In recent conversations with advisors, many talked about feeling exhausted and looking forward to the next while to rest and relax.Canadian summers are traditionally associated with warmer weather, holidays and a more leisurely pace - and we can certainly hope that this summer will be no exception.

What's important is that we use the next two months in a purposeful way, so that we don't wake up on September 1 and ask where the summer went.

In fact, advisors should put plans in place to achieve three important goals this summer - to rejuvenate, reconnect and position your practice to hit the ground running on Tuesday September 8, the day after Labour Day.Rejuvenate

There's no question that many advisors have emerged from the last nine months tired and fatigued.

Nobody operates effectively when they're tired. The first issue is to carve out an appropriate amount of time to relax - but just carving out the time isn't sufficient, you have to use it in a way that will leave you feeling reinvigorated at the end of the summer.

Think about the things you've done in the past that left you feeling energized and excited - and think about how to build some of these routines into your time off this summer.

Reconnect

The harried pace of the last nine months have caused many advisors to neglect personal relationships. In some cases, these were with family members, in other cases with staff members, work colleagues, friends or key clients.

A second priority for the summer is to repair these relationships. Put together a list of people you need to reconnect with - and every week set the goal of sitting down with at least one or two names on this list.

Position

In the course of fighting fires over the past year, it's understandable to have allowed non essential matters to slip. The problem is that some of these will hold your business back if not attended to.

The third goal this summer is to get maximum productivity from the time that you do spend in the office, so that you have momentum going into September.

Some of the things to make that happen:

1. Clean up filing and admin issues. If you've allowed these to accumulate, set aside the time to get caught up.

2. Meet with key clients to review portfolios and update financial plans.

Some advisors have told me that clients aren't around to meet during the summer. Nonsense - that may be true in the odd case, but normally at least half of clients will be around and tend to have more time to meet. You can often get more time with busy clients during the summer than at any other time of year.

3. Get prospecting activity in place.

Most advisors have neglected prospecting activity over the last while. This summer is the time to begin identifying prospects you could approach and laying the seeds for future conversations. If you're looking for ideas, consider the client sandwich roundtable program that was outlined in the free webinar featured in last Monday's post on this site.

There's no cost for the webinar, you simply have to enter your email address: http://register.webcastgroup.com/l3/?wid=0720610094723&pre=1

4. Create an action plan for the fall

To make things happen starting in September, you need energy and direction. The time off this summer will, with luck, give you the energy - the direction will come from taking the time to sit down in July or August and put together a concrete plan of action for the fall.

You'll certainly get some benefit just by spending the summer on the dock at the cottage or on the deck in your backyard. To take maximum advantage of the better weather and more relaxed pace of the next couple of months, you need to both relax and work with purpose. Do that and you may say that this summer was one of the best and most productive you can recall.