The end of the world is not nigh. The worst-case scenario isn’t a done deal. We’re not all on death’s door.

No matter how bad things (sometimes) appear, there’s plenty to appreciate, plenty to be hopeful about, and plenty we can do to make things even better.

When I see people saying otherwise, I tell myself, “they don’t understand” and hope that changes soon. I say the same thing when I see people ignoring reality, refusing to do their homework, and turning a blind eye to common sense.

Be careful what you read and who you listen to. Use discernment. Many people are mistaken. Many have an agenda. And many are so beaten down they’ve given up. Or just want to complain.

There may be plenty to complain about, but complaining isn’t going to help.

Refusing to submit to oppression helps. Standing up for the aggrieved helps. Offering a warm embrace to those who need it helps.

But what helps more than anything is being positive.

Let others see we’re not losing our minds, our principles, or our souls. We love life and our fellow man. And we’re excited about the future.

They may call us naïve or foolish. We’ll just smile and say, “they don’t understand” and hope that changes soon.

You’ve probably seen a spate of articles and blog posts about things to do in the coming year to improve your law practice marketing and management.

No doubt these articles contain some good ideas for bringing in new clients, being more productive, lowering your expenses and increasing your income.

Save those articles and try those ideas. But not right now.

Most of these ideas will deliver only incremental improvement. If you want to make next year your best year, you need an idea, strategy or tactic that will help you double or triple or ten-times your income.

Find that idea, your “one thing,” and focus all of your attention on it.

No, I can’t tell you what it is. It’s different for everyone. I can only tell you it’s there and if you look for it and allow yourself to find it, you will.

Meditate, pray, ask your inner being for guidance. Let your subconscious mind go to work for you and point you in the right direction.

The thing is, there’s a good chance you already know what it is. You considered it once but rejected it, telling yourself it won’t work, it’s too risky, it takes too much time, or it’s just not for you.

Or you allowed someone to talk you out of it.

But it’s still there, lying dormant in your subconscious, and all you need to do to activate it is to give yourself permission to do that.

On the other hand, it might be something you’ve never considered. You never looked. You were too busy cranking out work and never needed to do much else.

Maybe today things are different.

If so, your “one thing” is to devote yourself to finding that one idea and get it up and running.

How will you know you’ve made the right choice? Don’t use logic to answer that. Use your gut.

The right idea feels good when you think about it. Exciting. Scary, too, but fear and excitement are two sides of the same coin, so if you feel either way, you’ve probably found your one thing.

If you feel indifferent, keep looking.

When you find (or remember) an idea that scares or excites you, what then?

Don’t study it. No research. No pondering. Don’t set any goals or new year’s resolutions, either.

Just start.

Allow yourself to get swept up in the excitement and do something. Take the first step. It doesn’t matter what it is, just move.

You’ll learn what you need to know and do as you do it.

And that’s how you’ll make next year your best year.

I don’t do it as much as I could. Or should. You may be the same. Asking for help feels like you’re being needy. A burden.

But what if it’s not?

What if there are people out there—on your email list, following you on social, in your building or on your list of contacts—who would love to help you?

If you asked, they’d be delighted to answer your questions. Share your page. Recommend your practice. Review your book.

What if some people get as much out of helping you as you hope to get when they do?

My suggestion, to you and to myself, is to try it and find out. Look for opportunities to ask for help, and to appreciate the help you get and the people who give it.

If you don’t feel comfortable asking for help, remember this. . . When you are good at asking, you allow others to enjoy giving.

What a wonderful feeling for both of you. At this or any time of the year.

I got an email this morning that opened with, “Hey David, I’m on vacation this week. . .”

It was shorter than his usual and he wrote it, he said, “from the beach” in Atlantic City, but it struck me that if he was on vacation, he shouldn’t be writing to me—or anyone.

But who am I to talk?

I rarely take vacations, and when I do, I bring work with me. I don’t always do the work but I like knowing I could.

When I worked at an office, I usually brought a file or two home with me for the weekend.

And there were plenty of Saturdays when I was back in the office, sometimes half-day, sometimes all day. I got a lot of dictation done with the phones quiet and nobody else around. I would have worked Sundays, too, but the air conditioning was off.

Poor me.

Can you relate?

Why do we do it? Why are we always working?

Yeah, we’re busy, we’ve got bills to pay, goals to achieve.

But also because we see hard work as a virtue and time off as an indulgence.

But it’s not. We’re not machines. We need time off.

We need time to rest our bodies and our minds, to play and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. We need time away from from demanding clients, deadlines, and overwhelming inboxes.

Even if we love every minute of our work, we need time off. We don’t necessarily need long breaks, but we need something.

When we push ourselves to keep working, when we rely on willpower and negative reinforcement, we reach a point of diminishing returns. We might get more work done, but the quality of that work often suffers.

So does our emotional well-being.

Go for a walk this afternoon. Take the weekend off. Put your vacation back on calendar.

And when you take that vacation, don’t bring any work with you and don’t send me an email.

Read a book and enjoy the fresh air. The work will be there when you get back.