everyone has a ferrari.
by rob nixon
no doubt you have been on an airplane and endured the mandatory safety briefing. every safety briefing has the oxygen mask discussion. on every flight i have ever been on they say (or infer) the same thing: “make sure you put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others.”
more on strategy: how to build enduring relationships | changing accountants: 2 true tales | your clients on your terms | how much should partners make? | be a history maker | experience doesn’t mean what you think it does | why ‘steady as she goes’ isn’t enough | the final critical traits: how do your tires look?
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what they are saying is that if you are calm, relaxed and in control you can help others survive. the same applies to the accounting business. if you (as the advisor) are healthy, fit, relaxed, in control, successful and wealthy, then you can help others to be the same.
in this post i am going to explore what it means to be wealthy and what you need to do to look after yourself – first!
real wealth
if you ask people about the definition of wealth most will say either lots of money, lots of free time, great health or enjoyable relationships.
is it one of those or all of those?
some people think being wealthy is just having a lot of money. many people who have a lot of money do not have the free time to enjoy it and often they are overweight and unhealthy.
others think that real wealth is having loads of free time. unfortunately most people with a lot of free time do not have very much money – although they do have the time to be healthy and work on relationships.
seeing this is an opinion-based post and it’s my opinion, my definition of being wealthy is:
“to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want in a manner that you want.”
to get to the bottom of my definition, let’s break it down.
what’s your ferrari?
to do what you want means you need to be living your dreams, whatever they may be. you must first work out what you want from your life.
ferrari – part 1
i was in naples, florida at a worldwide consultants’ conference and over dinner one night our host (alan) told a story of how a friend of his always wanted to buy a ferrari but never did. the friend was severely injured in a bbq explosion and the friend’s wife said to alan, “you know, he never did buy that ferrari.” at that point another dinner guest (mark) said to the table, “so what’s your ferrari?” and around the table one at a time we were engrossed in stories of everyone’s innermost dreams and ambitions. it was an electrifying discussion.
fast forward to our annual coaching club conference in queenstown, nz and we had a very special presenter’s dinner with all of the speakers and accountants who were presenting on stage over the four-day event. we were in a private room at an upmarket restaurant and alan (being one of our guest speakers) was there. alan told the story again, and again we went around the table asking each accountant (and other speakers) what their ferrari was. it was amazing that deep down there were dreams not yet fulfilled and goals not yet met. one of the guest speakers (a business manager of a successful firm, sean) leaned over to me and said, “this is the best night of my life.”
ferrari – part 2
at our next coaching club conference, in hawaii, i decided to do something more elaborate with this ferrari story. in my opening keynote address the room was dark and i appeared on the big screen driving a racing ferrari in full racing suit. once the film was over, smoke appeared and i came through the smoke in my racing suit and helmet. the conference room had a ferrari theme to it and i told the ferrari story complete with a slide show of potential dreams that the audience may be interested in. i covered housing, travel, charity, sports, health, toys and overall lifestyle improvement.
once i was finished i gave the audience instructions to leave the conference room (this was only 15 minutes into a four-day conference) with pad and pen and go and write down every conceivable dream, goal, aspiration and ambition they had and then come back in one hour. the audience (all accountants, remember) came back buzzing. we had some of the audience share what they had written down – applause and tears followed. then each person wrote a detailed plan to achieve their goals.
each and every accountant in that room has a much higher propensity of achieving their dreams because they have committed to writing them down and coming up with a plan to achieve them. they are also held accountable to their plans through our coaching club process.
so what is your ferrari?
spend some time working out what you want to achieve in your life. write everything down. let your mind run free. be creative and remember all the things you wanted to achieve when you were younger. if you need some inspiration buy some magazines or lifestyle books. there is a plethora of books available on goal setting – go and absorb them and come up with a definitive list.
i am very goal-oriented – diligently writing them down since i was 17. after years of goal setting i have worked out a number of personal systems that work for me. this system keeps me on track and focused on living the life i want to live.
- my life mission and purpose – this is a statement like a company mission statement.
- my eulogy – i have a written statement that i want people to say about me after i am gone.
- my inspiration – i look for inspiration through magazines, tv programs and dreaming.
- my people – i only associate with positive, goal-oriented, forward-thinking people.
- my electronic goals – i type my goal list into an electronic file.
- my written goals – i physically write every goal into my special “dreams and ideas” book.
- my dream board – i have a corkboard where i stick pictures of what i want to achieve.
- my focus – i have broken my goals down to life, three years, one year and 90 days.
- my accountability – each month i meet with my mastermind buddies to keep me on track.
- my achievement – as i fulfill a goal i cross it off and put it on the achieved list.
with all of my goals i follow the tried and tested s.m.a.r.t formula – with a twist.
- specific – the goal must be very specifically stated.
- measurable – the goal must be able to be measured somehow.
- audacious – the goal must stretch you and excite you.
- realistic – the goal must be realistic at the same time.
- timebound – the goal must have a completion date on it.
one of my favorite achievement models is: decisions + actions = results
the model says that if you want a different result, then make some different decisions and then follow through with the appropriate actions. sounds simple enough. you set a result that you want to achieve, you decide what needs to happen or change and then you go about implementing the action.
here is what typically happens – you don’t implement!
why is that? when all the planning took place, the painstaking process of decision making and then you don’t follow through. the action part is definitely the tough part and most people do get distracted during the implementation process.
here’s my theory as to why the action bit doesn’t happen. action does not happen because the result you wanted to achieve was not big enough or inspiring enough to motivate you into action.
if you have bigger, more audacious goals you will be more motivated to implement them.
a correctly structured accounting business that is run well is a vehicle to achieve whatever result you want to achieve in your life. as one of our coaching club members said to me one day, “i know of a four-partner firm in asia where one of the partners is a billionaire through the accounting firm.”
you have the right business vehicle. the question is whether you have the motivation. do you have the dreams and goals to drive you forward?