My wife once told me I needed to drink more alcohol. She said I was too uptight and needed to loosen up.
She wasn't serious (about the alcohol part) but I had to admit she had a point. Attorneys can be pretty serious folks at times.
You and I know a lot of attorneys. As a group, what are they like? Most of the ones I know are intelligent, hard working, responsible, and professional. They have families and hobbies and a life outside of the office. They are successful and well-rounded.
At the same time, most of the attorneys I know are very analytical and a bit uptight.
Like me.
No matter what kind of law we practice, we are all in the people business. People hire (and employ) lawyers they like and if you're not likable, you're making things harder on yourself.
So, if you're a stick in the mud, or have a stick where the sun doesn't shine, if people don't "get" you, if you are completely unable to win friends and influence people, you might want to work on that.
I use humor to overcome my natural tendencies. I like to make people laugh. It's a great ice breaker and helps when I'm speaking to a group.
If you need to loosen up, consider doing something different:
- Acting classes
- Public speaking classes
- Stand up comedy
- Music/art
- Exercise
- Sky diving/race car driving/fire walking
- Personal development courses
- Therapy
If you want more people to like you, you don't have to become the life of the party. You do need to have that stick removed.
Filed under Career satisfaction, Personal development, success by 
So you're not the best attorney in your field. You didn't finish first in your class. You're not the best presenter, writer, or negotiator.
You're just you, someone who loves being a lawyer and helping people.
And you know what? That's enough.
You don't have to be the best to have a very satisfying and rewarding career. In the long run, your passion for what you do will attract everything you need. You can learn what you need to know and get better at what you do.
But you must be willing to grow.
Unfortunately, many lawyers stop growing the day they receive their license. The got school "out of the way" and then switched gears to focus on building a career.
Oh they go through the motions of continuing their education but mostly because they have to, not because they want to. Soon they find themselves in a rut, a career rut where billable hours and overhead and moving up the ladder are job one. In time, many such lawyers find themselves dissatisfied with their careers, but often they don't know why.
It's because they've stopped growing.
Charles Darwin said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." Lawyers who stop learning stop adapting to the changes around them. If they're not careful, they'll find themselves on the endangered species list.
Learning and growth aren't limited to the law, however. There is much more to being a lawyer. You need to learn marketing. You need to understand human psychology. You should be able to read a balance sheet. And much more.
I heard someone say (on LinkedIn, I think) that it's no longer acceptable for an attorney to say they are "computer illiterate". Yet many attorneys are functionally so. Yes, you can hire people to do what you don't want to do, but in the wired world we live in today, someone who refuses to learn some basic computer skills might as well waive a white flag and call it a day.
Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Never stop adapting to the changes around you. That's how you will survive in this jungle.
Filed under Career satisfaction, Continuing Legal Education, Inspiration, Personal development by
I read another thoughtful post by Leo Babauta on the Zen Habits blog about the subject of practice. No, he wasn't writing about a law practice, but I thought his message of "practicing" to effect improvement applied as much to a law practice as to anything else. Plus, I like the play on words.
We are what we repeatedly do. We are the sum of our habits. If we want to change who we are, we have to change what we do.
Change begins with awareness. If you didn't say "thank you" to the new client who just hired you (you'd be surprised at how many attorneys don't), reading this sentence made you aware that you didn't and also aware of how important it is. (Your mother will tell you, it's one of the most important things you can do.) If you usually say thank you, but for some reason didn't do it last time, there is room for improvement. The standard of excellence isn't saying thank you most of the time, but every time.
Now that you are aware, make a decision to change. Then, practice your new habit. With something as simple as saying thank you, you might only need to be reminded. Write it down on your intake sheet, use a post it note, put it on your calendar, whatever you need to do to remember to always say thank you.
Also be aware of what happens when you get it right. Watch your new client's face as you look him in the eye, shake his hand, and sincerely tell him how much you appreciate having him as a client. Tell him you'll take good care of him. Let the handshake linger a few seconds longer. Give him your full attention. Say thank you, and mean it. You'll see some of the tension leave his face as he comes to realize that you really do care.
Your law practice is a collection of habits. What you (and your staff) regularly do and how well you do it defines you, distinguishes you from other lawyers, and plays a big role in determining your success. There are big habits and many small ones and they all matter.
Filed under Client loyalty, Client relations, Image, Marketing legal services, Personal development, success by
One of the "Eight Secrets to Getting More Done in 2012," in this Forbes magazine article struck a nerve with me because it is something I have struggled with. If you have ever been accused of being "overly analytical," "a perfectionist," a "procrastinator," or just somebody who has trouble making up their mind, we're bred from the same stock.
Yes, being an attorney means being careful, not jumping to conclusions, and not making rash decisions. We carefully weigh the options and we go out of our way to avoid risk. It goes with the job description.
It's also why attorneys usually make poor business people. Entrepreneurs see a vision of success and act on it; lawyers see what could wrong and either say no or mull it over so long the opportunity passes them by.
But according to Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, the ability to make quick decisions is the hallmark of rich people:
Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and changing these decisions slowly, if and when they were changed at all. People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.
Marty Zwilling, founder and CEO of Startup Professionals understands this. It was his contribution to the Forbes article that caught my eye:
My key to productivity is simply “make a decision.” Even a bad decision is recoverable, and better than no decision, since it gets the issue off your plate and moving. Making no decision bottlenecks your work, and causes things to happen to you, rather than by you.
But if the ability to make decisions quickly is a habit of the rich and attorneys are prone to doing the opposite, why are there so many rich attorneys?
Two reasons, I think. First, we're around a lot of successful people and get in front of a lot of good opportunities. The odds are in our favor that we will be "in the right place at the right time". Second, attorneys are intelligent people and tend to make "good decisions," albeit not quickly. If we could combine the two and make "good decisions quickly," I think there would be many more rich lawyers.
Fortunately, making decisions quickly is a habit and habits can be developed. You do it once, the world doesn't end, you do it again.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Start with little decisions, "which movie to see," or "which topic to write about today." Give yourself five minutes to decide. Use a timer. Use a screen saver message or post-it to remind you to "Decide Now!" And do it every day.
If you mindfully make quick decisions every day, making quick decisions will soon become a habit. Eventually, you'll be able to make quick decisions about important matters and that's when you will see more significant results.
But don't forget the other side of the equation. Once you've decided, you must stick with your decision. Practice not changing your mind. Yes, you'll make mistakes, but as Zwilling says, "even a bad decision is recoverable". Isn't that why God invented E and O coverage?
Filed under Inspiration, Personal development, success, Wealth by
Being productive means doing more of the things that advance your most important objectives and less of the things that don't. How to you find more time to do the high-value/high-payoff activities?
You don't.
You can't find time. But you can buy it.
We only have so many hours in our day. We have to sleep and eat and take care of household duties. We have family and hobbies and other things we do that add value to our lives. We also have responsibilities, things we simply cannot delegate. Add it all up and there are only so many hours a day for work.
The only way you'll be able to spend more of your work time doing high-payoff activities is by cutting out something else. You must buy back the time you now spend on low-payoff activities so you can spend it on the activities that matter most.
If you want to be more productive (translation: earn more without working more), the following three-step exercise will help:
Step one: take inventory.
For the next week (assuming it is a typical week), write down everything you do, 24 hours a day, in 15-minute increments. (Okay, if you want to use 6-minute increments, you can, but no padding. . .)
If you're like most people, you'll resist doing this exercise. You'll make excuses, you'll "forget," you'll bitch and moan about yet another silly personal development exercise.
Trust me, it's worth it.
If you can't do a week, try it for a day. You'll see. You'll be amazed at how much time you spend doing some things.
This simple exercise is a real eye-opener for a lot of people. They find large pockets of wasted time they can easily reclaim to do other, more valuable activities.
Which leads to. . .
Step two: Grade yourself.
Go through your time diary again and put a mark next to all of your high-payoff work-related activities. Write down the amount of time you spent on each. Add it all up for the week and divide by five (or six) days.
On average, what percentage of your working day is spent on high-payoff activities?
Highly productive people spend at least 70% of their time working on high-payoff activities. Most people (who are honest with themselves) find their number is 30-40%.
If you discover there's room for improvement, it's time for step three.
Step three: Go shopping.
Go through your diary one more time and circle all of your low-payoff activities. Feel free to skip things like grooming, sleeping, meals, caring for children–things you still have to (or want to) do.
What remains is your shopping list of low-payoff activities. This is where you will "buy" time. Go through the remaining list and ask yourself, "What can I cut down on?" and "What can I cut out?"
The point of this is to help you define your current reality and show you a simple way to change it. Spending a few hours this week doing this exercise is truly a high-payoff activity.
Filed under Personal development, Productivity, Time Management by
In Steven Covey's, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," habit 2 is, "Begin with the end in mind". Determine your destination before you begin so you wind up where you want to go. Covey says, "If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster."
So, where do you want to go in your career?
I assume you want to be successful. Well, what does success look like for you?
Take some time today to answer this question:
"If my practice/career/job were perfect in every way, what would it look like?"
Write down your answer. Here are some additional questions to help you clarify your "destination":
- Where would you be living?
- Who would you work for?
- What kind of office would you have or would you work from home?
- How many hours would you work?
- What services would you offer?
- How much would you charge?
- How much would you earn per month or per year?
- What kinds of clients would you work with?
- How many people would you employ?
- What systems or tools would you use?
- What makes you different from other attorneys?
Once you've got something on paper, take a step back and look at what you wrote. Did you write what you think you should be doing based on where you are right now or did you turn on your dream machine and "go for it"?
Forget logic for a few minutes. Quiet the adult in you and let the little kid speak. Ask your inner genie to grant you three wishes.
No rules. No restrictions. No responsibilities. What does your perfect career (or life) look like?
It's your career, after all, your journey. Where do you want to wind up?
Filed under Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Inspiration, Personal development by
There are a lot of attorneys who do what you do, right there in your market. Many of them have more experience than you do. They have a bigger marketing budget, a better blog, and more traffic to their web site. They have better-paying clients and get more referrals. They earn more than you do. Hell, they're even better looking.
But no matter what advantages your competition have over you, you can keep them from beating you.
How do you stop a stronger opponent, or worse, an army of them? By ignoring them.
Stop looking at what other attorneys are doing. Forget about what they have. Don't compare yourself to others. It's the worst thing you can do for your career or your self-esteem.
Stay focused on what you do, on your clients, on your work. Build your practice, and don't worry about what anyone else is doing. Or as a friend of mine says, "keep your eyes on your own paper."
No matter what advantages your competition may have, they can't beat you unless you let them.
Filed under Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Marketing Plan, Personal development by
Do you like setting goals? I never have, although I've set plenty of them. I been a goal-setter for most of my life. I've studied goal setting, trained and written articles on goal setting, and know quite about the right and wrong ways to go about it.
After all, goal setting is a key to success, isn't it? "If you don't know where you're going, how will know when you get there?"–that sort of thing. So every year, I set aside time to write my goals for the coming year.
But I never liked it.
I never liked the chore of crafting the right goal. Too many variables.
I never liked the deadlines for reaching those goals. Too much pressure.
And I never liked not reaching my goals. Too much disappointment.
Looking back at decades of goal setting, I can honestly say that formal goal setting has not helped me achieve more, or made my life any better. It's only made me anxious.
That's not to say I don't have goals, I do. I know what I want and I like thinking about it and working towards it. I like achieving those goals and setting new ones. No, goals are a good thing and I'm not giving up on them. What I am questioning is the efficacy of the formal goal setting process.
I know many people who have been successful using a formal process. Maybe they're built differently. Maybe they thrive when the pressure is on and the days are counting down. Me? Not so much.
So instead of setting formal goals this coming year, with specific details and deadlines and metrics and such, I'm going to be much more relaxed about everything. I know what I want to do this year, or at least the direction I want to go, and I'm going to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking in that direction.
How will I know when I get there? I don't know, I might not, and that's just fine. Because the goal really isn't the point. What's important is being happy, and as long as there is a smile on my face, I know I'm doing just fine.
Filed under Goal Setting, Personal development, Productivity by
When I was a kid in school, I usually waited until the last minute to write papers or study for exams. Actually, there were times when I took the exam without studying at all.
In college, I went through entire courses without reading the text books. I went to the first couple of classes and showed up for the final.
There were times when I paid dearly for these habits. Usually, I did just fine.
Years later, I figured out why I procrastinated. By waiting to the last minute to study or start a paper, I had the perfect excuse in case I didn't do well.
"Yeah, I got a B, but hey, I didn't really study."
Stupid? Yep. But that was my way of coping with being a perfectionist. I couldn't accept the possibility of getting less than a top grade so I gave myself an excuse in case I didn't.
As I began my professional life, I hate to admit that I still had the tendency to procrastinate. But while I could get away with this in school, I quickly realized that as an attorney, it was unacceptable to deliver anything less than my best.
Losing cases was difficult for me. I often took it harder than my clients. I never did get used to it. How did I learn to cope with less than perfect results? By not focusing on the results at all, but instead, focusing on the process.
We can't control the verdict. There are too many factors outside of our control. We can't promise results. All we can do is put our best efforts into our work.
If you focus on the outcomes in life, you will ride an emotional roller coaster. If you focus on doing your job and giving it your best, you are successful no matter what the outcome.
I am successful today because instead of focusing on perfect results, I focus on making progress. Because I do that consistently, I have a lot of successful outcomes. When my results are less than optimum, I accept it because I wasn't focused on the outcome, I was focused on my work.
If you are a perfectionist (or otherwise emotionally attached to outcomes), change your focus to the work in front of you. Get busy with "the next step" and do your best. When you've done that, focus on the step after that.
And when you're done with a project, don't dwell on the results, get started on the first step in the next project.
Filed under Personal development, Productivity by
Stop running. Yes, I know you have to get to court, crank out a new agreement, and meet with your new client. I know you're busy and this is how you earn your living. I know that if you don't do the work you won't get paid.
Slow down anyway. Better yet, come to a complete stop.
At least for a few hours.
Slowing down allows you to refine what you're doing so you can do it better, and faster. Just as a race car needs pit stops, so do humans. By taking a break periodically, we can ensure that everything is working properly and that we are on course and on pace. Taking a break allows us to recharge our energy and clarify our focus. It allows us to go faster, assured that we are going in the right direction.
Take some time to evaluate what you are doing and the results you are getting. Are things moving in the direction you want? Is there anything you could do better? What's working well that could be expanded?
Take some time to look at your calendar. How are you spending your time? What else might you do? Is there something you are doing that you don't really need to do? Is there something that takes you two hours that could be done in one?
Take some time to rest and reflect on the bigger picture. What big ideas could you start working on that might help you take a quantum leap? Where do you want to be five years from today and what could you start doing today to help you get there?
Take some time to get rid of clutter and distractions. If it doesn't serve you in some way, eliminate it. Simplify your life so you can focus on what is important and valuable.
Take some time to read things you don't usually read. Look for ideas and inspiration. Have some fun. Goof off. Go to the movies in the middle of the day. Take your best friend for a long lunch.
And take some time to give thanks for all that you have. When you appreciate the goodness in your life, you attract more of it.
Filed under Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity by
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