You want to be more productive? Ask yourself this question every day.

March 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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I get it. You’re incredibly busy. You have way too much to do and not enough time to do it. You’re getting things done but wonder if you’re doing enough.

Take a breath. Stop worrying about how much you’re not getting done.

The truth is you’ll never get it all done and it doesn’t matter. Being productive isn’t about how much you do, it’s about doing what’s important.

Take a look at your to-do list for today. All the calls and emails, the errands, the work that is on deadline. Lots of things you have to do and you will get most of them done.

Because you have to.

You’ll file that motion because it’s due. You’ll make that call because the other guy is waiting. You’ll write that letter because you want to settle the case.

But what about the important things you don’t have to do? Things that will advance your career or improve your life but don’t have a deadline or someone else waiting or watching?

This is the sweet spot in your growth. This is where you advance towards your long term goals. This is where you find your purpose instead of just taking care of your obligations.

Every day, when you write down your to-do list, I suggest you ask yourself this question:

“What is the most important thing I can do today that I don’t have to do?”

Your answer may be “to start exercising” because you want to get in shape. It’s important but you don’t have to do it. Now, at least you are aware of what’s important.

If you ask yourself that question again tomorrow and you get the same answer, you might pick up that exercise book you bought three years ago and put it on your desk. The next day you might actually read the first chapter.

It might be six months before you do your first push up or register for that hot yoga class, and that’s okay. You may never have done it if you had not asked yourself, “What is the most important thing I can do today that I don’t have to do?”

If marketing is important to you, download this today. You can read it tomorrow.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

February 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Rev. Robert Schuller asks, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” It’s one of my favorite quotes.

I’ve often asked myself this question. When I found my confidence lacking, when a project got stalled because I didn’t know what to do next, or when I was faced with a major career decision, I would stop and think about the “best case scenario” and it helped me move forward.

I think it’s because of the word “if”. “What would do if. . .” is a hypothetical question. We can answer it because we’re not promising anything, we’re speculating. The question allows us to bypass our critical mind and find the answers.

We may still have fears and doubts but now we know what we would do if we didn’t.

If you are procrastinating on updating your web site, imagine that in 90 days that web site is bringing you four or five or ten new clients a month. If God Himself whispered in your ear and told you that your web site will be massively successful, what would you do today?

You’d make a list of tasks that need to be done and you’d start working on them, wouldn’t you? If you don’t know what those tasks might be, your first task would be to find someone who does know and ask them what to do.

If you knew for certain that things would work out exactly the way you wanted (or better), what would you attempt? If you knew that your project would be a success, what would you do today to move it forward?

Whatever it is that you would do if you knew you could not fail, that’s what you should do.

“What if it doesn’t work?” you ask.

“What if it does?”

If you’re already earning as much as you want, you don’t need to read this

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity, success Tagged With: , ,

The virtue of wasting time

February 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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“Quit goofing off and get back to work!” Have you ever said that to your kids or your employees? I know you’ve said it to yourself.

We seemed to be obsessed with the idea that wasting time is a bad thing. I know, “wasting” implies “no value,” but is that really true?

Me thinks not.

Playing video games, checking in or posting on social media, watching football, or whatever you like to do when you’re not doing what you think you’re supposed to do, is not wasting time. I can think of several reasons why it is good for you. And if its good for you, then its good for your work and other aspects of your life.

  • It helps you relax. Stress is a major health risk. Goofing off helps us forget our troubles and lower our blood pressure. Laughing has been proven to improve mental and physical health.
  • It helps you think. When our conscious minds are distracted, our subconscious minds come up with ideas, solve problems, and help us make decisions.
  • It improves skills. Gaming can improve hand-eye coordination and sharpen critical thinking. Watching sports can teach you about leadership, strategy, and team effort. Social media can help you learn about pop culture, which can be used in conversation and writing.
  • It helps you meet new people. With many hobbies and personal interests, you get to meet new people–at the game or the sports bar, online, at the concert, or the convention. New people bring new ideas, new contacts, new business.
  • It affirms life. The purpose of life is joy, not work.

Is there such a thing as spending too much time “wasting time”? Our bosses, parents, and spouses may think so, especially if they’ve seen us spending an hour or two on a site like this one. But it’s really the wrong question.

Better to ask, “Are you getting your work done?”, “Are you making a contribution to the world,” and “Are you happy?”

If you can answer those questions in the affirmative, I don’t think the amount of time you spend conquering pretend kingdoms or contemplating your navel really matters.

Earn more so you can goof off more. Here’s how.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Just for fun, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: ,

Is it time to put your practice on a diet?

January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Yesterday, I did a strategy session with an attorney who was thinking about getting out of practicing law. After several decades of practicing, he said, “I don’t have the enthusiasm for my practice I once felt. I’ve had difficulties staying focused on my practice and delivering my work product in a timely fashion.”

In other words, the thrill was gone.

He does tax and estate planning, trust and estate administration, and tax compliance. Much of his malaise was centered on a feeling of being bogged down in administrative minutia. As a sole practitioner, there was simply too much to do and too much to keep up with and he was overwhelmed.

I asked him if there was any part of what he does that he liked. He said he enjoyed working with individuals and helping them with estate planning. I said, “If you could have a successful practice doing nothing but that and none of the other things you’re currently doing, how would that be?” “That would be great,” he said.

Problem solved.

He didn’t need to get out of practicing. He needed to put his practice on a diet.

By getting rid of practice areas (and clients) that weighed him down, he could have a leaner, more robust practice doing what he enjoyed doing. I told him there was more than enough business available for the kind of estate planning he liked and that he didn’t have to do anything else.

Many attorneys suffer from “practice bloat,” a term I just made up but which seems to accurately describe what happens over a period of years. You start out lean and mean, excited, and enjoying the process of building your practice. At some point, you take on additional practice areas because the work falls into your lap or because you want to have another profit center or something to fall back on. In time, your practice no longer resembles the one you started. You have too much to do, too much to keep up with, and you start falling behind. At this point, many attorneys start thinking the law is not their calling and they start looking for something else.

Some attorneys start out doing too much. I did. I took anything that showed up. I thought I had to because I needed the money. Soon, I was overwhelmed and frustrated, convinced I’d made a mistake in becoming a lawyer.

In both cases, the answer is to put the practice on a diet.

Get rid of practice areas you don’t enjoy. Get rid of clients who drive you crazy. Get rid of work you’re not good at but continue to do because “it’s part of the job”.

The vacuum you create by getting rid of things that do not serve you will soon be filled with work that you love and are good at. You’ll breathe life into a moribund practice, attract new clients, and increase your income. Most importantly, you’ll look forward to going to work every day.

There are more than enough clients available who want and need what you love to do. If your practice is bloated and the thrill is gone, it may be time to put your practice on a diet.

Does your practice need fixing? A new focus? Do you have marketing questions? I can help.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Law office management, Marketing Plan, Specializing Tagged With: , ,

Do your clients know your dirty little secrets?

December 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Do your clients know the real you? Probably not. They might get nervous if they heard what you think about certain things or they knew what you do when you’re not at work. They might think less of your abilities as an attorney if they knew how much you don’t know. They might not hire you again if they knew how lucky you were the last time you represented them.

We all put on our best faces for our clients, our colleagues, and our neighbors. Everything is great. It couldn’t be better. Yeah, we’re really busy.

We never let them see us sweat.

Kurt Cobain said, “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” Does this mean we should all be brutally honest about who we really are? No. Of course not. We’re professionals, not rock stars, and we’d never get away with it.

But then maybe Cobain didn’t get away with it either. If the point of being “who you are” is that you’ll be happier if you do, then clearly, Cobain didn’t get away with it. If he had been happy, he wouldn’t have checked out so early.

So keep up the facade. Don’t post that photo on Facebook (you know the one I mean) and don’t tell people what you really think about them, even when they ask.

We do a lot of pretending as lawyers. It’s part of the job. Our clients want to hire a successful lawyer, not someone who is struggling to figure things out. We must project confidence even if we don’t have a clue about what to do next.

But maybe it would be okay to let people see you cry once in awhile. Or to share your love for show tunes or The Three Stooges. Maybe what you think is embarrassing or inconsistent with the “stone cold” image of an attorney is just the thing that people will love most about you.

And if not, that’s okay. You can be massively successful even when a lot of people don’t like who you really are. Maybe because of it.

If someone thinks I’m a dork because I like The Three Stooges, I don’t let it bother me. I just poke them in the eye.

Are you embarrassed about your marketing? Don’t be. Get help here.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Image, Personal development Tagged With: ,

Build the law practice you would want to represent you

December 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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If your law practice would fit in a box and I could buy it at a store, what would I see when I opened that box? Would I see something so beautiful it would make me smile? Would I admire the clock-like precision and attention to detail? Would I be so enamored by what I saw I would tell everyone I knew to go buy one?

Or would I see flaws? Things that don’t work right? Missing parts?

Most law practices aren’t broken, but neither are they great. They’re good enough and for most clients, good enough is good enough. But is it good enough for you? How would you feel if you were the client of your firm, knowing what you know about what goes on behind the scenes?

In an interview, Steve Jobs offered an excellent description of the standard befitting a great company, or a great law practice:

We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

For Steve, good enough was never good enough.

If you want to build a great law practice, you need great clients. Learn how to get them here.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Law office management Tagged With: ,

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

November 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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In 1988, Don’t Worry, Be Happy reached number one on the Billboard music charts, a position it held for two weeks. Bobby McFerrin’s a cappella hit had us singing (or whistling) along, buoyed by it’s upbeat message. Right now, there’s a whole lot of worrying going on in the world and it might do us all some good to listen once again.

“In every life we have some trouble. When you worry you make it double. Don’t worry, be happy……” (lyrics)

A long time ago, I eliminated the word “worry” from my lexicon. Worry is not a helpful word, or emotion. All it does is make you anxious. Today, I might be “concerned” about something, but never worried. I find I can deal more clearly with things when I’m not caught up in the emotions surrounding them.

Worrying about a problem will never fix it. Creative thinking, asking for help, taking action–these can fix a problem, but not worry. So stop it. Stop worrying about your problems. Get yourself a big box and put all your worries in it. Set that box on fire. Burn it up. You don’t need what’s in it, so get rid of it. (At least put it in storage. You can come back later if you really miss your problems.)

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” –Mark Twain

While you’re at it, throw into your box all of the things you worry about that aren’t problems. Stuff that never happened and probably never will. That includes all of the “missed opportunities” that nag at you. All of the shoulda’s, coulda’s, and woulda’s.

What good is it to worry about your web site and all of the search engine traffic you’re NOT getting, for example? Let it go. Stop thinking about it. In fact, what if you never had to think about SEO again? How would that feel? You wouldn’t have to think about it or read about it or spend money on it.

Release it. Let it go.

There are other ways to get traffic (and clients) that have nothing to do with search engines. Sure, it’s nice when you get them through search but wouldn’t it be nice to know you don’t have to depend on it?

Relax. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry. Be happy.

“Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry be happy

Now that you’re feeling better and you have more free time, you can explore SEO if you want to. But only if you want to, not because you have to. No worries, no “have to’s,” just an opportunity. Do it or don’t do it.

Make a list of things you’re thinking about right now. Projects, ideas, things you have to do. Make sure you add anything that you’re worried about. Get them off your desk and out of your head. That alone feels good, doesn’t it?

Then ask yourself, “How many of these things could I cross off my list?” If you can’t cross them off, label or tag them with “someday/maybe” and file them away, out of sight.

Spend your time thinking about things that are important, and things that feel good when you think about them. No, you can’t ignore your responsibilities or pretend you don’t have any problems. But you don’t have to worry about them, either.

Need clients? Don’t worry. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and be happy.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:

Are you thinking about quitting the practice of law?

October 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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I just heard from an attorney who says he’s thinking of getting out of law. He’s been very successful in the past, not so much right now.

He was looking for “inspiration” so I asked him if he really wants out or would he choose to continue practicing if he could again be successful.

I told him not to use logic to answer, but to look to his feelings.

Your logical mind will lie to you. It will tell you to you what you’ve habitually said to yourself over the years, or what your parents have said, or what you think you should say. Your logical mind will have you say, “I’ve invested all these years in building my career, I can’t just walk away from it and start over.”

Yes, you can. People do it all the time.

You can talk yourself into or out of just about anything. You can add up all the pluses and minuses, examine your skill set and other interests, talk to your loved ones, and seek the guidance of mentors. With logic, you can come to a measured, intelligent decision about what to do. But would it be the right decision?

When it comes to making a big decision like this, don’t trust logic, but don’t ignore it, either. Examine the facts. Let them incubate in your subconscious. Plot out the alternatives. Give yourself a month or three to think it through.

And then, before you make your decision, go get drunk or meditate or go to the beach and stare at the waves. Think about the alternatives and ask yourself, “what feels better?”

My grandfather always told me to “trust my gut”. I’m offering you the same advice.

If you decide to stay in your practice, do yourself a favor and order The Attorney Marketing Formula. You’ll thank me later.

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Get into flow and get more done by grouping your activities

October 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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A friend of mine was making follow-up sales calls to prospective clients he’d spoken to previously. He commented that the mindset for making follow-up calls is different from the mindset of first calls and the two activities should be done at different times.

I agree. Don’t edit when you write and don’t write when you edit. Two different activities, two different mindsets.

My friend cold calls. When he makes a first call, he is prospecting. He moves quickly through large lists. He is sorting, looking for someone who will take his call and agree to look at some information. His focus is on the mechanical act of dialing rather than the quality of any one conversation. He knows that if he makes a certain number of dials, he will get a certain number of leads.

Follow-up calls are different. When he calls someone who agreed to look at some information, my friend is in sales mode. He engages the prospect. He asks questions to find out their hot buttons. When he knows what they want, he can show them how his service can help them get it. My friend answers questions and responds to objections. He moves the prospect forward to the next step, using finesse and skill.

It is important to my friend that he separates first calls from follow-ups because the mindset, energy, and rhythm are so different. When he’s prospecting and banging out calls, the last thing he wants to do is slow down and change gears into sales mode. It’s better to keep dialing and racking up leads and make follow-up calls later, after a break.

This is good advice for any activity. Do your work in bunches. Finish one bunch before moving onto another.

See new clients during a two hour block of time rather than spaced out throughout the day. Make all your calls to adjusters back to back. Review three files in a row.

When you get into the rhythm and feel of an activity, stay in it as long as you can. When you’re in a groove, you’ll get more done. Time will pass more quickly. You’ll get better results.

Psychologists refer to this as “flow“. One of the hallmarks of being in a state of flow is joy. It comes from being fully immersed in an activity and focusing on that and nothing else.

Joy is the catalyst to growth. The more my friend is on the phone, the better he gets at what he does (he just reported going seven for seven on first calls), and the joy he feels makes him want to do more.

When you find the joy in what you’re doing, success is imminent. You don’t need a psychologist to explain it:

The more you do of something, the better you get. The better you get, the better your results. The better your results, the more you enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you want to do it. And the more you do it, the better you get.

Get better at marketing. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Productivity

What do you like best about practicing law?

October 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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“What do you like best about practice law?” I was asked that 1,000 times when I was practicing and I’m still asked that today. I’m sure you are, too. My standard reply is that I liked helping people and I liked making money, and that’s the truth. That’s why I went to law school, after all.

Do I like the title or the prestige of being a professional? Actually, it’s not important to me. When I’m introduced to people and they find out what I do [did], something changes in the dynamic and while sometimes it’s a good change, just as often it’s not. I can’t put my finger on it but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. They look at you like you’re not a regular person. They become guarded, as if you’re going to ask them some tough questions and find out their secrets.

What about the work itself? There were some things I really enjoyed and some things I despised. Most of what I did I found boring.

But that’s me. How about you? What do you like best about what you do?

Make a list of all of things you do as a lawyer, and all of the things that being a lawyer means to you. Write down the big things and the little things, about the work, the people, the challenges and the rewards. Look at your calendar, look at the files on your desk or in your computer, look at how you spend your time.

Write down everything and when you’re done, look at your list and put a star next to the things you like best about what you do. And then, focus on those things.

Do more of what you like. The rest–the things you don’t like or the things you are bored by–don’t matter. Eliminate them, delegate them, or just do them, but focus on the things that you do like.

In my case, I focused on the people. My clients. Much of the work may have been routine and boring, but the people never were. They were unique. Every one of them. I enjoyed meeting them and finding out about their lives. I enjoyed explaining how things were going to get better for them and then helping make that happen. I enjoyed delivering the results and watching them smile and say thank you. And I enjoyed getting calls from their friends who had heard about me and wanted me to help them, too.

That’s what I enjoyed and that’s what I focused on. It made everything else, all of the things I didn’t like, relatively unimportant. It’s also what made my practice grow.

Whatever we focus on grows. By focusing on what you like about your practice, you will create more of it. Focus on your problems and you’ll have more of them. Focus on what frustrates you and you’ll have more to be frustrated about it. Focus on what you love, what gives you meaning, and you will create the life that you want because you will be doing more of what you want.

You don’t have to know how it works, just know that it does work, and do it.

If you want to earn more than you ever thought possible, download The Attorney Marketing Formula

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