Editor’s Note: This article is based on Steve Sanduski’s podcast interview with John Hyland, co-founder of Private Advisor Group. To access more than 100 interviews with industry leaders, subscribe for free to Steve’s podcast, Between Now and Success by clicking here.

“I just had this a-ha moment in my mind,” John Hyland told me on a recent podcast. “I just had this moment of clarity and said to myself, "I need to do this."

“This” was the Ironman Triathlon.

John finished the first of 11 Ironman Triathlons in 2000. The lessons from that transformative experience didn’t just improve his health, it gave him a new perspective on how to transform his business that continues to guide his company to this day.

“I think it's a great example of having a belief, having a goal and committing to it,” John says. Just like business, Ironman is not a short event. It doesn't happen in a day. It happens over years of training to get the results that you're looking for. But I think it's that perfect example of setting a goal, breaking it down to what do you need to do every week, what do you need to do every day, monitor your success, alter things when needed and just continue to focus.”

Today, John is the co-founder of Private Advisor Group, an RIA with approximately $15 billion in AUM and more than 600 affiliated advisors.

Here are three insights from my conversation with John that will help you thrive in the years ahead.

Use technology to solve your revenue gap.

Many independent RIAs are experiencing their own “a-ha” moments as the accelerating pace of technology forces the industry to evolve. Some advisors are worried about diminishing fees. Others fret about robo platforms. Still others want to let tech automate what can be automated and refocus on personal, life-centered planning at the client level.

Whatever your “a-ha” may be, having a clear vision, breaking down goals into actionable steps, and mastering metrics will be a big part of the process.

And so will technology—both how you harness it to improve your practice, and how you differentiate yourself from the services that robos and other platforms can provide faster and cheaper than you can.

John sees the tech revolution as both a challenge and an opportunity, especially for smaller RIAs. “On the challenge side, I think there's no doubt robos will capture a portion of market share,” he says. “But on the flip side for an advisor, technology makes them more efficient. They can serve more clients, more touchpoints, provide a great client experience.”

Technology is not a substitute for the human experience. Rather, it’s more like a superpower. Being very thoughtful about how and when you use technology to enhance your client touchpoints will enable you to automate the rote work while personalizing the high-value work.

Leverage your humanness.

So, what are you good at? Specifically, what are you better at that no technology can replace? What are the things you would like to get back to doing on a daily basis, if not for the grind of running your firm?

Every advisor has different answers to these questions, but a common theme for many of us is restoring a human touch to a business that the public now views as robotic: Money goes into the app, a golden egg comes out in 20 or 30 years.

If it really were that simple, then the doomsayers would be right about the financial advisory business.

“I so believe in the human connection,” says John. “I don't buy into ‘technology is going to take over this industry in a big, big way.’ I still believe when the individual and the buyer sit across the table from the client and they have empathy and they listen about what their challenges are or what they want to achieve in their life, I think that is so, so powerful if you do it right and if you're the right person for it.”

Creating those kinds of powerful connections creates clients for life. But it also takes the time, energy, commitment and focus of…well, an Ironman!

One way to leverage your humanness is to ask more life-centered questions. Past podcast guest Ross Levin is a master at asking these types of questions. He typically asks questions such as:

• What does two million dollars (i.e., insert the amount they are investing) represent to you?

• What will that do for you?

• What do you think that’s going to provide for you?

• What was it that brought you here?

• What are you thinking about?

• What are the things that you have experienced around money that you feel aren’t productive?

• What are the things where money has gotten in the way for you?

 Despite all the headlines, we’re not in a business where the best technology wins. Humanness wins.

Be more intentional in how you spend your time.

For 10 years, John was on the Leukemia Society Board. He just thought it was a great organization and he wanted to be involved. In fact, he was the president. And then, out of the blue in 2010, John got diagnosed with AML, an acute form of Leukemia. Without treatment, he’d be dead in a few months.

“I spent 30 days initially in the hospital, got me into remission, and spent five more months back in the hospital going through chemotherapy and it was a very, very dark period of my life. When I came out the other end of that, I had a perspective that I didn't have before about life and what matters. And that's when time started to become really important to me. That makes you really think about your life and what time you have and how you can control that. We all have a certain amount of time, and we all have to be really thoughtful about how we allocate it.”

You don’t have to go through a near-death experience like John did to understand the importance of time. Instead, just follow these three steps.

1. Get clear on what you value. You can use my free values clarification tool kit to find this clarity—get the tool kit by clicking here.

2. Know your top priorities. I’m still amazed at how few advisors have a formal business planning process. If you don’t, take the time to identify what your top three business priorities are and the leading activities that will drive your desired outcomes.

3. Block your time. It’s not sexy but it works. Block your calendar to ensure you stay focused on your top priorities.

This special industry.

What I love about this industry is that we’re able to put the kinds of big picture revelations John has experienced about health, happiness and time into action—both for ourselves, and for our clients. We have the ability to transform lives, but only if we’re committed to our practices for the long run. I think at the finish line you’ll find a more rewarding practice, clients whose lives have been transformed by your work, and a like-minded community of advisors who will continue to push our industry during the next leg of the race.

Steve Sanduski, CFP, is the founder of Belay Advisor, the CEO of ROL Advisor, a discovery process technology system, a New York Times bestselling author, host of the Between Now and Success podcast, international speaker and blogger.