What's on your stop doing list?

Most financial services professionals have a to-do list that is a mile long. There are clients and prospects to call. Reports to review. Service work to complete. Employees to manage. And several fires waiting for your attention. The list of what you need to do is rarely short.

Today, we want to add another to-do to your list. It’s a fun task, though. A task that focuses on the future of your business and not just work that needs to be completed. The task we’re challenging all financial professionals to add to their work week is to create a Stop Doing List.

Instead of focusing on all the things you HAVE to get done, we want you to examine every task on your plate and ask if it’s one you should be doing. The key to this is understanding that while the task might need to be done it may not need to be done by you.

• When you look over each task on your list, consider:
• Is this something you enjoy doing?
• What skill level is needed to do this task?
• How much time does this task take from your week?
• If you were to pay someone to do this task, would it be significantly less than what your time is worth?

Chances are there are many tasks on your to-do list that you shouldn’t or don’t want to be doing in the future. On some level, you probably already know this. However, creating a Stop Doing List is a simple put powerful activity that helps bring clarity to how you spend your time.

Why create a Stop Doing List? During the typical work week, you’re probably on the go and reacting to what comes at you. The tasks on your to-do list are often generated by requests from other people. Which can cause you to be more reactive than proactive.

Creating a Stop Doing List forces you out of the reactive thought process to look at the value of your time. However, it’s not enough to just have a Stop Doing List. You also need to be connected to what the Stop Doing List would do for your business if you implemented it.

• How much time would you have to work on business functions such as growth?
• Would you be able to increase your sales?
• Would your work/life balance improve?
• Could your customer service improve if some of those items were not on your plate?

When you start to look at what could be achieved if you implemented your Stop Doing List you’re thinking like an entrepreneur. You’re connected to a vision. You’re not as focused on the technical work. It’s easy to lose the vision if you’re immersed in the technical work of day-to-day tasks.

Creating a Stop Doing List helps keep you connected to what you’re creating. It forces you to think beyond today. It encourages you to build a business that is bigger than yourself. And the good news is you don’t have to build your business without help. We have a set of proven best practices that will help you achieve your Stop Doing List. You just need to decide that you’re ready to start.