It’s a new year and new beginnings. Each year, one out of four American adults set New Year’s resolutions. However, nearly 68% fail within the first 30 days and even more shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, financial professionals are no different. In my 30-plus years of coaching, I have seen many of them make the same common mistakes, sabotaging themselves without even realizing it.

So what’s the difference between these well-intended individuals and the 8% who actually reach their goals?

Whether your 2022 goals are to acquire another firm, launch a new product, improve your internal processes or simply just build your book of business, how can you avoid the “New Year’s Resolution Sabotage?”

Let’s take a closer look at some of the common pitfalls advisors face when setting goals. 

The Sabotage
While goal setting is an admirable activity, goal setters can end up being their own worst enemy. For example, an advisor I know seldom prospected for new clients. At the most, he spent one to two hours per month on client acquisition activities. So, for his New Year’s resolution, he was determined to spend 20 hours a week asking for and meeting with referrals—that’s four hours a day on this activity!

Not surprisingly, going from zero to 60-miles-per-hour in minutes usually doesn’t occur (unless you’re driving a Porsche or Tesla). He had set his goal so high that he instantly set an obstacle that would be almost impossible to jump over given his daily workload.

Unfortunately, when he was only able to fit an hour each day on his prospecting activities, he abandoned his goal. Depressed by his failure, he found himself hesitant to set goals in the future.

If instead he had looked at the fact that his one-hour of prospecting each day was a significant increase when compared to the one or two hours previously spent on it each month, he would have felt more satisfied with his accomplishment.

The advisor sabotaged his ability to achieve his New Year’s resolution in two ways:
1. He set an unrealistic goal that would have been difficult if not impossible to reach.
2. He didn’t give himself credit for what he had achieved.

Another advisor felt his energy level was affected because he was overweight. He set an aggressive goal to lose 30 pounds. Starting his diet off with a bang, for three weeks he ate healthier and exercised regularly. Then, on a night out with friends, he ate two slices of pizza. From that point forward, the entire program unwound.

While those two slices of pizza were not going to have a significant effect on his ability to lose 30 pounds, for this individual it spelled failure. It sent him on a downward spiral and back on the unhealthy path to eating junk food.

When setting goals, it’s important to be realistic in what you can accomplish, and be kind to yourself. Instead of focusing on the finish line, celebrate each yard along the way. Remember the fable about the hare and the tortoise? The tortoise won with sheer persistence and by taking one step at a time.

What’s Your Motivation?
While resolutions are easy to set, without carefully examining our reason for setting them, they’re really meaningless. That’s why it’s important to determine your “why”—the driving factor for setting and achieving them. To discover yours, probe deep inside yourself. “What is the reason you want to set this resolution? What is the affect your resolution will have on you? On others?”

At one time or another, most of us have set a New Year’s resolution that was health-related—lose weight and/or eat healthier. If you’ve done this, was it out of concern that your current weight might cause you to have a heart attack or lead to some other health crisis? Were you concerned with how poor health could affect your family or business? Perhaps how your absence from work would create a hardship for the people who work with you? What the financial ramifications would be? 

As a financial advisor, your goal may be business-related, e.g. increase client acquisitions, focus on team development or create a succession plan. Whatever your reasons for setting it, those are the driving factors for achieving it. They are the “why” to the resolution that will give you the focus and energy to make it happen.

Goals Versus Behavior
Often as we set goals, we only think of the “behavior” we want to change—spend more time building a successful advisory practice or schedule more time with your family. While these are worthwhile behaviors, they are not goal-specific.

There are plenty of ways you can build a successful advisory practice—become better organized, sign up for advanced training or to spend more time on productive activities.

However, goal setting requires more specificity. For instance:
• What is the goal and why are you setting it? (To increase revenues)
• Is it measurable? (Increase client acquisitions by 10% in 2022.)
• Is it attainable? How? (Ask clients, friends, family members and social acquaintances for referrals. Turn prospects into clients.)
• How important is it? (Have a positive effect on overall performance.)
• How much time are you willing to commit to reach this goal? (Hours per day/week/month)

If you ask yourself these questions each time you set a goal, you’ll find your motivation to achieve it is amplified.

A Four-Step Process
It takes approximately 21 days to form a new habit, and 66 days for the new behavior to become automatic. Of course habits can be good or bad. As American scientist George Washington Carver once said, “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

While it is natural for people to want to improve their behaviors, there is a four-step process for accomplishing positive change, whether that change consists of incorporating a positive activity into your life, such as more exercise, or eliminating a bad behavior, such as smoking.

They are:
1. Identifying the reason for setting the goal.
2. Being committed to making it happen.
3. Attacking it with consistency so it becomes a habit.
4. Making it a long-term change in your behavior/character.

The end objective is to make your goal such an intricate part of your behavior that you automatically do it without thinking. A good example is getting kids to brush their teeth. Most kids don’t see the purpose of doing this and have to be trained (reminded often). However, it eventually becomes a habit.

As adults, brushing our teeth has become part of our character—a behavior. No matter how busy or stressed we get, we always find time to brush our teeth.

Now, envision yourself prospecting each day or working out without thinking of it as a choice.  You just automatically do it. Once you can do this, you’ve succeeded in creating a habit that has become an engrained behavior.

 As we enter 2022, use this time to identify the things you want to improve, find your “why” and then establish a specific plan of action to make it happen. Isn’t it time you join the 8% of American’s who actually achieve their New Year’s resolution?

Sarano Kelley, the co-founder of The Kelley Group, is a business coach, philanthropist and co-author of The Game: Win Your Life in 90 Days. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Kelley has developed game-based performance improvement techniques that have influenced thousands of financial professionals.