Rick Fawdrey has been an active member of BestSelf Alliance for a while. When we saw this picture Rick posted on BestSelf Alliance, we knew we had to get some more details!

It’s one hell of a reward. What goal did he set & how did he hit it? And how can you learn from his success?

We’ve got all the answers for you! So without further ado, we’ll let Rick share his story:

I’m Rick and I live in Lichfield which is a small City right in the middle of England.

I run my own business as a Financial Adviser helping private individuals and businesses plan for their future and generally improving their standard of living by making their money work harder for them.

I really enjoy what I do, particularly seeing people retire early or use their money to do great things for charity that they otherwise couldn’t have done. 

I’m also the Secretary for a local charity (Round Table) which raises money through various events throughout the year and distributes it out to organizations that help the local community.

Outside of work, I like to cycle as often as I can as I find it helps clear the mind and it means I can enjoy the odd beer at the weekend without instantly piling the pounds on (in theory). I also play the guitar, which I basically use as my equivalent to meditation.

Towards the end of last year my mother was talking about how she didn’t really like her car too much (it was a small Alfa Romeo hatchback) and she wanted to change it in a few months time. I suggested that we could trade her car in and I would pay the rest towards something a bit more exciting, with the only 2 conditions being I got to use it on the weekends and we wouldn’t get one if I didn’t hit my business goal.

Business has been good for the last few years but I’m really looking to push things to the next level over the next few years and beyond.

I started looking into different methods of coaching/self-improvement last year, which is actually how I first stumbled across the Best Self Journal.

My goal was to double the amount of business I did in Q1 2016. 

I seriously doubted if this was achievable for me at first at but I stuck with it and just focused on making a plan and sticking to it.

I got there in the end which is just as well as we had been to view some really nice cars together so I’m sure I would’ve been in trouble if I said she had to keep the Alfa. We had a few arguments over which one to go for but I think we made the right choice in the end as it’s something that ticks all boxes for both of us.

My business isn’t rocket science. If you generally make yourself more proactive and get out there and see more people, you tend to write more business (as the adage goes; the harder you work, the luckier you get).

I committed to making sure I had at least 8 client appointments per week (although 10 was preferable). It’s all about going the extra mile and focusing on doing the very best job you can for people and they will naturally recommend you to their family/friends colleagues, which in turn brings you more business.

I rewrote my goal on each day page as a sort of countdown to tell me how much more I needed to do to get there.

It was daunting but also really satisfying when you had a good day/week and took a big chunk out of it.

One of my most memorable wins reminded me of an important lesson. I recently went to see a lady who lost her husband and she needed help sorting out all of his affairs. After 2 hours of sorting through paperwork, she said, “One more thing, I’d like you to manage the rest of my portfolio please”.

She was so grateful that I had come to help her out with something that technically isn’t really what I do (without charging her as she was already a client so I just did it as a favour) that she decided she would entrust me to take over the running of the rest of her investments, which were of a significant value. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do, not because I might get something out of it but it was a great win for me and goes to show:

If you focus on always doing the right thing, you’ll win in the long run.

One of my favorite quotes from the Self Journal is:

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much” 

I couldn’t agree more with this.

You need to plan your goals and focus on moving towards them, otherwise, you’re just drifting aimlessly.

My next journal is going to be mostly focused on health & fitness. Business is in a great place right now and I intend to keep going as I am on that front but I would like to drop a bit of weight and generally focus on living a healthier lifestyle. I find the habit pages near the front really useful for health goals.

I just started using “dietbet” which is a cool idea for an app where you bet money and can only win it back by losing a certain amount of weight in a given timescale. That should really motivate me I think.

We are taking a holiday to Orange County, L.A. and Vegas in mid May so if I’m on track I will probably treat Lia, my girlfriend to a special meal or something as a thank you for all of her support. No I’m not going to buy her a car too (sorry Lia!). I got her a BSJ too which has really helped as we both tend to fill it in together before breakfast as part of our daily routine. 

If you’re new at the Self Journal, here are a few tips:

1. Print off a couple of weeks worth of pages from the PDF on the website to practice on first.
   After doing that you will have learned the basics of how to use it so you can make a start on the real thing. Just jump right in and try not to over think it too much, learn by doing!

1. Join Self Mastery Academy.
   I also purchased access to the Self Mastery Academy on the website which expands on the principles of the BSJ and lets you use it to its full potential. I would definitely recommend giving that a go too if you’re serious about self-improvement. 

3. Use the “Today’s Targets” part of the journal.
   I usually used this to highlight my top 3 tasks for the day. Because there are only 3, not 15 or so as there tend to be on my usual to-do lists, it was really easy to focus on them. I also made a conscious effort to delegate more. I am really lucky to have some very talented people that work with me so trusting them to do more was something I knew I had to do, but actually doing it I have always found difficult.

4. You won’t be at 100% all the time. Learn to start fresh.
   I usually missed days or they didn’t quite go to plan when I hadn’t made the effort to plan them out first thing in the morning or even the night before. I think this is normal, you can’t expect to be at 100% all of the time, what’s important is that when you are feeling 100%, you are able to deliver 100%. If I missed a day, I’d just start fresh the next day – no big deal.