I had started writing “The Toughest Person to Lead” post for today but my mind kept going to an excellent tweet I had read…So I thought of experimenting with a different format. My goal with this blog (and all that we do)  is to always deliver a lot of value (through meaningful content, tools, scripts, ideas and insights) and impact your life (while helping you build the wealth firm of the future).And I take this goal seriously. Let me know if I am falling short on this front. I sincerely hope you enjoy it…With that, let’s dive into today’s post.

How to Not Realize Your Potential…

Saying I am too busy/I don’t have time now…I will do it tomorrow…

Even during the lockdown, some responses were “Let the lockdown get lifted. Let’s do something then”. A winning attitude on the other hand “What can I do NOW to grow my business faster than before? What can I do NOW to prepare myself and transform my business?” You have 2 clear choices. Your decisions and actions will determine where you end up. Your future and that of your Firm is solely based on the decisions and actions you take today.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

Listen from people who have never done it before themselves…For example, a MFD (with an AUM of Rs.1000 Crore) listening to a Rs.100 Crore MFD on what he should do to grow…or another MFD (with an AUM of Rs.100 Crore) asking someone with an AUM of Rs.3 Crore on what to do.

My objective here is not to belittle anyone (I would never ever do that). Each one of us has something valuable to offer…But the key is to find the right WHO to seek counsel on your problem or objective.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

Attend Conferences…Read Books…Read this Blog and Simply Do Nothing…

How to Not Realize Your Potential

Start Something…Quit as soon as you hit the first roadblock…The best part is that many quit forever. An example that comes to mind is that of an investor who Invests with confidence …then Panics and Sells…and never invests in the stock market again. “I am unlucky…or the stock market is not for me” is what this person tells himself/herself.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

Keep Saying let me think…but actually not setting anytime to think…

How many times have you said, “I need time to think?” And did you really take the time out to think?

This is the most common excuse we all have when we don’t want to do something …or when we want to avoid taking a decision/action.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

Complain about the regulators…Complain about the competition…Blame other people…We don’t even realize that we are doing this…I do it sometimes too… Does it help? Maybe for the moment when I need to rant but otherwise it’s the biggest energy sucker.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

A big one is by tolerating mediocrity…tolerating mediocre work, mediocre technology, mediocre marketing, mediocre courses and so on…

There is a lot of mediocrity around us…What attracts us to mediocrity is low costs…We shut our eyes when we see low prices…Mediocrity proponents know this well…Thus they have a simple mantra…Sell low but keep costs low by building a mediocre product…And guess what…this sells so why bother creating a world class product…

There you go…This is me complaining/ranting about what’s happening…But this is not how I intend to realize my potential…We believe in excellence and have invested in building a world class wealthtech ecosystem (including a modern platform, a wealth operating system & desktop for financial professionals, content, coaching, tools) and an amazing client experience.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By obsessing about costs… By confusing investments with costs and vice versa…By not understanding how to differentiate between an expense and an investment…By not being able to see or understand value while cost is in our consciousness…

By not investing in yourself…in your team…and in your firm…

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By not focusing on what you are getting and instead worrying about what your partner is getting…This is similar to how some investors behave when they focus only on costs or what you are getting instead of looking at the value they are getting from a world class financial professional like you. The issue is costs are easy to calculate…Value on the other hand is difficult to measure or calculate

Most distributors know collaboration is the way to go to build the practice/business of their dreams…to grow their business…to build a firm that not only clients will love but will be highly sought after by buyers…

Despite knowing this, some of them focus more on what their collaboration partner is going to get…They too focus on the costs instead of the value they can get…And the best part is they can’t see or realize what they are doing.

This behavior is fairly common because we can’t see our blind spots. The truth is we all have blind spots, and by definition, we can’t see our own.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By avoiding discomfort and pain in the short term…By avoiding change…By maintaining the status quo…

By believing what has made you a success so far will continue to keep you successful…

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By not focusing on things that matter the most…By not focusing on the essentials (the ideal client, nailing the first meeting, becoming better at amazing conversations and asking questions, having a world class referral conversation & process, mastering the habits of world class professionals, and knowing the 3 things that you need to do to grow your firm)…

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By being super busy doing things that should not be done at all…

Peter Drucker wrote, “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.”

Many of us are busy all the time… hiding behind things that don’t need our attention or energy.

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By waiting for the right time…

Just like investors wait for the right time, so do many of us…

How to Not Realize Your Potential

By doing things exactly the way your next door friendly financial professional is doing and thinking that you are different…

As George Elliott wrote, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

It’s certainly true for you as much as it’s true for me and for all of us.

The question then is, “Will you do something to realize your potential?”