Slow down to speed up

March 9, 2023 by
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Yesterday, I talked about the advantages of following a non-linear workflow, that is, working when and how your body and brain tell you is right instead of slavishly following the calendar. 

Among other things, this means taking breaks when you feel you need them, and not feeling guilty because you’re doing that “too often”. 

Taking breaks also gives you the opportunity to evaluate what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it, and make improvements. You’ll be able to see things you might not have seen because you’ve been too busy doing the work. 

If you continually run from one project or case to the next one, your practice or business is running you instead of the other way around. 

You want to go faster and grow bigger, but you can’t do that if you’re constantly running. You need breaks so you can evaluate what you’re doing, make improvements, or change course. 

Maybe you need to do something different on that project, or put it aside in favor of another. Maybe you need to let go of doing everything yourself and get some help so you can free up some time and energy for projects that are more in line with your goals and purpose. 

Periodically slow down (or stop). Go through your projects, your cases, your client list, and your plans. Stand down for a day or a week and figure out what you can do better or instead.  

When you get back to work, you’ll be able to go faster.

Success isn’t just about doing the work to the best of your ability. It’s also about doing the work that best serves your future. Sometimes, you need to back away and figure out what that means.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, success

How was your day?

March 8, 2023 by
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I didn’t do much work yesterday. I meditated, wrote a blog post, took a walk, helped my wife set up a cabinet, watched a couple of videos (and took notes), read a few pages in a book, and not much else.

Because I didn’t feel like doing anything else.  

Some call this being lazy. You won’t get anything done if you don’t do the work, whether you feel like it or not. Breaks are for after work, weekends, and vacations, not when you feel like it. Get more sleep if you need more energy. Stop goofing off. 

Conventional “wisdom”. 

But not everyone agrees. 

Some describe this as an effective way to structure your time. It’s “nonlinear,” meaning flexible and in sync with what your body and brain tell you. If you’re getting things done, it doesn’t matter how or when you do them. 

9 to 5 is for suckers. 

According to one study, people with the highest “brain health scores,” which include memory, focus, sleep, mood, productivity, and creativity, are those who follow a flexible schedule. 

Yes, I know this isn’t conducive to trial work or being available to see clients when clients need to be seen, but even the busiest of lawyers can work around those limitations, at least some of the time. 

And they should. Because, according to the study, not only is this better for your brain, it’s a better predictor of overall happiness. 

And I’ll take happiness any day of the week. 

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Productivity, success

Start with what, not how

February 23, 2023 by
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I’m guilty of this myself. Trying to figure out how to do something or improve something when that’s the wrong question to start with.

The right question is, “What do I want?“

Because when you know what you want (to be, do, or have), you can almost always figure out how.

Asking “how“ before you know “what“, often leads to wasting time on less important projects or goals.

Finding solutions without a problem.

Example? You’re trying to figure out how to set up a new website. All your energy is dedicated to looking for ways to do that, or finding people who can do it for you.

If you had first asked, “What do I want?” you might have realized that you want more opt-ins to your email list, and while a new and improved website might help, there are other things you can do to get what you want that don’t require a new website.

“What” is more important than “how”.

If you’re not sure of what you want, or even if you are, a good follow-up question to ask yourself is “why?” Why do I want that? Why is it important to me?

The answer to that question will confirm that what you said you want is indeed important and valuable to you, (or it isn’t), and provide you with the motivation to move forward.

Why do you want more opt-ins? Because this is a simple way to get what I want: more clients from the visitors to my website.

First, figure out WHAT you want (and why). Then, figure out HOW to get it.

Email marketing for attorneys

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Filed Under: Email, Law office management, Marketing Plan, Online Marketing, Productivity

Tending to your digital garden

February 22, 2023 by
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What would you do if you opened your task app and found it empty? No tasks, no projects, no ideas—nothing. (And you don’t have a backup.)

Would you panic? Not be able to do any work. Or would you see it as an opportunity to make a new and better list?

That’s what I would do.

In fact, periodically, that’s exactly what I do. I put all my tasks and projects out of sight and build a new list from scratch. The new list is, of course, much shorter than the original. Which is the point. The new list contains the most important things I know I have to do. No fluff, no busy work.

Just the essentials.

Once I’ve created the new list from memory, I go through the old lists and add a few things to the new list I’d forgotten. But only a few. The point of this exercise is to get rid of the clutter so I can focus (and do) the most important tasks and work on the most valuable projects.

My re-constituted list is a joy to look at and work through. Because it isn’t a never-ending mass of “too many,” it’s a lean sprinkling of “just right”.

I do something similar with my notes. I have too many to do this much housecleaning, but I regularly archive old notes, eliminate duplicates, and organize notes that relate to current, upcoming, or ongoing projects.

And I suggest you do the same.  

The best time to do this is when you start using a new app. It feels good to populate your shiny new app with the things that are most important to you.

If you’re not not changing apps, or you’re not sure about doing this, start with your someday/maybe list. You know, that dumping ground of ideas you told yourself you want to get to one day. Be ruthless, here. Cut out most of them. (If it’s something you really want to do someday, it will find its way back onto your list).

When you reduce the digital clutter in your life, it helps you identify your priorities and focus on them. You do your most important work, your day is likely shorter and less stressful, and you have peace of mind knowing you’re on top of your work.

You’re doing what’s important, not just staying busy.

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Filed Under: Productivity
February 6, 2023 by
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Ginormous

If you’re like me, you download or clip a large number of articles and other materials you plan to read, process, or use later. And, if you’re like me, you often fall behind. Even though you regularly process and/or purge your inbox, it always seems to get bigger.  

Like The Blob, it continually grows. And it’s coming to get you.   

To get this mess under control, one thing I’ve done for my notes and clippings is to set up multiple inboxes instead of putting everything into one. Smaller inboxes are less overwhelming, making it more likely I will get through them instead of avoiding them as I sometimes do when I’m tired or busy with other things.

It’s easier to get thorough 20 articles than it is to get through 200. 

Break your big inbox into smaller, more manageable chunks. Divide and conquer. 

You can do this with notes, email, articles you want to read, documents you need to go through, or anything else where you tend to fall behind. 

You might have separate inboxes for different clients or cases. Anything that comes in regarding Smith vs. Jones, for example, goes into its own inbox. When you’re working on that file, you have everything in one place and don’t need to find these notes or documents among 300 others in a general inbox. 

You might have separate inboxes for

  • Different clients
  • Major projects
  • Blog or newsletter ideas
  • General reading
  • Marketing or productivity articles (e.g., my emails)
  • The book you’re working on
  • Documents or correspondence to file
  • Items you need to review this week

When something comes in, it goes in the appropriate inbox. When you’re ready to work on that project or file, or you’re in the mood to read about a certain subject, you’ll have everything in one place and can get through it more quickly. 

You can also give the contents of a certain inbox to an assistant and let them do the processing and filing for you.

Another advantage is that sometimes you find you don’t need the contents of a certain inbox and don’t have to read the contents at all. When a project is completed or you decide to abandon it, for example, you can either delete all those new and unread articles or archive them for a later date. 

Productivity experts tell you to have as few inboxes as possible to make collection and processing easier. But when you’re falling behind and have a big backlog staring at you, I find that multiple inboxes is the way to go. 

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https://www.attorneymarketing.com/2023/02/06/14080/

Filed Under: Dealing with stress, Productivity

Where did I put that?

February 3, 2023 by
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I was at the DMV the other day to renew my license. I had the letter with the details in my pocket. 

Yeah, paper. 

It got me thinking about the notes app in my phone where I can call up most of my work and personal notes. I didn’t scan the DMV letter, but I if I had, I’d be able to retrieve it almost as quickly as the letter in my pocket.

And that got me thinking about the many ways we can organize our notes and docs and find them when we need to. 

So, I made a list:  

  • Search/Saved Search
  • Folders/Notebooks
  • Tags/Labels/File Number
  • Links/Backlinks
  • External Links, e.g., from a task manager or reminders app
  • Shortcuts/Stars/Hot List
  • Indexes/Maps of Content 
  • Alphabetically

Did I miss any? 

I use (or have used) most of these. Clearly, the more ways we have available to find things, the better. But to use these methods properly, we need to do something to our notes to make them findable, i.e., we need to add labels or hyperlinks, or add them our shortcuts. Even if you primarily rely on search, you need to make sure your notes have the right keywords or other metadata. 

Recently, I added another option, a WIP folder, which lives at the bottom of the list of folders in my notes app. I use this for short-term works in progress—writing, research, decisions I need to make—or for an upcoming call or meeting or doctor’s appointment. This is where I would have stored the DMV letter if I had digitized it. 

I generally keep only 5 or 10 items in this folder, which means I can quickly find what I need without adding tags or keywords in advance. 

What’s next? AI, no doubt, which should soon be smart enough to bring us things before we even know we need them.  

Like my secretary did back in the day. 

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Filed Under: Productivity

What’s important to you?

January 20, 2023 by
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I was interviewed recently by the vendor of one of the marketing tools I use in my business. They wanted to know what I do, how I work, and especially how I use their product. 

As we talked, I realized that what was most important to me about this tool, or any tool, was how easy it is to use. 

The same goes for my process. I don’t like complicated workflows. Sometimes, they are necessary, but I like to keep things as simple as possible. 

Simplicity is one of my values. 

I told the interviewer how important this is for what I do, and for the tools I use to do it. Some of their competitors have more features, but they are overkill for me. 

So, if you’re trying to sell me your product or service, show me how easy it is to use. Because if it’s too complicated, it’s probably going to be a no for me. 

You may have different values, and you should explore them. It helps to know what’s important to you, before you buy something you may never use or hire someone who might be good at their job but otherwise not a good fit for you. (Been there, done that; lesson learned.)

It’s also important to find out what’s important to your prospective clients, so that when you talk to them about how you can help them, you’re telling them what they want to hear.

It makes a difference if a client wants to “crush” the other party and is willing to spend big money to accomplish that, or they want a reasonably amicable resolution at modest expense. 

Find out what’s important to them so you can show them how they can get it. 

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Productivity

Run

January 18, 2023 by
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Building a business or law practice, especially from scratch, is best done quickly.

If you want to build yours, run, don’t walk. Sprint, don’t jog.

Here’s why:

  • Building fast gives you less time to think and more time to do. Once you have some sound marketing strategies in place, spend most of your time executing those strategies, not refining your plans or making new ones.
  • Building quickly means you’ll talk to more people, create more content, get more subscribers, do more presentations, and so on. You’ll have more opportunities to find things that work and get better at doing them.
  • Building quickly allows you to compress time, that is, to do in minutes what might otherwise take hours, by finding ways to do things faster and by productively using the spaces between activities that are often wasted.
  • Moving quickly forces you to adopt routines and simple daily activities, which are the building blocks for success.
  • Whether you are new or seasoned, the faster you move, the sooner you find bigger cases and/or better clients and referral sources (and employees), which lead to compound growth as first time clients become repeat clients and referrals lead to more referrals.
  • Moving quickly allows you to create personal momentum. You get faster (and better) at what you do, delivering more outcomes to more clients and bringing in more revenue and more success stories, which leads to more of the same.
  • Moving quickly allows you to discover flaws and eliminate them, make mistakes and fix them, and get better at what you do.
  • Fast is exciting, and excitement is contagious. You’ll be perceived in the marketplace as someone who is going places and doing things and attract people who recognize your pace and energy and want to work with you.

Don’t confuse “fast” with “busy”. They aren’t the same thing. Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean being productive.

You can build quickly even if you aren’t particularly busy. But only if when you work, you run.

How to build your practice bigger, faster

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity

The best productivity tools and systems

January 16, 2023 by
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If you’re like me, you enjoy watching videos about different productivity tools and systems.

That doesn’t mean we’re unhappy with what we’re currently using. Just that we’re open to new ideas and enjoy learning things we can use with our current setup.

And we’re curious. We like seeing what others use. Even how they have set up their workspace.

It’s fun. A pleasant respite from a hectic day.

And sometimes, it leads us to make a switch to a different tool or system, which increases our productivity and enjoyment.

But how do you know when you’ve found the right tool or system?

Actually, I have an answer. A rule of thumb I found languishing in my notes. I don’t know who said it but I wrote it down because it makes so much sense.

The system or tool that’s best (for you) is the one you don’t have to think about.

It just works. Seamlessly. Comfortably. You turn it on or open the page and go.

You don’t feel any friction. Or compelled to change anything. You’re busy doing what the tool or system helps you do.

And when you found it, you knew it was “the one”.

The app, operating system, or process that is a perfect fit. You don’t need to look at anything else.

But (if you’re like me) you will. Because you might find something you like better. Or learn something you can use.

And because it’s fun.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Technology

Addition vs. subtraction

January 6, 2023 by
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In a recent newsletter, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, offered a different way to think about how to planning your time. He said

“If you’re searching for more time this year, start with a clean slate and choose what to add to your days rather than starting with a full schedule and trying to figure out what to eliminate.“

Pretend you’re just starting out. In life or in your practice. What are a few must haves for you? If you had those, what else would you want?

You can also use this approach to re-build your project or task list, your budget, or your goals. Start with a clean slate and add things that are most important to you. If you could only work on one major project this year, for example, what would it be?

You can also use this to simply the list of tools you use to do your work.

I currently use 3 different note-taking apps. I like them all and use all 3 daily, for slightly different purposes. If I wanted to simplify my workflow, it would be difficult for me to choose which app or apps to eliminate.

If I was starting from scratch, however, I know which one I’d start with.

Truth be told, I’m sure I would soon be back to using all 3. Which is okay with me. At least I would have made a conscious decision to do that instead of continuing to do it out of habit.

If you’re rebuilding your marketing mix, start here

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Filed Under: Productivity
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