level creation of things of where you know what you’re doing to move the needle without all of the extra inputs. And then if you do get things that come up, delegate as fast as possible. If you’re not in a position to delegate, you know, maybe you’re new or starting practice or a budding practice, there’s a variety of things that you could still do, maybe it’s just limiting the amount of things or projects that you’re taking on at any one time, or limiting the amount of initiatives that you’re taking on, still trying to maintain your focus. And using like an impact filter of Dan Sullivan from Strategic Coach is a great way to do something like that. So lot there to maybe unpack, Brittany. But I think that those are definitely some of the things that I think have given us the ability to grow faster, without getting too in the weeds.

Brittany Anderson  18:36

You know, I think Draye you bring up some really good points there. And, you know, even going the direction of the evening routine, I didn’t know you were going to go down that down that road. And I think that’s really, really powerful. And it kind of brings this overarching theme. I mean, we’ve talked about this a little bit in past episodes, but going by this rule of three, you know, we’ve stated in our companies that if we have more than three initiatives or three priorities as an overarching theme, there is a solid chance that they’re not all going to get done, right, because you’re chasing too many things. you’re managing too many different projects. And that goes back to the focus element. Again, you know, what’s the adage that a lot of times people overestimate what they can get done in a year and underestimate what they can get done in 10 years. So you know, you have to really look at where are you able to add the biggest impact. I mean, that’s what it boils down to. So if you find yourself chasing shiny objects, I can say for myself, a lot of times when I find myself doing that, it’s because I’ve kind of veered away from what it is that I put on this world to do or put on this planet to do. I might have uncertainties. I might be letting fear creep in. There’s that word again. So a lot of times if you’re able to create routines to protect your time to protect your energy And to keep you focused on the things that you know and have identified are going to move the needle, that makes it a heck of a lot easier to say no to the stuff that comes in. So a really simple practice you can put into play that ties into what Draye was just talking about, is when you sit down, and you’re planning for an upcoming quarter, because not only do we live by this rule of three with initiatives, it’s also when we’re planning so we plan out three years in advance, we focus on the next three months or 90 days, you know, this, this three idea is something that we you know, eat, sleep and breathe within our businesses. So when you’re looking at setting initiatives decide what are the three things that are going to move me towards that bigger focus, that bigger picture, that bigger vision I have for my business? And that’s what you’re going hard on for 90 days, you know, and then looking forward and saying, you know, what is it Where do we want to be in three years, we’ve used that whole methodology from Cameron Harold’s vivid vision. So he talks about how the three year look forward, it’s kind of like stepping outside your door to test the leather, right? You kind of lean out, you kind of look forward to like I get a sense for what it is. That’s this three year timeframe to it feels close enough that it’s tangible, but far enough away that it can push you and stretch you. So all of that being said before I go into the wrap up Draye, Bryan, anything else that you’d like to happen in add?

Draye Redfern  21:26

Yeah, Brittany, I think there’s a couple things here that you know, business owners, their time their attention is spread so thin, we’ve got the attention span of a goldfish these days are less than that. And so this particular episode in and of itself, highly, highly valuable in order to actually move the needle faster and advisors business to achieve the goals they want to accomplish here in 2021.

Brittany Anderson  21:49

Awesome. Well, let’s go into the few takeaways from today’s episode. So number one, when you are looking at how to keep your focus and how to overcome fear and let failure work for you, define your joy. And it goes down to your core values. You know, some say that you should have separate core values for your business, and then separate for your personal life. But I believe there’s no such thing as that separation. Because if you’re truly leading into what you were put on this earth to do, those two things have to coincide and they have to co mingle. So when you get clear on what matters most in your life and for your life, it helps you keep your focus, and it helps those decisions become a lot easier to make. The second takeaway is to define which shiny objects are actually currently detracting you from your greatest potential. So what are the things that are thrown you off course right now, another good measure of this is doing an energy pulse. So when you look at the things that you’re involved with projects, committees, boards, you might be sitting on whatever that looks like, what are the things that give you energy? And what are the things that drain your energy. So even if you just start there, and you kind of outline all of the things that are on your radar, that may tell you which items are shiny objects, and where you should be spending your attention and your time. The third component to this and again, I didn’t think we were going to go down this route. But I think it’s so stinking powerful, is what Draye talked about with developing that evening routine. You know, I know Brian can attest to this, too. There are many sleepless nights in the entrepreneurial world. I mean, your ideas when you start ideating. And you’re especially when you’re really excited about a project. I mean, there’s times where your body literally has so much energy pent up because you’re excited about the future that you can’t sleep. So it’s not even the nagging things. It’s not even the things where you’re going through a tough time. And that’s disrupting your sleep cycle, the exciting things can do the same. And that leads to a not overly productive entrepreneur or business owner, it’s not sustainable, it might be okay, if it’s a couple nights here and there. But it’s not sustainable. In the long run, you need sleep, you need that reset button. And trust me, this is one that I struggle with too. But you got to do those things to set yourself up for your greatest success and your greatest focus. So I’m going to leave you with this comment. And it actually came to me or I was reminded of it as both Bryan and Draye were speaking today. But there was actually a show that I was watching and they were talking about how this particular individual was always known as being the jack of all trades. Now, when you think about that, that seems at face value, like a positive thing. It means you can do essentially anything and everything. But looking at the context of this comment. What it actually meant is that this person was good at a little bit of everything but great at nothing. Ouch. Right? So how can you avoid being that jack of all trades? What is your one thing? You know, if you really sat back and said, What’s the one thing that gets me excited to get out of bed in the morning, I love the quote, and this is out there all over the internet world. But it says, be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says, Oh, crap, she’s up. And that one is a huge one. For me. That’s a quote that I actually live by. Because what that means to me is that if I’m not waking up in the morning, and actually pursuing something that puts greatness and good out into the world, and if I’m not doing things to positively impact others’ lives, it probably means I’m off track, it probably means that I’ve lost focus, and that I’m fuzzy and I’m foggy. So what is your thing? What is the good that you want to put into the world? So what you want to do in order to help answer that question is tune in next week as we dive into the topic of pursuing what sets your soul on fire. That wraps up this episode of the Ultimate Advisor Podcast. We’ll be back with you next week. 

Brittany Anderson  26:20

Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you’re hearing on our Ultimate Advisor Podcast, don’t keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is to simply send them to ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the Ultimate Advisor community and we look forward to a continued relationship!