Financial advisors rely on sharp thinking and sound judgment, but both can suffer when demanding schedules take a toll. Building better daily habits can help sustain the energy and focus needed to perform consistently. In today’s FA Alpha Daily, we examine how the BEST framework can help advisors stay productive while reducing the risk of burnout.
FA Alpha Daily:
Practice Management Insights
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It’s hard to keep a clear head these days…
Financial advisors can spend over 40 hours working per week, as they have to work with packed schedules while processing high volumes of information.
To add up to that, they have to dedicate even more time to client meetings, lead generation, and prospect outreach.
Photo from Unsplash
The stress adds up fast, and it can hamper even the best financial advisors out there.
That said, you don’t have to let stress get the better of you! A few deliberate steps can help you perform at your peak while doing work that’s challenging, yet rewarding.
Pillars of A Productive Financial Advisory Practice
There is a framework that can help you remain productive and minimize burnout.
It’s what we call BEST, a framework built around four principles:
- Breathing
- Eating
- Sleeping
- Training
Allow us to walk you through what each pillar means.
Starting at the top is breathing—an action that probably doesn’t need teaching. But here’s the thing: An intentional focus on breathing can bring mental clarity.
Focusing on your breathing enables you to relax your mind, freeing up space for more creative thinking.
Integrating breathing exercises into your daily routine may seem unorthodox at first, but these help in reducing stress and anxiety, paving the way for a more relaxed mind.
So, the next time your schedule gets crowded or your attention is pulled in multiple directions, take a moment to sit, close your eyes, then breathe.
Second is eating.
Skipping meals or eating unhealthy foods has become commonplace for professionals working in fast-moving occupations.
Taking a break from work to eat a healthy meal gives you the opportunity to replenish your energy and gives you the clarity to come up with better ideas.
The third principle is one of the most crucial: Sleep.
During sleep, your brain and body are able to focus on recovery, helping you feel more relaxed by the time you wake up.
One of the benefits of sleeping properly is that it gives you the mental clarity to piece together the fragments of information you’ve consumed into meaningful and informed analysis.
Proper sleep also helps you stay calm and composed—qualities that are necessary when advising clients and analyzing data.
That brings us to the last of the principles: Training.
Put simply, training refers to exercise or physical activity.
Exercising supports executive function—parts of the brain responsible for reasoning, problem solving, and planning. It also helps in reducing stress and anxiety, and improves your mood and sleep.
Similar to waking up after a good sleep, you might be better positioned to come up with better answers to problems you’re trying to solve after finishing a workout.
What These Principles Mean for Financial Advisors
You see, your work as a financial advisor depends on your ability to deliver informed financial advice.
… and delivering sound advice depends heavily on your judgment, patience, and creativity—which are also the things that suffer most when you’re mentally depleted.
That’s why if you want to run a successful financial advisory practice, you need to take BETTER care of yourself.
The principles we shared with you today will help you do exactly that. So, if you haven’t yet, consider integrating the BEST framework into your daily life!
Best regards,
Joel Litman & Rob Spivey
Chief Investment Officer &
Director of Research
at Valens Research
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