Mind Over Money: How To Up Your Mental Game To Grow Your Business
“Your income can only grow to the extent you do.” - T. Harv Eker
As a financial advisor, I don’t have to tell you that you’re in a highly reactive business. Because of that - learning to manage your mental game effectively is one of the most valuable skills you can ever learn.
Over the course of your career, you will receive thousands of dollars in training. There’s training on product, platform, asset allocation and even training on money laundering – because that happens every day!
However, when it comes to the mental game, you’re basically flying solo throughout your entire career. Nobody ever talks about it. It’s almost perceived as taboo or a sign of weakness. I can assure you - it is not.
Having been an advisor and branch manager for 17 years, a coach to advisors for 21 years and ghostwriter to them for 10 – I’ve seen and heard it all. And - I can state unequivocally that advisors succeed or fail in this business because of their mental game.
Advisors get stuck in a production range they can’t seem to escape because of their mental game. They make it to a million dollars in production – or they don’t – because of their mental game. The same holds true on the way to $2 million or $5 million in production. In the big picture – your success in this business actually has very little to do with who you know, what neighborhood you live in or what car you drive. It has everything to do with what goes on in your mind.
You cannot compensate for negative thinking by working harder. You can’t outwork your thoughts. You can’t get what you want – when you’re consumed with fear about what you don’t want. You can’t expect a positive outcome when you’re consumed with negative thoughts.
Success in this business really comes down to two things and this is true whether you’re just starting out or you’re a million-dollar producer trying to get to two million. Every day - you must have the courage to start, and the discipline to keep going. That’s it. However, both require you to master and be fully in control of your mental game.
Regardless of where you are at this moment in your business and career – regardless of how successful you may or may not be right now – there is greatness within you. To reach it, you must become a lifelong student of learning how to get out of your own way. That path begins and ends with your mental game.
For most of us - our greatness isn’t a grandiose production that we perform to a full house and get a standing ovation every day. Afterall – we’re not Taylor Swift. Our greatness happens in those thousands of micro-moments throughout our day. It happens in the thoughts we think, the choices we make and the actions we take.
Each time you push through something you don’t want to do, each time you choose courage over fear – especially in the mundane everyday tasks – each time you’re kind and compassionate instead of angry and irritated, you’re building your greatness. It doesn’t matter how micro- the thought, the choice, or the action is - this is how you build greatness.
As reactive and high pressure as the business can be, it’s time to remember who you are and all the potential still in front of you. Embrace it and get comfortable with it again so you can share more of it with your clients, your family and most of all, with yourself.
This week, ask yourself this question:
What is the one aspect of your mental game if you were to change would have the greatest impact on your business and your life?
As you reflect on the question above, consider the following:
How's your self-talk - are you your biggest advocate or your worst critic?
What are your patterns?
Do you have a pattern of procrastination?
Do you have trouble following through?
How do you deal with call reluctance?
Do you battle imposter syndrome?
Are you such a perfectionist that you have trouble taking consistent action?
These are just some aspects of the mental game that advisors must master to have a successful, happy, and fulfilling career. Examine any aspect of your own mental game that personally haunts you. In the end - it doesn’t matter if you’re a financial advisor, an Olympic athlete, Taylor Swift or Travis Kelce – it all starts in your mind.
In fact, your success or failure has to happen there first before it can ever materialize in your life. That’s just a law of the Universe – like physics or chemistry and it’s how we’re designed as humans.
There’s no doubt that beginning to make changes in your mental game can seem overwhelming and even daunting at times. So where do you start?
Decide what aspect of your mental game you wish to address first.
Break the change you wish to make down into its "least common denominator."
Break your desired change into such micro-steps that it circumvents the fight-or-flight mechanism in your brain which fights any change you’re trying to make as if it’s a life-or-death situation. For example, if you want to stop procrastinating, that’s far too broad of a topic for making effective changes. Decide on one specific aspect of your business that if you were to minimize your procrastination would have the greatest impact on your business.
Take small and consistent action on your micro-steps to change every day.
Build on your successes!
It’s a good idea to check in with your mental game daily. Where did it help you today and where did it hold you back? You have the power to transform your mental game into your greatest asset - this is where your greatest growth strategy lies. It’s time to build your business past all that’s held you back in the past.
