self-sabotage Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Success Through Getting Ready to Get Ready

January 23, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

I’ve seen it dozens of times. Financial advisors sitting at their desks, looking busy, immersed in their work, shuffling papers, searching the internet, and reading reports. Sometimes it seems to go on for hours, even days, leaving me to wonder what they’re working towards. But one look at their production records tells the tale. There is a strong likelihood they’re working on getting ready to get ready to do what they know must be done but can’t seem to pull the trigger to get it done.

I’ve come across many advisors who consider themselves “perfectionists,” the type of people who feel the need to ensure everything is in order before attempting the task at hand, be it making calls to prospects, dealing with an irate client, or making a critical presentation to a wavering prospect. As we all know, “perfect is the enemy of the good,” which is good enough for most people.

If we wait until everything is ready before starting a task, we’ll probably never get started. Consider the analogy of a person starting their car and waiting in their driveway for all the lights on their route to turn green. They’ll probably never leave their driveway. Maybe that’s the point.

5 Ways You’re Setting Yourself Up to Fail

August 8, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

I don’t think any financial advisor wakes up in the morning and intentionally sets out to fail. But I can think of many examples of advisors who unwittingly find ways to sabotage their efforts to build a successful practice. It’s often the little things they are either unaware of or don’t recognize as problems. But they’re big enough to turn prospects and clients away from you.

While you may not think you are setting yourself up to fail, you have to consider whether you’re doing the things necessary to prepare yourself for success. That includes taking a critical look at yourself and the way you conduct business and making immediate course corrections.

While there are dozens of ways advisors may be sabotaging their business, here are five we see most often.

How to Stop Self-sabotaging Behaviors

August 5, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Behavior is said to be self-sabotaging when it creates problems and interferes with your life and goals. You may well be self-sabotaging without even realizing it.

There are many reasons you could be self-sabotaging – from holding dysfunctional beliefs to underestimating your abilities. If you don’t understand if and why you’re performing these types of actions, you will end up in a cycle of ever-increasing patterns of self-defeat. And these patterns are difficult to escape from.

Here are some common self-sabotaging behaviors you may be guilty of, with a look at why you may be doing them and how to stop.

The First Client Meeting: Are You Making Any of These 10 Common Mistakes?

March 11, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The First Client Meeting - 10 Common Mistakes

It’s all too easy to slip up in the first meeting and lose any opportunity to open the account – and this is especially true for new advisors.

In this post we’ll help you identify mistakes you could, without realizing it, be making. Take an honest appraisal – do you recognize yourself doing any of the following? If so, take action to fix these mistakes.

Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid

December 3, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Self-sabotaging behaviors can create problems, interfere with goals and ultimately put your career at risk. Without even realizing it you could be a victim of self-sabotage. Be honest and identify the traits that are holding you back so you can make the positive changes required to move forward.

Here are ten ways you could be self-sabotaging – along with some recommendations on how to do things better.

4 Things That Could Get You Stuck in a Rut

April 16, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

You won’t get stuck in a rut by chance. There’s always a reason behind a lack of career progression – from letting fears rule actions to lacking a career vision.

Here are four behaviors to avoid if you want to prevent yourself from getting stuck in a rut.

You Don’t Have to Fear The Competition

February 6, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

You, like many other advisors, may feel you work in a highly competitive environment where the competition is trying to outmaneuver you every step of the way. In reality, however this isn’t the case. As is true of any profession, most of your competitors are not fully engaged on most days. They show up for work each day unmotivated or with an ambivalent attitude. If you, unlike other advisors, develop superb soft skills, have a great work ethic, and exude positivity – you’ve already beaten the competition hands down.

Take Action Now if You Want to Succeed as a Financial Advisor

August 29, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Financial advisors often fail or stay at a mediocre level because they procrastinate. They don’t understand that success requires looking to the future, setting goals and working hard to achieve those goals. Instead many advisors think they can get by day by day on the bare minimum. Unfortunately, success doesn’t just ‘happen’. No matter how talented you are your star won’t rise unless you get proactive about growing your business.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others – Focus on Your Own Success

April 4, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Comparing yourself to other advisors and idealizing their qualities while underestimating your own abilities is a self-defeating habit, yet many advisors constantly do this. Believing that there are other advisors out there who are “better”, “more accomplished” or “more successful” than you can set you on a downward spiral because you feel you can’t measure up.

Thrive on Rejection – Don’t Let It Ruin Your Financial Advisor Career

December 7, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

In order to succeed you need to prospect, open accounts and get referrals. To achieve these aims you need to face your fear of rejection. Rejection is an occupational hazard so rather than fear rejection you must find a way to thrive on it. Coca Cola sold 400 cokes in their first year. Henry Ford’s first two companies went under. They obviously learned to thrive on rejection. And if you don’t too you will halt any chance of success dead in its tracks.

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