There are twenty-four hours in a day, seven days in a week. So simple math tells us that there are 168 hours in a week. That may be long or short depending on what you are doing. Taking care of a newborn baby – that’s a long time. Doing something you really enjoy like being on vacation, and its super short.
Want to know what I like doing every year around Thanksgiving? I take inventory of what I am spending my time doing. What am I enjoying; what am I doing that I hate. What am I doing that should be delegated. What am I doing that is frustrating. What am I doing that is adding value to my life or the lives of others.
I also list out those things that can be changed or delegated. Eating. Sleeping. Working. Doing this puts me in a mindset to list out the things that I am not doing enough of. A date night may be an example or riding my motorcycle. I list those out too.
What’s important about doing this? It helps me refocus each year. It helps me get clear on what’s important. It assists me in figuring out what I want the next year to look like.
Would I encourage you to do this? Yes. We have sometimes had clients create a list of activities that they are doing that sometimes they don’t enjoy. And we help them find ways of delegating those tasks away. Or dropping them entirely.
Should you be writing your own financial plan? Probably not. Can it be delegated? Absolutely. Same for the other areas of finances like investment management, researching insurance, reviewing estate plans, and figuring out tax strategy.
Should you be mowing your own lawn or cleaning your own pool? Maybe. But can they be delegated? Yes.
Should you be cleaning your own house? Hmm. Maybe. Maybe not. Could it be delegated? Yes. Quite easily.
If you delegated some of these items, could you free up your actual time and energy that could be used elsewhere? Yes. How much time? If the above list is on your task list, I bet about 5 or 6 hours per week. Maybe more. If you did this, what would you do with the time?
That’s your job to figure that out.
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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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