How to be more productive every day

May 23, 2014 by
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“We often assume that productivity means getting more things done each day. Wrong. Productivity is getting important things done consistently. And no matter what you are working on, there are only a few things that are truly important.” So says James Clear in his blog post, The Only Productivity Tip You’ll Ever Need.

His advice: “Do the most important thing first every day”.

It works because our energy is higher, our willpower is stronger, and because human nature compels us to finish what we start (so start something important). When you do the most important thing first, other things that come up during the day won’t keep you from doing what’s most important because, well, you’ve already done them.

If you are a night owl, if you aren’t at full throttle until some time after the morning, start there. Whenever you start working, work on the most important task first.

Clear acknowledges that most people don’t do this. We are conditioned from an early age to respond to the stimuli around us, and we do. We answer emails, return phone calls, and take care of whatever might be in front of us, even if it’s a low priority. We also have work assigned to us by others, or by our duties as parents, and we are conditioned to take care of these things first, even if they aren’t the most important tasks in our day.

Clear doesn’t suggest shirking our responsibilities, but to make room in our life for the things that best serve our agenda, not necessarily someone else’s.

I’m guilty of this myself. I write a daily blog post. I don’t do it first thing in the morning, but I do it before working on other projects which are more important. I write the blog post “first” to get it done, so I can spend the rest of the day working on other things. I get the post done every day but I don’t always get as much work done on my most important projects. In fact, some days, I don’t get anything done on them at all.

I like the idea of starting the day with my most important task which right now means finishing a new book. My fear is that I will get engrossed in working on the book and leave no time to write a blog post, or other things I need to get done during the day.

I think the answer might lie in time blocking. That is, starting the day committed to a block of time for the most important task(s). Give it an hour, or two, and then work on other things. If there’s time left over, I can go back to the most important tasks.

I’ll try it and let you know how it goes.

I use Evernote to be more productive. See how in my ebook, Evernote for Lawyers.

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Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

How to tackle big projects

May 22, 2014 by
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I’ve done a lot of writing in my life but I’ve never written fiction. I want to. Writing novels has been a lifelong dream. It sounds like such an immense project, doesn’t it? How do you do it? Where do you start?

Like any big project, you start at the beginning. As Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”

Novelist, E.L. Doctorow, when asked about the immensity of writing a novel put it this way: “It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Big projects are collections of smaller tasks. You don’t sit down and write a 100,000 word novel, you write 1,000 words, or 500, and you repeat this process until you are done.

But don’t you have to know the destination? You can’t just get in your car and drive and expect to get where you want to go, can you?

Some people do. Some people know they want to write a book or start a business or travel to foreign lands and they just do it. They begin the journey, with little more than a general idea of where they want to go, and eventually, they get there. They’ll probably tell you that not planning everything makes the journey that much more enjoyable.

In the world of fiction writing, they are called “pantsers”. They write by the seat of their pants. They start with an idea or a character and see where it takes them. The few times I’ve tried writing a story, I did it this way. I quickly found myself asking, “What happens next?” and I didn’t know, so I stopped writing.

At the other end of the spectrum are plotters. They plan out the entire story, from start to finish, deciding in advance “what happens next” before they begin the actual writing.

And then there are those who fall somewhere in the middle. They know the major plot points or beats they will use to advance their story, but they don’t know all the details. They are prepared to let their characters take them in different directions, but they keep their eye on the destination.

In the business world, I think the latter is the right model. A business plan that is loaded with specifics and details is impractical to follow in view of the vagaries of the real world where, unlike a novel, you aren’t omnipotent. On the other hand, starting with no plan whatsoever could find you wandering, if not foundering.

A business plan, or the plan for any big project, should address the big picture and general direction of the venture. You need to know where you are going and how you will start; you don’t need to know everything.

Do you have a big project you’ve been putting off because you don’t know how to do everything? Now you know you don’t have to. You need to know what you want to accomplish, have a basic understanding of the issues you will need to address, and then you need to start.

You don’t need turn-by-turn navigation helping you get to your destination. You can stop along the way and look at the map or ask for directions. But you’ll never get where you want to go unless you get in the car, turn on the engine, and drive.

The Attorney Marketing Formula comes with a simple marketing plan that really works.

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity

How to get your work done on time

April 18, 2014 by
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The statute runs on the ninth, so we get the complaint filed by the eighth. We have to, so we do.

What about things that don’t have a deadline? We put them off. We procrastinate. Especially if it’s something we don’t want to do.

But we know this is a bad habit and we want to overcome it. So we make up a deadline. A firm date when we will have the work done. We put it on our calendar. It’s in writing. We see the due date coming up. We’re determined to beat the deadline.

But we don’t.

The day comes and goes and we don’t do the work. We were probably busy doing things that had a real deadline.

I read about a study that confirms what we already know: self-imposed deadlines don’t work. At least for things we really don’t want to do. We procrastinate for a reason, and writing down a deadline doesn’t eliminate that reason.

There is a solution. A way to make a self-imposed deadline work.

You need a deadline AND a penalty for missing it.

When you set a deadline, tell someone. Someone who will hold you accountable.

Tell your client when the work will be done. Promise to deliver it on that day. Put that in writing. You don’t want an unhappy client. Or a client who thinks you are incompetent. Or a client who sues. So you get the work done. Because you have to.

If you really have a problem with procrastination, put in your retainer agreement that the work will be delivered on the date promised or there will be no fee. Or, 10% reduction for every day it is late. Or some other costly consequence.

You’ll get the work done on time, won’t you? Yeah, you will.

You can do something similar with non-billable work or projects. Have you been procrastinating on your website? Tell your boss, partner, or spouse when the work will be done and ask them to hold you accountable.

If you have difficulty estimating when you can finish a big project, break it down into components and set a deadline for the first one. If you want to write a book, for example, set a deadline for completing the first chapter or the first draft. After that, set another deadline for the next component.

You can use penalties to finish any project or achieve any goal. I know a vegetarian who publicly promised that if she didn’t meet a certain goal, she would eat a McDonald’s hamburger every day for a month. Her goal was a big one, but yeah, she made it.

Get serious about marketing. Here’s help.

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With:

Evernote vs OneNote for Lawyers

March 26, 2014 by
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Several years ago, I used OneNote for note taking and organizing information. I loved the digital notebook concept. I loved having nested notebooks and pages and sub-pages where I could organize everything.

Ironically, one thing I wasn’t crazy about was something OneNote is known for: the ability to place notes and graphics anywhere on the page. I was used to a more linear approach to organizing things. I tried to get used to this free-form method of displaying content, but never did.

Another thing I didn’t like is that each page was itself a big graphic (I think) and each element on it was a graphic. I may have the tech wrong but it always felt a bit weird. Maybe I’m just a plain text kinda guy.

As my notes grew, I found that keeping them organized wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I had so many notebooks and pages and sub-pages, things got confusing. Tags and search weren’t terribly reliable in the version I was using and I started looking at what others were doing to organize their notes.

I read lots of blogs about OneNote and kept hearing it compared to Evernote. I had Evernote on my hard drive, but used it only on occasion. I saw that many OneNote users had switched to EverNote because of some of the same frustrations I had experienced, so I started using Evernote more and liked it. I made the switch and haven’t looked back.

Evernote is my virtual filing cabinet, my GTD platform, and my universal note taking system. I use it all day, every day, on all my devices and in every part of my work flow. If you’re a lawyer, you can see how I use it in my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

Microsoft just made OneNote free for PC and Mac users so I thought I would give it another look. I read an excellent article comparing OneNote vs Evernote. It concluded that Evernote takes the gold, but it also showed how far OneNote has come since I last used it.

I just downloaded OneNote and will take it for a test drive. At first blush, I can see how I might use it for certain projects, but I can’t see making my primary note taking system.

How about you? How do you weigh in on the Evernote vs OneNote for lawyers debate?

Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized and Increasing Productivity is available here

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Filed Under: Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

7-minute attorney marketing workout

March 14, 2014 by
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Have you seen those 7-minute workout apps? You set them up with your workout schedule, the app reminds you what to do and when, and as you do your workouts, you record it in the app. It’s like having a workout coach in your pocket.

If you miss a day, it shows. Some apps nag you about it. You are motivated to keep up your workouts and not “break the chain” and so, even with just a few minutes a day, you get in shape.

What if you had something like this to track your marketing? Do you think you would get more marketing done on a regular basis? Do you think it would be easier to develop the marketing habit?

I think so, too.

And trust me, doing something every day, even for a few minutes, is easier than trying to book an hour or two once a week.

I don’t think there are any attorney marketing apps, but you could accomplish something similar with just about any calendar or reminder app. You need a list of activities (exercises), and a schedule. Set up recurring tasks or appointments, with reminders.

You might also want to have someone in your office, or a workout partner, hold you accountable. At the end of the day, they ask you if you did your workout. If you do this with a workout partner, you do the same for them.

I suggest 15 minutes per day, five days a week, but if you can only do 7-minutes, do that. Consistently is more important than quantity.

You can do a lot in a few minutes. You can make calls, write, work on your website, read and take notes, learn a new software program, or share ideas with your workout partner. You can plan a new seminar or webinar, outline a report, or work on a speech. You can research new networking groups, write and post blurbs on social media, or add new contacts on LinkedIn.

A few minutes a day and you can get your practice in shape. Without breaking a sweat.

Want ideas for marketing online? Get this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity

Goal setting for lawyers and other smart people

February 28, 2014 by
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After yesterday’s post about goal setting and the value of having both “result” goals and “activity” goals, an attorney emailed me and said that when he sets results-based goals and doesn’t meet them, it is discouraging. “By establishing activity based goals, I largely control whether I meet them or not. Therefore I am much more motivated to achieve them.”

Exactly.

Results-based goals are inspiring, but if you continually miss them, you get to where you don’t want to set them anymore.

Before you give up on them, there are a couple of things you can do.

The first thing you can do is to break the rules about “when”. In other words, instead of saying you want to earn $20,000 this month, let go of “this month”. Focus on what you want, not when.

It’s a “law of attraction” thing. The ticking clock is a constant reminder that you don’t have what you want, and when you think about that, all you get is more of what you don’t want. You attract the “not having”.

So, set (results) goals that feel good when you think about them. What and why, but not how or when.

The second thing you can do is to change your thinking about what a goal is. Normally, a goal is a fixed target that you either hit or you don’t. Since we usually set goals that are somewhat out of reach, we get conditioned to missing them, and that quickly gets old.

The answer isn’t to set goals that are so low we always hit them. It is to set three version of the goal:

  1. The minimum (what you absolutely know you can do without much in the way of extra effort);
  2. The target (a realistic goal that will take reasonably significant effort but is not out of reach);
  3. The dream (you probably won’t reach it but it’s not impossible).

If $20,000 is your dream goal, $12,000 might be your target, and $8500 might be your minimum.

Another way to do it is to keep the goal at $20,000 but change the month for hitting it: Six months from now is your target, one year from today is your minimum, and next month is your dream version of the goal.

This way, you almost always hit your goal and are almost never discouraged.

Goals are meant to serve you, not the other way around. If setting goals isn’t working for you, change how you do it, or let it go completely. Leo Baubata, having been a strong proponent of goal setting, relinquished it completely and found that he is just as productive, if not more so.

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Getting things done the way that works best for you

February 18, 2014 by
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I just read an article about the four different personality types or thinkers and how we each go about getting things done. We make our lists differently and approach them differently.

Structural thinkers create a traditional to-do list every day and check things off as they do them. They take an organized, linear approach to managing their tasks.

Analytical thinkers consider the value of what they might do, and how much time it will take to do it.

Social thinkers seek input from others and consider how different tasks relate to everything else they might do

Conceptual thinkers don’t keep a traditional to-do list; they use an intuitive approach to getting things done

I don’t know how accurate these four types are or which group I fall into. Trying to figure it out made my head hurt. The author acknowledges that we might be a combination of types, and I’m sure that’s true for me.

My approach varies. It depends on the project, how I’m feeling that day, deadlines, and what I feel drawn to do. Some days, I work through a list and cross things off. Other days, I don’t look at anything, I just go with the flow.

I have a very large list of tasks and projects and someday/maybes, in Evernote, and each has one or more GTD tags that identify and prioritize the task or project. But to be honest, once I’ve assigned those tags to my tasks, I don’t refer to them every day.

I do what’s on my calendar. I do anything I’ve tagged as an “MIT” (most important task). The rest? I usually know what’s “next”.

I get things out of my head and off of scraps of paper and into my “trusted system”. It’s all there for me, in Evernote, so nothing will be lost or forgotten. I can search and find things, by tag, or I can browse. And yet, strangely, I usually don’t. I just know what I’m going to do.

But then my work life is a lot less complicated today than in years past. If I were still practicing, I would undoubtedly have a more structured approach to my day.

I think the big takeaway is that we are all different and we have to do what works best for us. We can use a complicated system, or no system. We can analyze and prioritize, or we can trust our gut. We can manage our lives with GTD, Franklin Covey, Kanban, or Eisenhower, or we can grab a pen and jot down a few things we want to do today.

Use what works best for you, even if it’s just your calendar and a post-it note.

My modified GTD system is detailed in my Evernote for Lawyers ebook

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

Miscellany Friday (no, it doesn’t rhyme)

February 7, 2014 by
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Today, I thought I’d share a few miscellaneous items with you and let you choose what interests you. If you like “round-up” posts like this one, let me know.

1. Find Out How Much You Are Overbilling Your Clients

A discussion about how lawyers who delay recording of their billable hours, usually until the last two days of the month, routinely overbill clients by an average of 23%.

Don’t forget to check out my ebook on the subject: Get the Check: Stress-Free Legal Billing and Collection

2. Longer is Better for Blog Content: Truth or Myth?

Do longer blog posts draw more search engine traffic? Apparently so. But do most people read 2000 word posts, and do you have time to write them?

I’ve written before about this subject and have concluded that you need a mix of longer, authoritative posts, to draw traffic, and shorter posts to engage browsing visitors.

3. Legal ethics: Are blogs governed by advertising rules?

Is writing a blog advertising? I don’t think so, and neither does Kevin O’Keefe, the author of this post. And yet various jurisdictions seek to regulate blogs as advertising. Frankly, I don’t think we need specific rules for lawyer advertising at all. General rules (don’t misrepresent, full disclosure, et. al.) do quite nicely.

4. OneTab extension for Chrome saves up to 95% of memory

I always thought I was pretty good about staying focused on whatever I was doing. Throughout my day, I’ll keep a couple of browser windows open, each with six or seven tabs. No problem for a stud like me, right? Boy was I wrong.

I just installed OneTab, an extension for Chrome. It’s a simple thing that collapses all of your open tabs (or whichever ones you designate) into a single tab with links you can click to re-open those tabs. I’ve found that not only does this reduce the drain on memory, up to 95% we are told, so everything works faster, videos don’t stall, and so on, it’s also making me way more productive.

For example, instead of checking email every 15 minutes, I check it when I’m done with whatever I’m working on. Stupidly simple, but it works.

I’m sure there are equivalent extensions for different browsers and platforms.

So, there you go.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Blogging, Fees and Billing, Legal industry, Productivity, Technology

Hack away at the unessential

January 30, 2014 by
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I just heard about a hoarder who had 30 years of newspapers and magazines stacked floor to ceiling in nearly every room of his house. Yeah, he had a lot of issues.

(Rim shot.)

So last weekend, I cleaned out my closet and armoire and got rid of a lot of old clothes. There’s empty space now, and it feels good. Next stop, my office.

Once a year, I get the bug to de-clutter. I like to, “Hack away at the unessential,” as Bruce Lee said. Getting rid of things I don’t use, simplifying my life.

It’s not just about possessions. I try to do the same in my digital word. Eliminating (or at least filing away in a place I won’t see them) forms, emails, notes, and assorted paperwork. I pare down the apps on my iPhone, too.

I like looking at an empty email inbox and a slimmed down “My documents”. It gives me a sense of peace and control over my world. Fewer things to look at, think about, or update.

Bruce Lee talked about getting rid of the unessential to better focus on the few things that mattered most. He concentrated his work outs, his energy, and his focus on a few things. It made him more efficient, quicker and more powerful. He may never have described it as such, but he appears to have embraced the Pareto Principle, eliminating the “trivial many” so he could focus on the “precious few”.

In a law practice, that might be achieved by getting rid of (or filing away) eighty percent of your forms (letters, checklists), so you can focus on the twenty percent you use the most. You’ll have time to make them even better.

You could do something similar with client intake. Identify the most important parts of the process and spend more time on them. Do you really need to know all of the facts or review all of the documents at the first meeting or might some of this be done later? Freeing up some time at the first meeting would allow you to get to know the client better and he, you.

It could also mean paring down your client list, getting rid of marginal clients who pay the least or give you the most trouble, so you can focus on your best clients.

Bruce Lee believed that simpler is better. When you hack away at the unessential, you aren’t mired in complexity or distracted by minutia. Fewer moving parts makes you more agile. You get better at the most important things.

How can you hack away at the unessential in your law practice?

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Attorney marketing plan: 15 minutes a day or two hour a week?

January 21, 2014 by
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If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ve heard me repeatedly say that marketing doesn’t need to take a lot of time. “Just 15 minutes a day is all you need, just make sure you do it every day.”

Why every day?

  • So that it becomes a habit. Because if you instead block out two hours every Friday for marketing and you miss a week, you’ll fall behind and may have trouble getting back in the groove
  • Because doing something every day programs your subconscious mind to to find ideas when you’re doing other things
  • Because marketing should be an integral part of running your practice and something you enjoy doing, not a chore you have to force yourself to do once a week
  • Because the little things we do every day, a quick phone call or email, for example, are not only effective because they involve reaching out to people, they are also efficient, compared to big blocks of time which often involve a lot of waste
  • Because marketing ideas and opportunities present themselves daily, via people you meet, things you read, and ideas that pop into your mind, and if you don’t use them in the moment, they will pass you by

There are times when a big block of time for marketing can be useful, especially when you are working with a team. Planning and developing a new advertising or social media campaign or meeting with a web developer are examples. Of course some things like networking or delivering a seminar require a block of time.

You could also utilize blocks of time to get ahead of the marketing curve. With a little preparation, you could create a month’s worth of weekly blog posts in a single two hour writing session.

Investing 15 minutes a day (weekdays) for marketing is 5.5 hours a month, certainly not to much to ask of even the busiest attorney, especially considering the immense return on that investment. Could you add two more hours to that once a month for bigger projects? Do you need to?

How much time do you spend on marketing? Do you have a fixed schedule?

Need an attorney marketing plan? Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity, Time Management
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