In order to figure out what you want in your practice or any area of your life, it helps to first figure out what you don’t want.
Try this exercise:
Sit down in a quiet place and write, as quickly as you can, a list of everything you don’t want in your professional life. The things that take too much time, the things you hate, the things you don’t hate but would prefer not to do.
Don’t editorialize (or whine), just get it out and write it down.
It might be litigation, divorce, small cases, big cases, employees, partners, working for someone else, going to networking events, business travel, high rent, long hours, billing, collecting fees, unhappy clients, stress, too little income. . .
Don’t hold back. Write it all down. Nobody will see your list but you.
Keep writing until you can’t think of anything else.
Look at your list. It feels good to unload all of your burdens, even if it’s only on a piece of paper.
But you might also feel angry, as you see, in black and white, all of the things you have brought into your life and allowed to continue. Things that cause you anxiety, stress, time, and money.
Acknowledge those feelings and resolve to change the things that are causing you to have them.
You probably can’t eliminate all of the things you don’t like, or even most of them, at least anytime soon. But you can eliminate some of them and make some of them better.
Look at your list and decide what needs to go and what needs to change. Then, take a few minutes and make a new list. A list of things you want, based on your first list.
If you said you don’t want to handle divorce any longer, what do you want to handle instead? If you said you don’t want to chase clients to pay their bills, write down the way you want things to be.
Then, add to your “want” list anything else that comes to mind. Let your imagination soar. Do you want to work a 5-hour day and simultaneously double your income? Write that down. (NB: you can do that, as other lawyers and I can attest).
This is an important exercise because clarity is the first step towards change.
Plan, do, review. Start with this
