I can’t sleep. Partially because of the wind howling outside which makes these eerie sounds like we have house guests in the attic. Partially because HBO has been playing the “The Wire, Re-up” in anticipation of the new series which is going to drop at the end of this summer (the Wire is a HBO original series about a special police unit in West Baltimore that works off of wire taps to bring down an organized drug crew). But mostly because it would appear that I have a lot on my mind.

Now don’t be alarmed, this is a frequent occurrence in my world. This is not to be confused with a sleep disorder or stress related illness; this is just me being me (I just heard the craziest sound. Almost like someone walking through the house playing the flute out of key). I’ve never had much control over how or when my mind decides to interpret what I am feeling but I guess this would be one of those moments. So instead of laying awake in bed with the television on (Felicia can’t stand that. What a light sleeper), I’ve decided to stroll downstairs with my trusty laptop and get to pounding on the keys.

I was thinking (there’s that noise again) the other day about how my new professional career has been affected by my personal journey as of late. It took me a while for it to hit me but oddly enough I knew it all along. I spent years working harder than the next person. Anyone who has been around me knows that I am no stranger to long hours and “hitting the pavement” night after night. In fact I did it until someone else told me to stop. I’m not talking about work alone, it seems as though every aspect of my life has been filled with “stuff”. That’s right “stuff”. At this point I’d rather say that than to use the word I am accustomed to using when I think about the odd commitments that flooded my life as if they were what was most important. In fact some friends in my inner circle would comment on how I always felt like I needed to be busy, even when there was nothing going on…that I could make myself busy in Antarctica if need be. Hours on end I spent chasing my dog tail and running around like a chicken without a head (man I love that saying…doesn’t that bring you back to grown folks talkin’ at you when you were a kid?).

A peer of mine once tried to do me a favor by telling me to write down my goals. I’ve also read a number of books that all seem to share the same basic lesson, “if it’s not written, it’s not real”. Well I lived by the code, “If it aint broke, than don’t fix it”, until finally I broke. Throughout my career in the financial services industry I have been lucky enough to meet some wonderful human beings and talented professionals. All of whom had their own lessons for me as long as I was willing to listen. When I stepped into a world owned by entrepreneurs, I knew that I had to stay in their hip pocket and learn all about the path that they took to get them to where they were. For years, I thought about how lucky I was. I mirrod their habits and embraced their values, including long hours and a knack for the social scene. But there was one thing they couldn’t do for me. One thing that I now realize they were trying to show me all along…have a vision of your future. Have a vision so detailed that you can write it down and develop a plan to help get you there.

Starbucks has a plan. They have a plan to take over the Universe (now this is obviously not fact based. Just my humble opinion as a human being with two eyes that have been blessed with greater than 20/20 vision). In and around Denver’s 16th Street Mall where our E*Trade office is located, Starbucks has 9 locations in one square mile. 9 locations!!!!!!!!!! Just stop and think about this for a second. You can be standing in front of a Starbucks and behind a Starbucks at the same time, literally. It’s just nuts to me. But not to the owners of Starbucks. They have no franchises and each of their stores is corporate owned. In Colorado they have in house distribution in all of the major grocery chains including, Albertson’s, Safeway and King Sooper, not to mention Barnes and Nobles. They also have relationships with hotels and if it weren’t for proprietary shops in stores like Whole Foods, they would have even larger market share. The point is that this was no accident. This was not the luck of the draw. Somewhere at the top of the Starchain, there was a planned developed to reach these target markets.

Now for me, I’ve always had the goal set of reaching a target market (not always the right market but at least I set the goal). At certain times I even began to strategize about how to reach them. I had a casual idea about how to use lunches and phone calls to drum up business as a Financial Advisor but I never had a written plan. Part of what I was able to do, on what I am now confidentially calling my sabbatical to Puerto Rico, was tune out the minor details holding me back from my major goals.

At E*Trade, the re-birth of Mike the investment guy, I leave the office every night knowing whether I am ahead or behind the ball. Here’s a basic idea of what I am talking about: I have approximately 250 high net worth clients that I am responsible for. In order to reach all 250 clients every quarter I have to make about 5 contacts per day. If on average I have a 20% hit ratio (I get in touch with about 20% of my outbound calls), that means I need to make 25 calls per day. Now if you consider that I also call leads at a rate of about 20 per day, I make about 45 calls every day (not including any inbound calls or calls to handle client service issues). My success on the phone determines how many calls I usually make but this is how I have to think. Now when I start to play with my close ratios (how many contacts do I need to make a sale), now there is a chance to develop a written plan of attack for each day given my set goals. In other words, to bring in $X million in new assets, how many people will I need to speak to each day? If the number of outbound calls exceeds that magic number, I have now increased my probability of success.

If you can’t tell, this line of logic is right up my alley and I have been aggressive with my implementation. If you’re having visions of me working in a boiler room, this is far from the reality of things but it is fair to say that we have a competitive work environment. So much so that I encourage others in the office to chat amongst themselves or to take extended lunches or long breaks. Our manager has a thing for letting us all know were we stand at the end of the week/month/quarter.

What is the moral of my long drawn out story? That I should be sleeping? No. It’s that as a professional I have learned to set tangible goals. If life were this simple I would be making a 100 dials a day for perfect health or immunity from the evils of our world. However, we all know that this is not the case. The good news is that there are ways to help prepare for the road ahead. One way is to have a dream. I know… I know… I know. What does a dream have to do with goals? Aren’t dreamers lost in the clouds? Yes and no. Yes if they are unable to visual their dreams coming true. No if they are able to prepare to make them reality.

And I’m gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!