Remember those essays from your school days?

You came back to class after summer break and had to explain what you’d done with the previous few months. Maybe you had a great story. Maybe you stretched a weekend trip into three paragraphs. Or maybe you stared at the blank page wishing you had a better answer than, “Not much.”

Nobody’s asking you to write that essay anymore. But the question is still worth considering.

When fall arrives, what would you like to be able to say about how you spent your summer? What would you like to have accomplished for yourself, your clients, and your business?

There’s still a good chunk of summer left. Here are three ways to make use of it.

Spend Some Time With AI

Artificial intelligence comes with an unusual mix of good news and bad news.

The good news is that you’re probably not as far behind as you think. The bad news is that you’re unlikely to ever feel completely caught up.

The technology is moving too quickly for anyone to master every platform, feature, or use case. Fortunately, you don’t have to.

Instead of trying to identify the perfect tool or understand every new development, block out an hour and start experimenting. Open the AI platform you already have access to, and see where it takes you.

Ask it a question such as:

“How can a financial advisor use AI to save time and improve the client experience?”

Then follow the rabbit hole.

Ask for examples. Challenge the answers. Have it help you outline a growth strategy, summarize a complicated topic, create a meeting agenda, or identify repetitive parts of your day that might be automated.

The goal isn’t to build a formal implementation plan or become the person in the office who knows everything about AI. It’s simply to become familiar enough with the technology to recognize where it might be useful.

The best way to understand these tools isn’t to read another article about them. It’s to spend some time in the sandbox.

Measure Where You Are at Midyear

Most advisors have at least a general sense of how their business is doing. That assessment may be based on momentum, emotion, or simply how busy the past few months have felt.

Smart advisors look for data.

Midyear is a good time to step back and measure what’s actually happening in the practice. How does revenue compare with last year? Are assets growing? Are new clients coming in at the pace you expected? Where is your time going, and which parts of the business are producing the strongest returns?

It’s also worth looking beyond current performance to the value of the business itself.

A practice valuation can give you a clearer picture of where you stand today and provide a frame of reference for where you want to go next. It may also reveal which parts of your business are creating value and which areas may be holding it back.

Revenue matters, but it’s only part of the picture. A valuation may also consider recurring revenue, client demographics, asset concentration, growth trends, profitability, and the overall transferability of the practice.

You don’t have to be preparing for an immediate sale to benefit from that information.

Knowing what your practice is worth can help you make better decisions about growth, recruiting, succession planning, acquisitions, and long-term strategy. If the number is stronger than expected, you gain confidence and perspective. If it’s lower than expected, you gain something just as valuable: time to improve it.

The point isn’t simply to assign a number to the business. It’s to replace assumptions with a clearer understanding of where you are at midyear and what might move you forward. Get started now and use code: WHATIDID to save $200.

Figure Out What You Actually Want

For people who are driven, ambitious, and focused on helping others, identifying what they want for themselves can easily move to the bottom of the list.

Summer can create enough breathing room to bring it back to the top.

Find a sheet of paper, and begin writing down what makes you happy. Describe your ideal workday. Think about how much time you want to spend with clients, your team, and your family.

Don’t worry yet about whether your answers are realistic. Don’t investigate the “why” behind every response or immediately start building a plan.

Just write.

What gives you energy? What drains it?

What parts of the business do you want to do more often? Which responsibilities would you happily hand off tomorrow?

You might also spend some time with a book such as Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown or The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

This isn’t an exercise in selfishness. It’s a chance to think about your capacity and how you want to use the most limited resource you have: your time.

Sometimes figuring out what you want begins with recognizing what you no longer want to tolerate.

For an advisor, that might mean taking an honest look at the first half of the year.

Where did you feel frustrated? How much time did you lose to administrative work, outdated technology, or a lack of support? Which growth opportunities were delayed because you didn’t have the resources to pursue them?

How is your current broker-dealer helping you build the business you want? Where are they falling short?

Could a different platform provide better technology, stronger support, or more flexibility? Could a transition package help fund improvements to the practice or create more room for personal and professional goals?

You won’t answer every question in an afternoon. That isn’t the point. The goal is to start asking them.

What Will You Be Able to Say This Fall?

You don’t need to reinvent your business before Labor Day.

You might explore one new technology. You might gain a clearer picture of how your practice is performing and what it’s worth. You might finally spend some time thinking seriously about what you want the next several years to look like.

Any one of those would be time well spent.

And if your answers point toward a change, it may be worth speaking with a transition consultant.

3xEquity works with financial advisors to clarify their goals, priorities, and pain points, then identify opportunities that align with what they’re trying to build. That may involve comparing broker-dealers, evaluating transition packages, exploring succession options, or simply gaining a better understanding of what’s available.

A path forward doesn’t begin with a commitment.

It begins with a conversation.

There’s still time to make this summer count. When fall arrives, make sure you have a better answer than, “Not much.”