Making sure you do what you know you should

“I know I should.” Have you ever uttered these words — and then still not taken the necessary action?

“I know I should.”
Have you ever uttered these words — and then still not taken the necessary action? Whether it is changing dietary habits, management methods or parenting style, each of us has our own list of “shoulds.”
What keeps us from making these important changes?
There are several possibilities:
• We aren’t convinced that change would make a difference.
• We don’t know how to change or what to change.
• We are creatures of habit and sometimes act without thinking.
• We are lazy, and it takes too much work and discipline to change.
• We are too impatient to wait for the positive results that come from a change.
When I work with financial planners, the “I know I should” phrase invariably pops up in connection with specific activities. Here are the five that most frequently nag at financial professionals:
Creating an annual written business plan. This helps you consciously think about what you most want to accomplish over the upcoming year. An annual written plan helps you stay focused and enhances your ability to be proactive. It also increases the likelihood that you will be more thoughtful in daily decision making. Mental planning without a written version doesn’t count. When a planner passionately argues that he has a defined plan in his head, I ask him to take 15 minutes to write it down. The process reveals that the adviser doesn’t really have a plan at all, but rather a jumble of thoughts and ideas.
Actively managing. Management is supposed to bring out the best in employees and help ensure that everyone works together to achieve a firm’s goals. Maintaining current job descriptions, conducting performance reviews, holding regular staff meetings and providing opportunities to learn are just a few examples of active management. By being an active manager, you give employees the tools they need to do the best job possible.
Actively listening. You can’t hear others when you are talking. But active listening is more than just not talking; it is engaging yourself in the moment and devoting all your attention to the speaker. Active listening is free, yet it can create a client or employee experience that is priceless. Crafting well-attuned questions, paraphrasing and summarizing are all skills the active listener practices.
Creating work-life balance. Life should be about more than just making money. Successful people master the art of living a well-rounded life. Balancing work, family, recreation and everything else that contributes to our humanity prevents us from “hitting the wall.” In today’s busy world, we tend to ignore situations that aren’t presenting problems. But if those involve our health, our kids or our significant others, we shouldn’t take them for granted. Balance helps us count our blessings and prevent crises.
Practicing what you preach. You are always telling your clients about the benefits of sound financial planning. Whether saving for the future, making sound decisions about current investments or budgeting, having a plan is important. But do you take your own advice? You should be a model to others and do for yourself and your business what you always advise your clients to do.
So you get it — these things are important. But how do you go about making the necessary changes? There is no one right answer, but here are some tips to help you on your way.
• Focus on one change at a time. Don’t attempt to reinvent yourself overnight. One critical change can take a year to make.
• Translate the change you are making into a SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timely) goal.
• Keep a trend line on how you are doing with the new behavior. For example, if you need to stay within a budget for your firm, monitor the number of weeks or months you are successful.
• Reward yourself. Psychologists claim that this can work wonders. Many, though, find this powerful technique too fluffy — or maybe, because most of us are used to giving ourselves whatever we want, it is just too difficult to fathom. If that is the case, consider making the reward a result. For example, if you complete your work in 40 hours a week for the next year, you will donate $1,000 to your favorite charity.
Get support. Whether it is a coach, a study group or a colleague, find someone who understands what you want to change — and why. Schedule regular times to address your progress.
Each of these is a best practice. Planners are always clamoring to learn about what others do to become successful. But among best practices, one of the best is that successful planners actually implement the actions they know they should.
Joni Youngwirth is the vice president of practice management at Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Mass.