What do you need to be happier now?
What do you need to be happier in a little while?
What do you need to be happier later?
Dennis Mosely Williams is a coach to financial advisors. He and his business partner, Tom Frisby, have worked with me on some processes and implementation items in my practice.
Dennis posed those questions to me on a phone call once, and I have been asking clients these exact same questions over the last few years.
Ask them to yourself, but take them one at a time, and write down your answer.
What do you need to be happier now?
It’s a great question. It should be easy. But once you get beyond the simple stuff, like “an ice cream cone would be nice” or “maybe a new car”, it gets harder.
What do you need to be happier now?
It should be thought-provoking. Peace of mind? Belief that things are going to work out in the end. That “this” isn't all there is. That what I am doing is meaningful and important. There is a lot more to say here, but you get my point. Write down your answer.
What do you need to be happier in a little while?
Well, beyond the in tepid and short-sighted list of “better pizza and bagels and an even newer car” I would say deeper connections to clients, friends, and family. Real family time and fewer distractions. More impact with clients and friends and those I care about. Which, of course, leads to better relationships.
There is more I could go into, but this is more about you. Write down your thoughts.
Now for the last question.
What do you need more of to be happy later?
Easy for me. Memories and experiences. Memories I will look back on and smile and laugh and share. Experiences that I will rekindle with family and my wife and kids about how cool it was or how crazy it turned out in the end.
Once again, write it down.
You can go through this exercise a year from now and some answers will be the same and some will be different. That's cool. That means you are growing but that you are also grounded.
What's next? Share your answers with those you love. And ask them the same questions and write it down.
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Alex Bishop, CRPC®, MS, is a Private Wealth Advisor and Franchise Owner with Bishop Financial Partners, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 23 years. To contact him, https://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/alex.h.bishop or alex.h.hishop@ampf.com.
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