How many hours a week do you work?

May 17, 2017 by
Share

How many hours a week do you work? Probably more than you would like and more than you should:

A recent Gallup poll found that the average full-time employee in the US works a 47-hour week, nearly a full workday longer than the standard nine-to-five schedule. Moreover, nearly one in five workers (18%) reports working 60 hours or more per week. [cite]

I’m pretty sure attorneys work even longer hours.

The question is, are longer hours worth it? Are you getting more done? Earning more income? And, considering your health, your family, and your overall quality of life, is it really worth it?

That’s for you to decide, of course, but there is a point of diminishing returns:

A Stanford University study found that employee output declines sharply after 50 hours per week and nosedives after 56 hours to the point where someone who puts in 70 hours doesn’t produce anything more with those additional 14 hours. Similar studies have linked long hours with absenteeism, long-term memory loss and impaired decision-making skills.

If you work for a firm and you are competing with others to make partner, if your employment contract demands a minimum number of billable hours, you may have little choice, at least in your current job. But if you’re self-employed, you have options and you may want to explore them.

You may find, as I did when I cut my work week, that you are more focused, more productive, and earn more income. The question is, how low can you go?

If you earn more (and are happier) working forty hours instead of fifty, will you earn more still if you cut your work week to thirty hours? How about twenty?

Is the four-hour work week possible for a professional?

It might be fun to find out.

The key to earning more and working less is leverage

Share
Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

More about goal setting (and goal getting)

May 8, 2017 by
Share

Last week I talked about breaking up your big, long-term goals into short-term activities. You can’t “do” a goal, you can only do the activities that help you achieve it.

But sometimes, you find yourself intimidated by the immensity of a project and you procrastinate. Or you start but find it taking too long and give up.

If you’ve ever planned to update your website, create a new presentation, or start a new marketing campaign, for example, and found yourself putting these on the back burner, you know what I mean.

The key to doing a big project is to break it up into small tasks.

Let’s say your goal is to write a book. The first step is to break up that goal into a series of mini-goals: brainstorming topics, writing an outline, completing the first draft, and so on. Each mini-goal is less daunting and more doable. As you complete each mini-goal, you take a step closer to achieving the bigger goal.

Okay, you know this. No doubt you do it. You put the big goal at the top of the page and write a list of tasks or mini-goals underneath. But if you’re like most busy professionals, you still may find yourself procrastinating, or starting and abandoning projects.

The solution is to take each of your tasks or mini-goals and break it up into even smaller parts. The smaller the task, the more likely you are to do it.

Instead of a goal to write a 2,000-word chapter, for example, break it up into four 500-word sub-chapters or sections. Writing 500 words on a narrow aspect of the chapter’s subject is much easier than writing an entire chapter. If you know your subject, you can probably write those words in a matter of minutes.

Smaller tasks are easier to start because you can see the finish line. You won’t be as likely to procrastinate when you know you can complete the task in fifteen or twenty minutes.

But here’s something else: Smaller goals allow you to achieve more goals. You don’t have to wait until you finish a chapter to feel good about your progress, you can have that feeling each time you finish a sub-chapter. Each time you do, your brain gives you a shot of endorphin, you feel good and are motivated to write the next section.

Mini-goals also motivate you to continue working when you find yourself getting tired or distracted. You’ll push yourself to write “one more section” because you know it will only take a few more minutes.

This is how you build momentum and get the project done.

Whatever the project or goal, break it up into smaller parts or mini-goals, the smaller the better. When you have a few minutes between appointments, you can check off another mini-goal and take a step closer to accomplishing the big goal.

How to get referrals, step-by-step

Share
Filed Under: Goal Setting, Productivity

Planning your day made simple

May 1, 2017 by
Share

Here’s a simple method for planning your day. It’s just three lists, which fit nicely on a single piece of paper:

(1) MUST DO

This includes appointments and scheduled tasks, anything with a deadline or due date, and your core work tasks.

If it’s on your calendar (or should be), it’s a “Must Do”. If it is a core function of your work, e.g., returning phone calls, replying to letters and emails, reviewing and preparing documents, and so on, it also goes on your Must Do list.

(2) SHOULD DO

Your Should Do list contains 1-3 important tasks that bring value to your clients or to yourself and help you make progress towards achieving your goals.

These are discretionary tasks and projects and often don’t have an immediate payoff. That’s why people procrastinate on them, and why they need to be on your Should Do list.

Should Do tasks include things like writing articles, creating presentations, contacting prospective referral sources, and other marketing and management tasks. Should Do tasks can be grouped together, i.e., “call three clients to touch base”.

You might want to designate ONE of your Should Do tasks as your “Most Important Task” (MIT) of the day. Think of it this way: If you only did this one thing today, you would be satisfied.

(3) COULD DO

Anything else. Choose up to 5 additional tasks to do after you have done everything in the first two categories. These aren’t important but they may be necessary, e.g., errands, organizing files, additional research.

You should also maintain a running list or notebook with someday/maybe projects, ideas, and other things you’re not ready to do. Go through this list regularly and add tasks to your “Should Do” and “Could Do” lists.

At the end of each day, if you haven’t done everything on your three lists, add them to your next day’s lists.

If you have done everything on your three lists, you can either dip into your idea notebook for additional tasks or go home. You’ve had a great day.

I use Evernote to collect ideas and someday/maybes

Share
Filed Under: Productivity

Better routines help you earn more without working more

April 28, 2017 by
Share

What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office in the morning? After you hang up your jacket and grab another cup of coffee, do you check your phone messages next? Take a look at the calendar? Dig through the mail?

One thing I tried to do as soon as I got to the office was review and sign letters and documents and give them back to my secretary. I wanted to keep her busy because I knew she would be back with another pile of things for me to review before the day was done.

So what’s your routine?

You have one, you know. Just as you have routines for interviewing new clients, writing demand letters, and getting ready for trial. You have routines for writing articles, cleaning up your desk at the end of the day, and preparing to go out of town.

The question is, do your routines serve you?

Are they efficient, helping you to get more done in less time? Do they make your staff’s job easier? Do they help you minimize errors? Do they give your clients the right impression?

Better routines help you streamline your work flow so you can earn more without working more.

Think about what you do throughout the day and how you might improve your routines. Consider preparing checklists, forms, and form letters or templates, or updating the ones you already have.

After you’ve gotten another cup of coffee, of course.

Earn more by delegating more

Share
Filed Under: Productivity

Laziness is contagious. Here’s why that’s good news

April 14, 2017 by
Share

In their never-ending quest to master the subject, French researchers recently determined that laziness is contagious.

If your co-workers tend to take things slow and easy, you’re likely to pick up on their body language, pace, and other cues, and slow down.

It’s like yawning. When someone else does it, you’re likely to do it, too. Humans are apparently wired to mirror the behavior of those around us.

Anyway, why is this good news? It’s good news because if laziness is contagious, the inverse must also be true. Hang around people who work hard and get things done and you’ll be more likely to do the same.

I used to work with a guy who filled his days with non-stop meetings and phone calls. I spent a day with him once and his pace was exhausting. Just when I thought it was time to wind down our day, off he went making more calls.

I’d never be able to keep up with his pace but if we worked together every day, I’m sure I would get more done than I usually do. Just as laziness is contagious, so is industriousness.

In the study, the researchers asked participants to perform certain tasks in front of other participants. They also tested for traits like risk-taking and patience. They found that most of the participants adjusted their behavior to coincide with what they saw other participants do.

Clearly, our environment plays a significant role in our performance.

This is consistent with the “Law of Association,” which says we become like the people with whom we associate most. We adopt many of their habits, opinions, and behaviors. Our achievements and income tend to parallel theirs.

Think about the five people you associate with most and you’ll probably see that this is so.

The lesson is that if you want to achieve more, you should spend more time with high achievers. If you want to increase your income, insinuate yourself into the lives of people who earn more.

Spend more time with people who have what you want and less time with people who don’t.

Learn how to get more referrals from someone who knows how to get more referrals

 

Share
Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:

Do less

April 6, 2017 by
Share

You’re smart. Good at your job. Successful. But you want to be more successful so you do what most people do, you look for ways to do more.

More clients. More projects. More work.

To fit it all in, you look for ways to work faster and get bigger results.

You get busier and busier. You have less time and more stress. You’re frustrated because you’re doing more but not achieving more.

You’ve reached a point of diminishing returns.

It’s time for a different approach.

Instead of doing more, do less.

Take things off your calendar and to-do list. Start fewer projects. Make fewer commitments. Have fewer conversations.

Make room for what’s important and what you do especially well.

You’ll have more time to do more important things and more time to build on your strengths. You’ll have more energy, less stress, and fewer distractions. You’ll make fewer mistakes, waste fewer hours, and make better decisions.

You’ll build stronger relationships with key people. You’ll complete projects that take you to higher levels.

You’ll achieve more by doing less.

Get busy doing less.

Work smarter. Leverage your professional relationships to get more referrals

Share
Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Productivity, success

Walk a mile in the other guy’s pants

April 4, 2017 by
Share

Whenever I set up IKEA furniture, the first thing I do is take everything out of the box, spread it out on the floor, and examine and count all of the parts. I make sure I have everything I’m supposed to have before I begin.

Then, I turn to the first page of the instructions and start with step one.

This helps me work quickly and ensures that I don’t leave anything out.

I followed a similar process in my law practice, using forms and checklists to open and close files, manage documents and correspondence and the calendar, and otherwise make sure I didn’t forget anything. (No computers, then. Fun times.)

I’ve seen more than a few attorneys who don’t do use forms or checklists. When they interview a new client, they grab a legal pad and start asking questions.

When I have a writing project, anything longer than a few pages, I organize my ideas and notes and write a simple outline before I begin. Some writers prepare highly detailed outlines, while others prefer to start with nothing more than an idea.

Some are plotters. Some are pantsers—writing by the seat of their pants.

The point is that everyone has their own way of doing things. Do what works for you.

But. . . do yourself a favor. Make a point of looking at the methods used by other people and try some of them.

If you usually fly by the seat of your pants in your work flow, give checklists a try. If you’re organized to a fault, try winging some things. If you follow a specific task management system or have a preferred writing app, try some others every once in awhile.

Your way may work for you. But you might find something that works even better.

Share
Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity

How to slash your workday in half

March 27, 2017 by
Share

What if you could get all of your work done in four hours a day instead of eight (or ten?)

Crazy, right?

Maybe not. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, provides evidence to support the idea that working less makes you more productive.

I know that when I had an epiphany in my career, I was able to cut my work week from fifty hours to just fifteen. I showed up at the office three days a week, worked five hours, and got everything done.

As amazing as that sounds, what was even more amazing was that my income went up dramatically.

Was it because fewer hours forced me to get better at prioritizing? Was it because I didn’t have time to waste so I didn’t waste any? Was it because I “let go” of my need to do everything myself and got better at delegating? Was it because coming in late and leaving early allowed me to miss traffic, which meant I had less stress and more energy? Was it because I had more time to read and better myself, and more time for marketing?

Yeah, it was all of those things.

If you are self-employed and would like to work less and earn more, I encourage you to try it. Don’t reject the idea because it is counter-intuitive or goes against a lifetime of experience. If working fewer hours worked for me, why couldn’t it work for you?

Give it a month. If it doesn’t work you can change back. But maybe you won’t want to. Maybe you will realize that you really can get your work done in less time. Maybe your life will never be the same.

You can go “cold turkey” and tell your staff your new schedule, or you can ease into it. Start by working a half day on Friday, for example, and go from there.

C’mon, you know you want to do it. You just need to give yourself permission. Ask yourself, “What would I have to do to make this work?” Gnaw on that for awhile and let your subconscious mind come up with the plan.

What will you do with all that free time?

One key to earning more and working less: more referrals

Share
Filed Under: Productivity

How to make your work less boring

March 23, 2017 by
Share

When we were kids, every day was an adventure. We had fun doing things we saw on TV, read about in books, or could conjure up in our imaginations. One thing we never imagined, however, was doing the same thing for the rest of our lives.

And then we went to law school.

We settled into a career that demands focus. We do the same things every day, getting better at our jobs, but for many lawyers, that job eventually becomes boring.

If you find yourself bored with your work, here are three things you can do:

Delegate the boring parts

Some parts of the job are more interesting than others. By getting others to do most of the routine, boring work, you’ll free yourself up to do the more stimulating and challenging work.

Work less/do other things

Delegating and outsourcing will free up time. You can free up even more time by using strategies and tools that streamline your workflow and make more efficient.

You can use some of the time you free up to pursue outside interests: hobbies, a side business, charitable work, or anything else that excites you.

Your work may still be boring but you’ll have enough other things going on in your life to keep you stimulated and fulfilled.

Find fulfillment in the work itself

Ultimately, the best way to avoid boredom is to find fulfillment in the work itself. One of the best ways to do that is to continually take your practice into new markets where you will learn new things and meet new people.

In addition, challenge yourself to continually acquire new skills and improve your existing ones.

Finally, make sure you continually set new goals that force you to stretch and grow.

Not only are these strategies good for business, you will never be bored because every day will be a new adventure.

One of the best ways to earn more and work less is to get more referrals

Share
Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity

Adventures in bright shiny object land

March 13, 2017 by
Share

My wife and I were at IKEA a few days ago, buying an ottoman for a side chair in my home office. While we were there, I fell in love with a desk by the name of Fredde.

I wasn’t shopping for a desk but Fredde called out to me and he was awesome looking. I wrote down his name and when we got home I went to the IKEA site and looked at measurements and photos and imagined how Fredde would look in place of the folding table I now use.

Oh yeah, I’m getting this desk.

I watched several set-up videos, seeing how others have configured their Fredde desk. It seems to be popular with gamers, ostensibly because it allows you to keep everything you need close at hand. It is tall and works well in smaller spaces.

But I don’t have a small space and I’m not a gamer. I asked myself if the desk would help me be more productive. The answer was, probably not.

There are a couple of features that might help, like a cut out in the front that would allow me to get closer to the monitor, but to be honest, the main reason I like the desk is that it is incredibly cool.

What did I do? I watched more videos, of course. Videos about desks, chairs, and office layouts. That led to videos about ergonomics–chair position, monitor height, keyboard best practices, and so on.

Crazy? Probably. But that’s how I roll.

After watching all of those videos, I realized that I already have everything I need. My current setup isn’t cool but it is functional. It’s also spacious and uncluttered and gives me a sense of order.

So now I’m thinking I don’t need Fredde.

On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with getting something just because you want it, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

How many referrals did you get last week? Here’s how to get more

Share
Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »