Archives Of Weekend Reading For Financial Planners

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big news that despite all the recent buzz, it appears that the SEC may be waiting nearly a year to release a final version of its Regulation Best Interest advice rule… but only because the Department of Labor may also be working in coordination with the SEC on its own version of an updated fiduciary rule as well. And also in the news this week is an announcement by the CFP Board that the organization is expanding its Mentor Match program, from what over the past two years was focused primarily on mentoring for young women entering financial planning (as part of its Women’s INitiative or WIN program), to be available to any CFP certificant instead.

From there, we have a number of additional articles on retirement planning, from a look at the rise of “financial freedom” and “financial independence” as an alternative to the traditional label and approach of “retirement,” to a fascinating look at the spectrum for total financial dependence to total financial independence (on a 17-step scale!), and the phenomenon of “microadventures” as a way to have more enjoyable vacation experiences even when you don’t have the time for an extended vacation (whether during your working years, or in “busy” retirement itself!).

We also have several practice management articles this week, including: an articulation of the key difference between being a manager and a leader; a different way to think about who your most “valuable” clients are (based not just on their revenue or referrals, but how much they value what you do as a financial planner in the first place, which makes them more likely to become your long-term advocates); why it may be better to ditch the Annual Review for As-Needed Reviews instead; and a look at ideas about how to name (or re-name) your advisory firm if you don’t want to simply name it after yourself as the lead advisor/owner.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of how to make better decisions: the first explores the so-called “distinction bias,” and how we tend to overweight and overvalue small differences (and misjudge how much we’ll really care about them in the future) when we compare objects side by side; the second looks at how delaying decisions tends to increase their stakes, so often the best way to make “easier” decisions is simply to proactively make more/faster small decisions instead; and the last looks at the growing base of research around decision-making itself, and how to better frame decisions for yourself with techniques like creating a “premortem” analysis or doing proactive scenario planning… or if you want to use the traditional “Pros and Cons” list, at least be certain to assign values or weights to them so that you give each factor its proper consideration!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that New Jersey is about to launch its own version of a fiduciary rule for advisors, driven not by New Jersey legislators but directly from the New Jersey state regulators, as a state-level fiduciary movement appears poised to surge again in the face of federal regulators failing to address the fiduciary gap.

From there, we have a number of additional articles of notable industry news, including: the SEC’s ongoing hiring freeze is threatening to reverse its recent increase in the examination rate, as by 2019 it’s projected there will only be 1 SEC staff member for every 20 RIAs the regulator oversees; state securities regulators continue to step up on regulation and enforcement, with actions against unregistered individuals reaching a new record in past year (likely as a result of the surge of fraudulent cryptocurrency offerings); the College for Financial Planning has partnered with US SIF to launch a new sustainable, responsible, and impact investing designation (the Chartered SRI Counselor, or CSRIC); and the CFP Board’s Center for Financial Planning is partnering with Wharton on a new course in Client Psychology.

We also have several practice management articles this week, from a look at how hybrid robo-advisors and their salaried employee advisor jobs are providing a new career track alternative for financial advisors, to the importance of getting good at retention of existing advisor employees (given the incredibly high cost of turnover for experienced employees), a deep-dive look at what it really means to “manage” a client relationship, and an exploration of whether financial advisors should be learning more “conflict resolution” skills to help clients (especially couples and families) navigate their money conflicts.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of recognizing that we must sometimes embrace imperfection: the first is a powerful reminder that going beyond about 80% of the way on “surface shine” is rarely about actually improving the outcome and more about just satisfying ourselves; the second discusses how we often look to experts and their habits to figure out an optimal approach to something new when the truth is that we really need to just get started (because the “optimal” is rarely necessary to start!); and the last explores how the key to improving over time is to recognize that failures will happen, and those who improve the most are the ones who are willing to actually talk about them, and avoid the natural tendency to just sweep the embarrassment under the rug and move on before we have a chance to actually learn from the experience.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a beautiful write-up of the winners of the Invest In Others foundation awards, which recognizes financial advisors who have not only been successful in their advisory firms but also in giving back to their communities in various charitable and non-profit endeavors… an inspiration to any/all advisors that the helping profession of financial planning can extend beyond just the work we do directly with clients (and in fact, many financial advisors’ community giving efforts extend far beyond the financial services industry altogether).

From there, we have several articles around spending and savings advice, from a study that shows the popular “spend money on experiences, not goods” happiness research may only apply for those with above-average socioeconomic status (and that for the rest, there really is happiness to be derived from spending on good, solid, useful material goods), to another study that finds our tendencies with money towards being either a “tightwad” or a “spendthrift” may be evident as early as age 5 (when, in theory, new/healthier habits can still be learned), a discussion of how some of the most successful wealth creators ostensibly begin the process as a means to provide for their families (during life and as an inheritance after death) but then never stop to re-assess their motives once their wealth compounds beyond a “prudent” inheritance, and an interesting look at some of the most “undervalued” financial advice (which is less about spending tips like being frugal and cutting back on lattes, and more about getting off the hedonic treadmill and simply learning better gratitude for what we already have).

We also have a number of practice management articles this week, including: the “wobble” theory of growing an advisory firm (that advisory firms grow in stages, and the key to success is not navigating each phase, but the transition moments when the firm begins to “wobble” and has to evolve to the next stage); how despite the “uncertainty” about smaller advisory firms in today’s environment, a look at the established professions of law and accounting suggests that small firms will survive and thrive far longer than commonly believed; a study on the benefits of outsourcing back-office tasks to more easily scale an advisory firm; and the rise of “virtual” advisory firms that leverage technology (especially screen-sharing and video conferencing tools) to build a location-independent advisory firm.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of leveraging the benefits of compounding (not just in a portfolio, but in your personal/business life as well): the first explores how long-term compounding takes a strong base, but once the foundation is laid, it’s mostly a function of compounding (as evidenced by the fact that $80.7B of Warren Buffett’s $81B net worth came after he was 50 years old!); the second raises the simple question of considering what, exactly, you’re doing (even in a tiny way) to contribute to the compounding growth of an asset every day; and the last provides a powerful reminder that while we tend to celebrate the business leaders who are “consistently heroic” in taking big bold leaps to move their firms forward, for most the key to success is being “heroically consistent” instead, making small efforts every day and week and simply allowing time to compounding them in your favor!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big industry news that the CFP Board has stated it will “affirmatively oppose” any states that attempt to regulate financial planning, in light of the potential cost and regulatory patchwork that could otherwise emerge with different states that have different standards… but without actually setting forth what the organization thinks the ideal Federal regulation of financial planning would look like, and setting the CFP Board at odds with the Financial Planning Association, which has spent years building and deepening its state-level advocacy relationships and capabilities.

Also in the news this week were several other articles about the CFP Board, including the kick-off of the CFP Board’s public forums discussing the new Standards of Conduct to take effect next October of 2019 (and what CFP certificants want in terms of education, support, or simply clarification regarding those rules between now and then), and another article questioning whether the CFP Board has spent too much in time and resources promoting the high standards of the marks and not enough actually enforcing those standards to clean up bad actors (though the CFP Board indicates that it plans to enforce more effectively once the new standards take effect next year).

From there, we have several articles around cash flow and budgeting strategies with clients, including one on how to help clients better track and categorize their spending (based not on wants versus needs to determine what’s essential and what’s discretionary, but simply by helping them reflect on what they spent that actually brought them enjoyment, and what they subsequently regretted, and focusing there first to figure out what to cut), a second on how retirees might plan their retirement expenses based not on their estimated spending habits in retirement but instead based on how they plan to spend their time in retirement (and then figure out what those lifestyle activities will cost), and the last exploring what it really means to be “middle class” (and the challenges in seeing high-income households as “middle class” even though they work in a high-cost-of-living area that means their dollars really don’t go very far).

We also have a few additional articles around credit cards and borrowing, including a look at whether it’s worthwhile to have all clients freeze their credit reports now that it’s free (by national law) from all three major credit bureaus, the prospective benefits of “credit card churning” to rack up travel points with new-card bonuses, and why parents with college-aged children should be filling out the FAFSA even if they don’t think they’ll be eligible for financial aid (because many discover they actually were eligible after the fact, as even some merit-based aid programs also require a FAFSA to be filed!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of building relationships (with friends, or with clients): the first looks at how the single greatest driver to turning an acquaintance into a friend and then ultimately a confidant is simply spending enough time (which could amount to dozens or hundreds of hours) to really deepen the relationship; the second offers up some better questions besides “What Do You Do?” to more quickly build rapport with someone you’re meeting the first time (in an effort to create more “multiplex” ties beyond just the context of work); and the last looks at what it really takes to create a powerful mentor relationship, which is about more than just finding someone who wants to mentor you, but finding someone who is just far enough ahead of you on the journey to be able to provide insight about what comes next, but is close enough to where you are now to still remember what it was like to be there, too.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the industry buzz that TD Ameritrade is increasing the AUM threshold of its AdvisorDirect referral program to affiliated RIAs from a $500,000 minimum to $750,000 instead, while also more fully aligning its branch representative compensation above the threshold to compensate brokers equally for referring to TDA’s in-house managed accounts or RIAs in AdvisorDirect, as yet another example of how RIA custodians with a retail presence are moving more and more into the mass affluent space themselves while segmenting off only their most affluent customers to affiliated RIAs… a potential boon to “up-market” independent RIAs that can receive such referrals, but a rising competitive threat and channel conflict for the remaining RIAs that are aiming to serve the mass affluent clientele that retail brokerage firms are increasingly trying to serve themselves with their own managed accounts.

From there, we have several insurance-related articles this week, from a look at how the most comprehensive Medigap supplemental Plan F policies will soon be going away (for new enrollees after 2019) but how the cost savings of almost-similar Medigap Plan G may be more appealing anyway, to the major shift of John Hancock to only sell “interactive” life insurance going forward that will give policyowners the opportunity to obtain premium discounts or other incentives to wear fitness tracking devices (e.g., a Fitbit or Apple Watch) and actually demonstrate they’re adopting healthy exercise and lifestyle habits, a look at how popular universal life policies from 30+ years ago are “suddenly” starting to blow up for retirees in their 70s, 80s, and 90s due to the multi-decade decline in interest rates, and an overview of how hybrid long-term care insurance policies are increasingly replacing the use of traditional LTC insurance… but only for the most affluent clients.

We also have a few investment-related articles, including: an overview of the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain as they relate to financial advisors; a look at whether consumer adoption of ESG investing is really sluggish, or if advisors are just failing to communicate the opportunity to clients to draw in their interest; a fascinating discussion about what really matters most (and what doesn’t) when it comes to generating long-term investment results; and an evaluation of why individual bonds may not really be any better (and could be worse) than just owning bond funds in the face of a potential rising rate environment.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of how hard it is to change someone’s mind (whether it’s about politics, or how they spend their money): the first looks at how getting people to change their minds on major issues requires them to not only understand new facts and information, but also change their “tribe” and personal identity (such that if we have to change our mind at the cost of our social ties, we’ll often choose factually incorrect information over “loneliness”); the second explores how the best way to win a divisive argument is not to try to prevail on facts and persuasiveness alone but to connect your points to the other person’s frame of reference (which, notably, requires having some empathy for them to better understand their situation in the first place); and the last examines a recent study finding that people are much more likely to change their minds and take in new information when it is presented visually as a chart or graphic than just text… ostensibly because it’s a lot easier to simply ignore text but incredibly difficult to forget a memorable image once it’s seared into our minds?! All of which is again relevant not just in the era of polarized modern politics, but simply getting clients to change their point of view and adopt better money habits, too!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big news that the first independent study on the SEC’s proposed Form CRS disclosures on the relationship differences between working with an advisor or a broker… finds that not only do consumers fail to understand the differences in obligations between the two as “explained” by Form CRS, but they misinterpret Regulation Best Interest as being comparable to a fiduciary standard when it’s not, and couldn’t even articulate the differences in costs and services between brokerage versus advisory accounts after reading Form CRS in depth.

Also in the news this week was fresh buzz about the potential for “Tax Reform 2.0” legislation, including a push to make all of the “temporary” sunsetting provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent… with the caveat that the legislation (or what is actually a combination of three different bills in the House) is viewed as likely being dead-on-arrival in the Senate, and that, realistically, any further momentum on tax reform won’t likely happen until 2019 at best (and then will depend on the outcome of the midterm elections).

From there, we have several more articles about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and recent IRS guidance and planning strategies, from a discussion of the new Kiddie Tax rules and how they work for dependent children, to new IRS guidance on some of the 529 college savings plan provisions of TCJA (in particular, that any type of public, private, or religious school counts for the new opportunity for up-to-$10,000/year of tax-free distributions for K-12 expenses), and a look at how a 50-year-old crackdown on Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFCs) may suddenly be experiencing a revival as a proactive tax planning strategy in a world where top individual tax rates are 37% but the top corporate tax rate (including on CFCs) is “just” 21% now.

We also have a few practice management articles, including: how to tell when advisory firm owners may be “starving” their advisory firm’s growth opportunities by taking too much out of the business (hint: if the owners extract more than 40% of revenue in some combination of compensation and profits, it may be getting “over-milked”); how to formalize the structure of a firm-wide compensation plan for employees so they better understand their upside career opportunities; why the biggest blocking point to better advisor technology is no longer the lack of advisor tech innovation but the struggles of individual advisory firms to effectively adopt the software; and why large financial services firms should consider establishing a “Chief Planning Officer” (CPO) role to better shepherd the transition from traditional financial services product sales to an advice-centric planning business.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of working with couples where the wife outearns the husband: the first explores how marital strife and divorce rates appear to be higher amongst the nearly one-third of couples where the wife earns more; the second covers another recent research study finding that when wives earn more, they tend to downplay her income while overstating his income to narrow the perceived gap (even when reporting to government entities like the Census Bureau!); and the last provides some recommendations of what to consider and bear in mind when providing financial advice to and working with couples where she earns more (and the importance of not making any assumptions about their money dynamics based on who happens to be the primary breadwinner).

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the recent announcement that President Trump has issued an Executive Order for the IRS and Department of Labor to review (and ease) the rules around Multiple Employer [retirement] Plans (MEPs) as a way to expand small business access to employer retirement plans, ideally bringing down costs through greater economies of scale, and at the least giving 401(k)-centric advisors a new way to work with small business owners (by creating and offering their own Open MEP solution?!).

From there, we have several articles about advisor marketing this week, from a look at how it’s not enough to just have a good value proposition for clients if you can’t also explain the process you’ll use to achieve it and provide some “proof” (e.g., sample deliverables) to show your results, to how to engage in a formal “marketing makeover” for your firm (which starts with crafting your own one-page marketing “messaging brief” before you hire anyone to help you implement it, why it’s so important to keep asking “why” (literally, over and over again) to prospects to truly understand their needs, and the reason that advisory firms doing in-person seminar marketing are now turning to Facebook digital advertising as a more cost-effective path to get prospects to attend their seminars in the first place.

We also have a few practice management articles, including: how to think through different types of financial advisor business models based on what’s actually being provided to clients (e.g., investment-only, investments with some planning as needed, planning with some investments as needed, or financial consulting only); why it’s crucial for advisory firm owners to separate out their compensation for the work in the business from their profit distributions for the income from the business; what it takes to successfully take a 6-week sabbatical away from your own advisory firm; and the issues to consider when your multi-advisor partnership actually has to “vote a partner off the island” and remove a partner from the business (without collapsing the business itself in the process!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of better understanding our own motivations and focus: the first explores fascinating research that finds one of the best ways to help people improve their situation is not for them to receive good advice but actually for them to give it to others, which actually cements their own confidence in their knowledge and helps them formulate a specific plan of action (the one they’re recommending to others as well!); the second looks at how, in the end, there really are no “natural born salespeople,” just people who have a natural desire to help others and learn the very learnable sales skills and conversations it takes to succeed; and a fascinating look at how the popular wisdom to “find and pursue your passion” is awful advice, because, in reality, passions are more likely to evolve from something we actively do, not be something that already exists that we decide to pursue and do more of (which means it’s better to just start doing something you’re interested in and let the passion develop, rather than trying to intuit your passion in the first place).

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the announcement of the CFP Board’s latest public awareness campaign, which will kick off this fall with a series of new ads around the theme of promoting a “more confident today and more secure tomorrow… with a CFP professional,” as the public awareness campaign completes its 6th year of spending $10M+/year from its $145 assessment on what is now 82,000+ CFP certificants.

Also in the news this week was an interesting private letter ruling from the IRS that may clear the way for employers to provide “matching” 401(k) contributions, based not on an employee’s own contributions to the plan, but their payments for their student loans instead (which might alternatively be framed as employers providing student loan assistance for those employees who are also willing to save towards retirement), and a discussion from SEC Commissioner Clayton about possibly expanding the accessibility to private investments for main street investors (potentially through the use of a financial advisor).

From there, we have several articles about investment trends in the industry, from a look at how more and more mutual fund companies are beginning to automatically convert C-shares to A-shares after 7-10 years (ostensibly in response to the SEC’s Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative earlier this year scrutinizing brokers that used higher-cost share classes when equivalent lower-cost alternatives were available), to the rising concern from Morningstar that not all “Clean” shares are equally clean (and why “bundled”, “semi-bundled”, and truly “unbundled” categories may be a better descriptor), and the discussion of how advisors are becoming even more proactive in seeking out better cash yields for clients who don’t want the low-yield cash sweep options available from most broker-dealers and RIA custodians today.

We also have several marketing-related articles this week, including: why it’s important to not just explain to clients the benefit of working with you but also the consequences of not working with you; how to change your seminar evaluation firms to get prospects to book more follow-up appointments; and how when it comes to complex services like financial planning, it’s not enough to simply show that the advisor has solutions to solve the client’s problems, it’s also necessary to engage in a conversation to help clients better define what the problems are that they’re really trying to solve for in the first place (which clients sometimes don’t realize themselves)!

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of our very human struggle to be part of the herd and liked by others, and how it can adversely impact us: the first looks at how many advisors find themselves unhappy in their advisory firms because they build towards the peer pressure of what others are doing (e.g., “grow more!” or “get bigger!”) instead of focusing on the goals for the firm that will make them personally happy; the second explores how increasingly collaborative work environments are leading to rising employee overwhelm and burnout because it can be so hard to figure out how to say “no” to co-worker requests (especially when our identity is built around being the go-to person in the office that likes to help people as a “good team player”); and the last provides a powerful reminder that to be a good leader, it’s crucial to not always try to be “nice”, as the reality is that sometimes team members need hard feedback… instead, focus on being honest, consistent, and rigorous, and then deliver those messages as nicely as you reasonably can.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with news about the latest IRS regulations that definitively close the door on the potential for individuals in high-tax-rate states to preserve their SALT deductions by converting them into charitable deductions to state-run charities instead, as the Service declares that donating to a state-run charity in exchange for a state tax credit amounts to a quid-pro-quo transaction that would reduce the deductible amount of the charitable contribution all the way to $0. Also in the news this week, though, was a look at what kinds of tax policy changes the Democrats might take up and propose in 2019, including repealing the SALT cap, if they are in fact able to retake control of Congress in the mid-term elections this fall.

Also in the news this week were a number of interesting articles about the economy and markets, including a major revision from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to the personal savings rate data that reveals the U.S. consumer is actually saving at a whopping 7.2% rate, which is well above 30-year averages (despite the fact that the so-called “wealth effect” normally decreases personal savings rates late in the economic growth cycle), the revelation that labor markets are becoming so tight that the mid-summer unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds has dropped to a 52-year low, and a look at the recent buzz around President Trump’s proposal for changing quarterly earnings reports and guidance to become semi-annual (twice-per-year) instead and why, if we really want to reduce the focus on earnings and market volatility, the key is not to report earnings less often to instead to make the guidance more often (e.g., monthly or even daily through technology) so no one data point is ever so impactful anymore.

We also have several behavioral finance articles this week, from a look at what to do when clients don’t follow our advice (and why oftentimes clients aren’t actually looking for advice from their financial advisor about a major decision anyway, and really just want support for the decision they already made instead), to the importance of culture in determining whether advice is appropriate (or even relevant) for a client, why trying to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes is actually a terrible way to understand their perspective (and how it’s far more effective to just ask them to share their perspective), and how managing clients so they don’t panic in a bear market isn’t just about dialing down the volatility in their portfolios so it doesn’t trigger any emotional fear in the first place, but also looking at how we as advisors can create ‘circuit-breakers’ that help to prevent a volatile market event from translating all the way into an actual hasty and ill-timed action.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of balancing financial wealth and time: the first looks at how one the greatest challenges in wealth accumulation is that we think of wealth in terms of the outwardly expensive things that people own (fancy homes, cars, and jewelry) when in reality it’s the decision not to buy those things that are the greatest driver of wealth (which means wealth is best created by what we don’t see, not by what we do see!); the second explores the trade-offs between time and money, and how sometimes the best advice we can give is not about how to prudently save money, but how to prudently spend money in order to save time instead; and the last explores the reasons why very affluent individuals sometimes choose to remain anonymous and unseen with their wealth, preferring instead to be rich but not famous (an important mindset for advisors to understand about their clients)!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the interesting news that a growing number of states are trying to limit the use of the terms “certified” or “registered” to only those who are actually certified or registered by a state agency or certifying body… raising the concern that “Certified” Financial Planning professionals might someday be prevented from using the term, and leading the FPA and CFP Board to join a multi-organization coalition called the “Professional Certification Coalition” fighting to differentiate bona fide certification credentials from the rest of the specious designations (in financial services and other industries) that state legislators are really trying to crack down on.

Also in the news this week is a brief look at the recent “FINRA Industry Snapshot” (a first-ever report from FINRA on the state of the brokerage industry, which finds that the number of broker-dealer firms and registered representatives has been declining steadily for 10 years… but revenue and profits continue to grow and hit record highs!), and a discussion of some of the public comment letters that came out earlier this month against the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest and new Form CRS proposals (including a stringent objection from a group of 17 state attorneys general that could form the basis of a legal challenge against the rule if the SEC decides to move forward).

From there, we have several advisor technology articles this week, from a look at how “robo” tools aren’t replacing advisory firms, but instead are allowing smaller advisory firms to run more efficiently than ever with the use of technology to automate away expensive back-office staff and administrative tasks, to tips on how to conduct third-party vendor due diligence for cybersecurity purposes, and why both advisors and their clients should be talking more about using Password Managers.

We also have a few retirement articles, including: the role that uncertainty (especially sequence of return risk, but also simply the changing nature of our lives over time) has in determining whether portfolios are depleted in retirement or not (which goes far beyond just investing for a sufficient long-term return); perspective on how economists that study lifecycle finance view traditional financial planning topics and strategies differently; and why a goals-based retirement planning approach is very problematic because, in the real world, most people don’t actually know what their goals are, and even if they think they do, the goals often change by the time the client gets closer to achieving it!

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the importance of habits (both breaking bad habits and improving good ones): the first looks at a number of recent books that highlight the latest research in how we form habits, change habits, and improve our willpower and self control; the second is a fascinating study at how we can improve our own self-confidence in our ability to control our behavior and break our bad habits (by adopting seemingly mindless rituals); and the last is a fascinating look at how even the most brilliant creatives still struggle, often for years, with a vision of what they want to achieve and knowing that their current work isn’t up to their own tastes, but that the key is maintaining the habit of continuing to do the work anyway with a focus on self-improvement, and it’s the repeated habit of practice combined with the vision of what your work can be that ultimately makes it great and successful!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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