One of the most important aspects of emotional well-being is having a sense of control over your time. In fact, financial advisors often describe one of the benefits of financial planning as helping people manage their time by giving them the financial freedom to do what they love. Likewise, one way advisors themselves can stay happy and prosperous is by having the ability to spend time doing what they find most valuable and fulfilling.
A 2021 Kitces research report on what really contributes to advisors’ health supports the idea that the happiest advisors feel in control of their time. Survey data shows that “thriving” advisors (those who report higher overall happiness) spend more time on client “core” activities (such as meeting with clients and developing financial plans). spending less time on other activities such as administration and back-office operations. When compared to “struggling” advisors who reported less well-being. Successful advisors also worked fewer hours each week than struggling advisors, not only spending more time fulfilling their clients’ work, but also spending more time fulfilling their non-work pursuits. It suggests that you spent a lot of time on it.
But it wasn’t just the amount of time spent on each task that mattered to the advisor’s health. The autonomy felt by advisors in how they spend their working hours—the ability to choose which tasks to work on in a day—encouraged advisors to actually spend time doing work they enjoyed. became. And although the ability to enjoy this autonomy may be determined by some factors beyond the advisor’s control (such as experience), all advisors can use it to optimize how they manage their schedules. There is a way. Observe a significant improvement in happiness.
One method that strategy advisors can use is time blocking. That means blocking a certain amount of time on her calendar for a specific task or one of her projects. Creating this focused time doesn’t just help eliminate the distractions and inefficiencies of constantly switching back and forth between tasks. It can also make advisors’ tasks more efficient and effective if they are immersed and engaged in their work without interruption.
There are several ways advisors can implement time blocking in their work. ‘Themed days’ give each day a specific purpose, so tasks are automatically categorized on the day they ‘belong’.Alternatively, the “ideal week” method incorporates the business When A personal goal for advisors who want to work less than the traditional workweek. The “Surge Meeting” schedule also allows advisors to block out certain months or weeks of the year so that all clients can attend his meetings, leaving the rest of the time for other projects or vacations.
Regardless of the method, time blocking works best when the advisor is not preoccupied with other tasks. This may require a certain amount of creativity to eliminate distractions and find ways to organize tasks so that they are handled at the right time rather than buried in your inbox. I have. However, it may take some tweaking (and practice!) eventually, but blocking time can be a path to achieving greater autonomy and better well-being! – In the next year.
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