Focus on the One Thing You Need Get Done Today, Tomorrow (and Next Year)

I don’t care how disciplined you think you are; the Holidays are a time of huge distraction. Even in a normal year, it’s easy to let slip our to-do lists, budgets, client follow-ups and timesheets when gift lists, parties, family gatherings and travel plans are tugging at our subconscious. That’s okay. If ever we needed a reason to celebrate with friends and family it was 2020.

Just realize that it could be tougher than ever to get refocused when the calendar flips over to Monday January 3, 2021…. especially if you’re still working from home.

You may not like what you’re seeing when you finally confront your bathroom scale, your credit card statement or your overflowing inbox, but eventually you must pay the piper. You’re not going to reverse a month’s worth of letting your guard down in one day. Don’t let that put you in a post-Holiday funk.

Hint: New Year’s Resolutions rarely work. There is a better way.

Two of my unofficial mentors--Randy Shattuck and Josh Patrick--have some great suggestions for managing your re-entry back to the daily grind.

According to Patrick, founding partner of Stage 2 Planning Partners and host of The Sustainable Business podcast, highly driven business owners and professionals try to get too many things done at once. That’s because their boundless energy and determination makes them feel invincible.

“When I was in younger, I would always have 20, 30, sometimes 40 projects that I wanted to get done,” recalled Patrick. “I spent all my free strategic time starting at this list, wondering what to do first. I would create one, then start another, and then another with nothing ever getting finished.”

Sound familiar?

Ultimately Patrick discovered the concept of “working on a backlog” in which you never allow yourself to work on more than on one or two projects at a time. Everything else should go into a backlog. According to Patrick, you take those 10, 15, 20 projects that you’re desperately trying to attack today, make a list, and score each project on a scale of 1-10 based on importance. Then choose the one or two projects with the highest score and you work only on those projects until they’re done. Isn’t that a lot better than playing Task-List Whack-a-Mole?

Josh’s latest video has more great prioritization tips.

Shattuck agreed. After years of working with leaders of professional service firms, he said he’s learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work to produce growth. Turns out lack of focus--not lack of time--is the real culprit.

“Most leaders of professional service firms can define their top priorities with broad brush strokes, especially when establishing annual plans,” observed Shattuck in a recent Forbes article. “But it’s the stuff of everyday decisions and tasks that get in the way. Most people are so overcome by the minutia of little tasks that the big ideas never get the time or energy they deserve. This is a major problem because big ideas are the ones that produce growth,” added the founder of  The Shattuck Group consultancy. 

Randy believes it all boils down to two things: Getting things done and Focusing on The One.

1. GETTING THINGS DONE. With GTD, you write down everything rattling around in your mind and then categorize the list according to three simple criteria:

a) Do it now, for simple tasks you can do right away. “These are gratifying because it makes you feel really productive,” related Shattuck.

b) Do it later, for longer-term tasks.

c) Do more research, for tasks that are not quite actionable yet.

Shattuck believes the real benefit of GTD is getting things out of your head so you can fully focus on what really needs to get done right now. That requires a different approach that he calls “The One.”

2. FOCUS ON THE ONE. Shattuck admits he worked 80 hours a week when he first started his firm and would immediately tackle every single task that popped up. But after about five years of near-burnout his mindset shifted. Instead, Shattuck said he started to look “very closely” at how certain activities produced growth while others did not produce growth, even though each task on his list was considered important. “That’s when I began to ask myself this all-important question: ‘What is the one thing I need to get done today to ensure we keep growing?’”

According to Shattuck, the activities that produce growth are not necessarily more time-consuming or more difficult to achieve than other tasks. “But if we don’t prioritize them, they won’t get done or they will only get done at half the level of effectiveness that we need.”

As our client Kyle Walters explained in a recent Accounting Today article about The 64/4 Rule….a whopping two thirds of our results (64%) come from just 1/25^th (4%) of our time and effort. Think about that when you feel overwhelmed by your ever-growing To-Do list. Two-third of your results come from just 4 percent of time!

Conclusion

Most New Year’s resolutions fail because we set goals that are too ambitious, too hard to measure or too easy to defer. And that stems from not being honest with yourself. Take a page from Shattuck, Patrick, and Walters. Ask yourself what absolutely must get done today and how much you can reasonably do in a day--and do well. It won’t be an easy transition (trust me I know). But you’ll eventually find yourself with a lot more clarity which will translate into working fewer hours, while spending more time with the clients you like and ultimately higher revenue.

What’s your take? Please share. I’d like to learn more

#practicemanagement, #focus, #timemanagement

Advisors: Do You Suffer from ‘Smartest Kid in the Class Syndrome?”

“Early in my career, I used to get very excited whenever clients came in for a consultation or review meeting,” said Kyle Walters, an L&H CPAs partner and author of The Personal CFO. “I really thought they were coming in to learn about all the latest developments I was following in accounting, tax and personal finance. It took me about 10 years to understand from their body language that they were just zoned out, waiting patiently for me to finish my lecture so they could ask the only relevant question—“What does this mean for me?” added Walters, a longtime HB client and regular columnist for Accounting Today.

Walters said it’s like taking your car to the mechanic and having to spend hours listening to him explain the details of what’s wrong with your crankshaft or carburetor. Unless you’re really into cars, you probably don’t care. Walters said that for years he was like Tony, the overzealous mechanic from the Seinfeld show. “My wife would hear me on a call and say, ‘You shouldn’t talk so much; they don’t care as much as you think they do.’”

Don’t talk down to clients

According to Walters, you don’t want to overwhelm clients with how much you know, and you NEVER want to talk down to them (or worse, talk down to their spouses). That’s not only arrogant; you’re implying they’re not smart enough to understand a tax-related subject. Chances are they’re smarter than you, which is why they have the means to afford a professional CPA and other financial advisors.

No offense, but they’re just not interested in taxes, asset allocation and Monte Carlo simulation. They’re coming to your office to get advice—not a jargon-filled finance lecture about RMDs, NOL, EBIDTA and Alpha.

By the way: The spouse who talks the most in the meeting with you is very often NOT the financial decision maker in a married couple. On the elevator down to the lobby, guess who’s giving the thumbs-up or thumbs-down sign? Hint: It ain’t the husband. And who is most likely to switch advisors after her husband passes away. Right again!

Clients appreciate simplicity, not complexity

Again, too many advisors think clients are impressed by how much they know about the new tax reform, or Modern Portfolio Theory or estate tax laws. In reality, they will be rewarded if they can simplify all of a client’s financial issues and say: “Here’s what all this means for you and you’re going to be OK if you do the following things. These are the next steps,” Walters added.

This is where advisors have a really hard time: Clients don’t want to pay you for data. They’re paying you for advice and educated recommendations so they can make smarter financial decisions.

Conclusion

If you’re still in doubt, use the “What / So What / Now What” filter……Don’t just give clients The What (i.e., data and information). You need to give them the So What (i.e., What does it mean for me?) and the Now What (i.e., What Do I do About it?). They’ll be glad you did and so will the people they refer you to.

What’s your take? Please share. I’d like to learn more


#practicemanagement #thoughtleadership #thepersonalcfo 

Two Simple Vocal Techniques for Reducing Stress When Presenting

By Tina Dietz, guest columnist

If 2020 wasn’t stressful enough, now we have the Holidays, year-end deadlines and uncertainty about everything from tax rates and vaccine rollout, to the estate tax exemption to PPP loan forgiveness (or not).

What happens to your voice when you’re in a state of tension, stress, fear, worry or anxiety? Your shoulders naturally raise to protect the vulnerable throat and neck. That’s not great if you’re meeting with an important new client, delivering a presentation, or appearing on a webinar, podcast or radio show.

The throat is the main conduit between your body and your mind, representing the link between your thoughts and feelings. When you create more freedom in your throat and neck, you open your ability to express yourself more effectively and generate a greater sense of confidence and wellbeing.

The musculature of the throat is incredibly complex, with fine, interwoven connections that provide flexibility of movement. We often that freedom of movement for granted until we spend too many hours at the computer or experience high-stress levels. Then we notice that awful tension in the throat, neck and shoulders.

While there’s no machine at the gym to exercise your neck and throat, you can use your voice to release the tension in your throat and, really, your entire body.

Here are two techniques to consider for reducing your stress levels immediately:

1. Sigh like my Italian grandmother.

My great-grandmother was a 4’5” marvel of efficiency and energy. In the afternoons, when she allowed herself to rest in her chair for a while (usually while crocheting something), she would repeatedly release a deep sigh. At the time I wondered why, but now I know that she was releasing tension in her body.

Take a deep belly breath in through your nose and allow yourself to sigh it out. (Bonus points for allowing any sound to come out with the sigh.) The long exhale combined with the vibration of the "ah" sound triggers your parasympathetic nervous system and your body’s relaxation response.

If you’re trying to feel more relaxed before you work with a client, enter a meeting or wind down at the end of the day, this is one of my favorite exercises. 

2. Try the One-Word Rant.

My e-book, Problem Solving in 10 Minutes, shares a creative problem-solving technique I developed based on our the human tendency to worry and complain. Often, our concern is driven by something we are deeply committed to. Otherwise, we wouldn't get upset!

A shortcut version of this technique is the One Word Rant. The word is, "WHY." Why? Because that's the question we're really asking ourselves at the heart of our stress and upset.

"Why is this happening?"

"Why are they doing/saying that?"

"Why can't I feel better?

When we allow ourselves to express our frustration in a safe, quick and healthy way, the brain and body respond with a cascade of hormones and neurotransmitters that make us feel good, such as epinephrine and testosterone (yep, even for women) and we sense more clarity and feel more focused.

The technique is simple. But you'll want to be in a private, quiet place to use it, since it involves some vocalization. I've been known to do the One Word Rant in my car.

Ideally, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or wider, and semi-squat like a sumo wrestler. Throw your hands in the air above your head, take a deep breath and loudly exclaim “WHYYYYY!" You don't want to strain your voice or throat, but you definitely want to express your "why" loud and proud.

Yes, I’m serious. I’ve facilitated the One Word Rant in groups as large as 50 people0—including business leaders-- and the results have been amazing. The simplicity of the "why" allowed the group to bond without having to explain or share a lot of personal feelings that may have caused them to feel vulnerable. At the same time, that shared experience of making a loud noise together in unison elevated the energy in the entire room. The group collectively felt heard and acknowledged.

The chemical cascade of hormones and endorphins the One Word Rant releases is simply wonderful. Generally, this technique is more energizing than the Italian Grandma Sigh, so I tend to use it if I’m having a frustrating day or if I need to boost my energy before speaking or a meeting.

The One Word Rant is also a fabulous tool to show your kids to help them learn to shift their stress and state of mind quickly, without a lot of "talking about it" that may be difficult for them to articulate or stressful to share with a parent.

Conclusion

We lead busy lives and we quick solutions. Whether heading to the podium, the studio, the conference room or simply into rush hour traffic, try these techniques this week to reduce your stress and keep yourself going and growing.


Do you have a surefire technique for calming your nerves when the pressure is on? Please share. I’d like to learn more.

Tina Dietz is an internationally acclaimed speaker, audio publisher and podcast advisor to HB Publishing & Marketing Company. Visit her at Twin Flames Studios

The Power of Your Byline

Even in this digital age, a bylined article is one of the most effective tools available for establishing credibility with your target audience. Putting your name on a published work positions you as an expert in your niche—a leader among your peers. It draws attention to the stature and strength of your firm and it helps differentiate you from the competition and other pretenders.

As author and motivational speaker Denise Brosseau has said: “Thought leaders are the informed opinion leaders and the go-to people in their field of expertise. They are trusted sources who move and inspire people with innovative ideas”

As our annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ revealed, publishing bylined articles is the SECOND most effective thought leadership tactic out of more than two dozen tactics we surveyed. Half of respondents (50%) rated bylined articles “highly” or “extremely” effective—a number which has risen to to nearly 60 percent since the pandemic began. Among firms expecting double-digit growth in 2020, nearly seven in ten (68%) rated bylined articles “very” or “extremely” effective for establishing thought leadership.

Look at the multiplier effect of recent bylines from HB clients taking part in our Just in Time media outreach program:

•  RANDY FOX (Two Hawks Consulting) has a regular monthly column in WealthManagement.com: 
  
  
• BRAD KRAUS (James Capital Advisors) was recently published in Commercial Observer:  Bye-Bye Boutiques
  
  
• KYLE WALTERS (L&H CPAS) has a biweekly column in Accounting Today.
  
  
• BLAKE CHRISTIAN (HCVT, LLP) was recently published in Accounting Today  (6 ways opportunity zone expansion can aid COVID-19 recovery). This led to interviews in The New York Times  (Despite Challenges, Opportunity Zones Provide Much-Needed Capital , The Journal of Accountancy (Companies Rethink the Office Amid Coronavirus Pandemic) and Globe Street (What Biden Could Mean for Opportunity Zones).
  
  
• DR. GUY BAKER, Ph.D. (Wealth Teams Alliance) was recently published in Thrive Global (Everyone’s Situation Is Different). This led to interviews in Forbes (What You Can and Should Do About Your 401k Fees), Fox Business News (Mortgage refinancing is about to get more expensive — here's why). And US News & World Report (What to Consider Before Getting a Reverse Mortgage in Retirement).
  
  
• KAREN KOCH (Bedford Cost Segregation) was recently published in AICPA Tax Insider
  (R&D tax credits: A valuable cash infusion for businesses), which led to guest columns in Midwest Real Estate News (The myth of the 179D EPAct and the $1.80-square-foot deduction) and guest speaking opportunities at numerous state CPA Societies.

How to get bylined articles published

Even if you don’t have well established relationships with journalists and editors, getting a bylined article published is not as daunting as you might think. Just remember, the media doesn’t owe you anything. The media doesn’t exist to make you famous or to help you sell products and services. The media exists to keep powerful people and organizations in check, and it exists to keep its readers and followers as well informed as possible.

That’s where you come in.

Look at the publications, newsfeeds, websites and blogs that you read regularly. Which ones do you admire most? What holes in their editorial coverage can you help them fill? With newsrooms shrinking across the landscape, busy editors love having knowledgeable and reliable outside sources they can tap for a quick quote on tight deadline. They love having reliable outside contributors who can submit a well-written, well-researched article on time--one that resonates with their readers. 

Make a busy editor’s job easier

Few have time to have time to play golf, have lunch, or grab a cup of coffee these days. But they WILL respond to a relevant pitch that shows you’re familiar with their work, their editorial style and their target readers. Reach out with a brief email, phone call and contact on twitter or LinkedIn if possible. Share links to other relevant things you’ve written or presented about the topic you’re proposing. It’s okay if that work has never been published.

Make sure to follow up multiple times after pitching—say at weekly intervals. Journalists are extremely busy people. Just because your story didn’t get picked up a week or two ago, doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of publication today. The world changes fast. Have a thick skin. Be persistent without being pushy.

Whatever you do, DON’T SEND A COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT OR ARTICLE ON SPEC. That’s a rookie mistake and editors hate that. Just submit a brief outline of your proposed article and make it crystal clear to the editor what’s in it for them and what’s in it for their readers. It’s not about what’s in it for you.

The resources section of our website has more about making a busy journalist’s life easier.

Conclusion

As motivational speaker, Jay Baer, has said: “A thought leader is someone with proven expertise and experience who isn’t afraid to share it with the world without direct compensation.” Doesn’t that sound like you?


What’s your take? I’d love to hear from you.

#bestpractices, #thoughtleadership, #bylinedarticles, #pressmentions, #PR,  #Denise Brosseau, #Jay Baer