What If a Successful Practice Isn't the Point?
October has a way of stopping us. A maple tree turns red almost overnight. The late afternoon light comes in lower and warmer. You are driving to a client meeting and, for a moment, you forget the agenda because the hillside has changed color while you weren't looking. Then the moment passes, and you are back to thinking about the quarterly review.
Awe works like that. It interrupts us. It makes us feel small in a way that is somehow freeing, and it reminds us that our lives are larger than the task in front of us. For many financial planners, those interruptions have become rare, because the work fills every open space first.
So this month I want to ask a question that may feel strange coming from someone who helps advisors grow their firms: what if a successful practice isn't the point?
The measures we were taught to watch
Revenue. AUM. Client growth. Retention. Credentials. Firm growth. These numbers tell you useful things: whether the business is healthy, whether clients are staying, whether your expertise is recognized. A successful practice by these measures is something to be proud of.
But the dashboard cannot tell you whether the work still feels meaningful. It cannot tell you whether you were present at dinner last night or mentally drafting an email. It cannot tell you the last time a client conversation surprised you, or the last time you felt the kind of wonder that made you stop and look.
A practice can grow every year while the life around it gets thinner.
When a successful practice becomes the whole point
Most of us did not set out to put the practice at the center of everything. We wanted to help people. We wanted stability, freedom, and work that mattered. The practice was how we would get there.
Over time, the means can quietly become the end. A record year becomes next year's baseline. The growth chart starts to answer a question it was never designed to answer: am I doing okay?
You may recognize it in small moments. Checking the numbers before checking in with your family. Feeling restless on the third day of vacation. Treating a slow week as evidence that something is wrong with you.
None of this means you have failed. It means the practice has been asked to carry more meaning than any business can hold.
What awe asks of us
Psychologist Dacher Keltner describes awe as the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that we don't immediately understand. It can come from a mountain range, a moment of prayer, or a client who finally lets go of a fear she has carried for decades.
Awe needs room. It needs unscheduled time, attention that isn't already spoken for, and permission to be unproductive for a while. <A successful practice that leaves no room for awe carries a cost that won’t show on a quarterly report.>
Your practice is a mirror
In Money Is a Mirror, I write about how our relationship with money reflects the way we relate to ourselves and to others. The way we measure success works the same way. What we track shows us what we believe we have to prove.
If the only numbers that count are the ones on the firm's dashboard, it may be worth asking where that belief came from, and whether it still serves you. A few questions to sit with this month:
How often am I laughing each week?
Who received my full attention this week?
Which parts of my life outside the practice feel rich right now, and which feel neglected?
Where do faith, creativity, and rest show up in the way I lead?
The answers are not a grade. They are information, the same way a client's spending is information about what she values and fears.
A wider definition of success
This isn't an argument against growth. A healthy firm gives you options, supports your team, and lets you serve clients well. The invitation is to widen the definition, so that a successful practice is measured partly by the life it makes possible.
That might look like a practice that funds a sabbatical. A calendar with an afternoon each week that belongs to you. A client meeting where you ask what fills them with wonder, and then build the plan around their answer. Advisors who have room for awe in their own lives tend to bring it into the room with their clients.
Start with one small experiment this month. Take a walk without a podcast. Watch the leaves turn. Let yourself be interrupted, and pay attention to what you notice when you are.
Begin with the mirror
If these questions stirred something, Money Is a Mirror is a good place to keep exploring. It will help you see the beliefs shaping how you earn, measure, and hold success, so you can choose what you want your work to serve.
And when you are ready to go further, Awaken to Joy is a five-day experience designed to help you meet the inner voice that keeps you chasing the next number and begin choosing with greater ease, freedom, and joy. Reach out for more information about the Awaken to Joy experience.
