Fracking your law practice

September 3, 2013 by
Share

You’ve waited long enough. It’s time to finally open the floodgates of untapped resources that lie beneath your feet. New clients, better clients, and an abundant and fulfilling lifestyle await you. All you need to do is go get them.

Every law practice has natural resources that aren’t being accessed. What are these resources?

Your client list that could easily bring a steady stream of repeat business and referrals but is all but ignored in favor of expensive and time consuming efforts to find new clients.

Your knowledge and experience that could be packaged and presented in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd and be seen as the best lawyer for the job but instead, is shackled by the chains of conformity.

The passion that drove you to choose a legal career but has been dulled by low margins and mindless work could be rekindled with new ideas, if only you would slow down long enough to learn them, and loosen up enough to try them.

These and other resources, if allowed to surface, could transform you from struggle to success, from success to untold wealth. All you have to do is embrace these resources, develop them, and allow them to deliver their bounty.

Why aren’t you developing these resources? Adherence to tradition. Not wanting to admit there is a problem. Fear of what others will think or what might happen if something goes wrong.

Yes, there are dangers. If you start a blog it might take up too much time. But what if it doesn’t? What if it takes up much less time than you thought? And what if it brings you lots of prospective clients who see why they should hire you instead of anyone else, and do?

If you get started with social media, your unhappy clients and crazy clients may smack talk you and harm your reputation. But what if they are few and far between and your happy clients set the record straight and build up your reputation and increase your following?

If you stay in touch with your clients and former clients, you might waste time that could be spent getting work done. But what if staying in touch brings you so much work you can afford to hire staff to do most of it and you can get home before the kids are in bed?

There are dangers to doing things you’ve never done before. You might be embarrassed. There may be costs. Things could go wrong. But the greater danger is that you will never discover what was possible, never realize your potential, and never have the time or financial resources to make the world a better place.

If you’re ready to tap into your natural resources, this and this will show you what to do.

Share
Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client loyalty, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity

The need to read (books)

August 29, 2013 by
Share

If you are a book lover like I am, you know there’s never enough time to read everything. In, “How to read a lot of books,” college student and fellow book lover Dan Shipper shares how he read lots of books.

First, he keeps track of everything he wants to read in Evernote. He always has his list with him so he can pick up books on his “want” list any time he’s in a book store. Of course I keep lists in Evernote, too, but I buy mostly ebooks, now.

Next, he prioritizes his master list (using Trello) so he knows what to read next. I’m more of a shoot from the hip kinda guy, so unless I’m working on a project that calls for me to read a certain book, I just pick something I feel drawn to and read that. If I did prioritize my list, however, I would use Evernote tags instead of another application.

As for actually reading the books, Shipper follows this rule: “I never read more than one book at a time, and I always finish every book I start.” Here, I disagree.

I often read several books “simultaneously”. No, not literally. I start one book, then switch to another before finishing the first. I may go back to the first or go on to another. Why? I like the variety, I guess. When I get tired of hearing one author’s voice, I like to tune into someone else’s.

As for finishing every book, I must ask why? There are a lot of bad books out there. Why continue reading something that’s boring or that doesn’t deliver on it’s promise? Why punish yourself? So you can say you finished what you started? So you can tell yourself you gave the author a fair shot?

Besides, the 80/20 rules tells us that 80% of a book’s value is contained in 20% of the pages. If you can deduce that value by skimming or by skipping chapters, why wouldn’t you do that?

I guess it depends on why you are reading. I read to gain information, mostly. (I don’t read much fiction these days.) When I can get most of the information I need or want without finishing the book, I do.

Not finishing books is one of my top productivity strategies.

Finally, Shipper says he takes notes as he reads and records the page numbers, so he can refer back to those notes in the future. I do that, too. On Kindle, you can highlight passages and add notes and the system will keep track of those highlights and notes, along with the page numbers. (I haven’t figured out how to export them, though. I’d like to save them in Evernote.)

So, that’s what I do to read (or skim) lots of books. What do you do?

Glad I’m done with this post. I’ve got five books I’m planning to start.

If you use Evernote, get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook. If you don’t use Evernote, helloooooo!

Share
Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

Attention lawyers who hate practicing law

August 26, 2013 by
Share

If you hate practicing law I have a question for you: If you were earning five times the income, would you hate it any less?

If the answer is yes, you’re lucky. All you need to do is increase your income. Keep reading. I’ve got something that can help.

If the answer is no, then you might need to get a new career. Before you decide to jump ship, however, let’s see if there’s anything we can do about the things you don’t like (and that includes “not enough income”).

I’m going to give you a simple exercise to do. I’ve done this exercise before and I can tell you that it really does help.

Grab a legal pad and write at the top of the page: “What I don’t like about practicing law” or “. . .about my practice”. Draw a line down the middle of the page.

On the left side of the page, write down everything that you don’t like about your practice. Write fast. Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Take as much time as you want and get it all out.

Done? Good. How did that feel? When I’ve done this before I’ve had mixed feelings. It feels good to give voice to my frustrations. Cathartic. Therapy on paper. But I also feel angry that I have allowed things I don’t like to continue for so long.

The point of this isn’t to make you feel bad or to dwell on the things you don’t want, however. It is to find solutions. So, on the right side of the page, next to each item that you don’t like, write down what you can do about it.

You don’t like the stress of litigation? What can you do about that? Don’t think too much, just write whatever comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything, perhaps you can ask someone who might know or you can do some research. Write that down. Or, just skip it and keep writing.

What can you do about your high overhead, inconsistent income, or ungrateful and overly demanding clients? Write down what you can do even if it’s radical, strange, or not something you want to do. If it’s something you CAN do, write it down.

There will be things on your list that you can’t do anything about it. You can’t change people, for example, only yourself. Don’t worry about what you can’t do or can’t change.

Write down as many “can do’s” as possible. When you’re done, go through the list again and see if there’s anything you can add.

You don’t have to tolerate things you don’t like. You can fix them, delegate them, or get rid of them. You can find ways to make things better.

A “can do” list is very empowering. It gives you a list of tasks and projects you can begin to work on. It gives you a checklist of ways to make your practice better, more profitable, more fulfilling. Even if you choose not to do some of the things on your can do list, you’ll feel better knowing that you have that power.

Look at your list of can do’s. Before you had problems and frustrations. Now, you have a list of things you can do. Imagine how good you’ll feel getting those things done!

What’s next? Transfer your list of “can do’s” to your task management system and hide your original list. No sense looking at what makes you frustrated (the left side of the list). It’s time to focus on taking action to eliminate problems and improve results.

A few months from now, when things are better, take a peek at your original list to see how far you’ve come. Smile. Then, start another list.

Need more income? Want to know what you “can do”? Study this and this.

Share
Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:

Bullet Journal: A paper based system for recording and managing tasks

August 21, 2013 by
Share

I was browsing the “What’s Popular” category on Youtube and saw a video about Bullet Journal, an analog journaling and note taking system. Basically, it’s a way to use pen and paper (or a Moleskine notebook) to record and manage your tasks, notes, and events.

What I like:

  • Pen and paper and Moleskine notebooks
  • The idea of having everything with me in one book
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing
  • Low cost, always on, no batteries needed
  • The website. Great way to show you what it is and how it works
  • The title: Bullet Journal

What I don’t like:

  • Too much writing
  • Too much re-writing
  • Not good for projects (without a lot of re-writing)
  • Not good for recurring tasks (without a lot of re-writing)
  • You can’t move anything (without re-writing)
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing (and maybe I just want to get it out of my head and not think about it)
  • I’ve already got a calendar

You probably know that I use Evernote to record my notes, tasks and projects. One place for everything and everything with me everywhere. If I wanted to go analog, however, the concepts behind Bullet Journal are appealing. But watching the video of what it takes to write and re-write tasks makes me glad I don’t use a paper-based system.

How about you? Do you use a paper based system? What do you think of Bullet Journal?

If you use Evernote, get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

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

What does “hard work” mean to you?

August 12, 2013 by
Share

One day early in my career I was looking for new office space. I found myself looking at a nice space in Beverly Hills that had been recently leased by some young turks (small “t”). They had taken a bit more space than they needed and were looking for a sub-tenant to take over one of the offices.

As he was taking me on a tour, the turk explained to me how he and his partners conducted business. He said, “we work hard and we play hard”. Even though I was going to be a tenant, not a partner or employee, I got the feeling he wanted to see if I was a good fit.

He didn’t elaborate but something told me I wasn’t a good fit. I don’t know what “playing hard” meant to them but I’m pretty sure it didn’t mean they played a lot of chess. Don’t laugh. I like playing chess. A lot.

Anyway, this morning, when I was in the rain room, I recalled this exchange and thought I would ask what you think about this whole work vs. play business.

Here’s my take on it.

To me, work means doing things you don’t want to do. Play means the opposite. My entire method of operation is to try to do as much of what I want to do and as little of everything else.

In other words, my ideal would be no work and all play.

That doesn’t mean goofing off. It doesn’t mean the absence of accomplishment.

It means eliminating or doing less of the things I don’t like or am not good at. I do that by delegating those tasks to someone else or finding creative ways to run my business and personal affairs so as to avoid or minimize them.

We weren’t put here to endure, we were put here to enjoy. There is no virtue in hard work for hard work’s sake.

Anyway, what do you think? How do you define work and play? And do you work hard and play hard or, like me, do your best to enjoy the journey? Let me know in the comments.

By the way, when I called back the next day to ask if I could take another look at the office, the turk told me they had rented it. I was pretty sure that was not true. I think they discriminated against me because I wasn’t cool. I don’t know what gave me away. It couldn’t have been my fez because fezzes are cool.

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

How to stop procrastinating

July 23, 2013 by
Share

I wonder how many people each day search on the term, “how to stop procrastinating”.

Eh, I’ll look it up later.

If you’re like me, and most of humanity, you have experienced and perhaps struggled with procrastination. You know there are things you need to do but you don’t want to do them. (If you wanted to do them, you would do them.)

You are feeling resistance because the task is too big, too unpleasant, or too difficult. You may not know what to do or where to begin. The task may be too risky and you are afraid of making a mistake.

So, you tell yourself you don’t really need to do it now, it can wait. Or you elevate the importance or urgency of other tasks and do them instead.

You may have become very clever at finding excuses for not doing the things you need to do. And you may feel guilty about that and look for ways to overcome your affliction.

But you shouldn’t. Your subconscious mind has created this resistance and you shouldn’t fight it, you should give in to it.

Your subconscious self wants you to be safe and happy so it makes you feel negative emotions when you think about tasks you don’t want to do.

Don’t ignore those feelings. Don’t try to overcome them. Let them stop you.

I’m not saying you can shirk your responsibilities. You can’t simply blow off anything you don’t want to do. What I am saying is that instead of bulldozing through the wall of resistance in front of you, find a way around it.

One way to do that is the “salami technique”. Take a big project and cut it into thin, manageable slices.

If you are procrastinating about starting or revising your website, for example, find some aspect of that project where there is little or no resistance. Something small and easy.

You might bookmark some sites you like, or collect articles to read later. You might open a new file and make a few notes or a list of questions.

Easy to do. And if you do any of them, you will have begun the project. Now, look for something else that’s easy to do and do that.

Yes, there are times when you have to suck it up and do things you simply don’t want to do. You have to “feel the fear and do it anyway.” But if you continually break things down into smaller and easier tasks, you can almost always find a way to get started, and that is always better than doing nothing.

Want to know how to stop procrastinating? Stop trying to stop. When you come up to a wall, turn left or turn right and keep walking.

If you need to start or revise your website, this is all you need.

Share
Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

Thinking like a lawyer may be harmful to your law practice

July 12, 2013 by
Share

My wife gets frustrated when I answer her questions with questions. Or when she asks for my opinion about something and I am non-committal.

Why am I like that?

Because I’m a lawyer. Lawyers are trained (and pre-disposed) to question things. To look at both sides. Weigh the consequences.

We can’t help it. “On the other hand. . .” is hard wired into brains.

Thinking like a lawyer protects us and our clients. It avoids harm. If something bad happens, it minimizes damages.

But while thinking like a lawyer may be a necessary competent of being a lawyer, it can hinder the growth and profitability of our practice.

Lawyers usually have a difficult time making decisions. All that weighing and “on-the-other-hand”-ing keeps us in a form of stasis. When it comes to making decisions about hiring, delegating, marketing, and managing our practice, we often make no decision.

But making no decision is a decision–a decision to maintain status quo.

A law practice, like a living creature, is either growing or dying. If you are not growing, if your practice is the same today as it was a year ago and you do nothing to change that, eventually your practice will die.

Change is an essential component of life, and change occurs because of your decisions. Stephen Covey said, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

If you have difficulty making decisions and you want to change this, the first thing you should do is to decide to change this.

Paradoxical, I know.

Start by lying to yourself. Tell yourself that you have decided to get better (and faster) at making decisions, even if this is not true. You don’t have to tell yourself that you are a good decision maker, just that you have decided to get better.

Get comfortable with the idea. Let it rumble around inside your brain. Write it down if you are brave.

Your subconscious mind won’t know it’s not true–it believes what you tell it. And your Reticular Activating System (RAS), the part of your brain that filters stimuli based on your beliefs and desires, will get to work on your behalf.

First, your RAS will filter out stimuli that contradicts the notion of you being better (and faster) at making decisions. It will hide or downplay memories of situations where you have had trouble making decisions.

Second, your RAS will allow in more stimuli that is consistent with the new you. It will call your attention to situations where you have made good decisions or fast decisions, and it will infuse those thoughts with positive emotions.

Your RAS will also help you find ways to get better at decision making. It might make you notice an article or book that can help. It might make you recall someone you met who is good at making decisions quickly, prompting you to speak to them.

If you have been having trouble making decisions about a specific topic, creating or improving your website and online marketing for example, your RAS will help you get additional information about that subject so that making decisions gets easier.

If you want to get better at making decisions, you can. But only if you decide you can.

Here it is: more information about marketing online for attorneys.

Share
Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

The Productive Life Show interviews me about productivity, Evernote, and GTD

July 8, 2013 by
Share

I was interviewed recently for The Productive Life Show, a podcast hosted by Andy Traub and Daniel Gold. We talked about productivity, Evernote, and GTD (Getting Things Done).

You can listen to the podcast, download the audio, and read a transcript here.

During the show, I mentioned that I also use Workflowy, primarily for outlining. I said I hoped it would someday allow links to be clickable so that it would integrate better with Evernote (and other apps). I was just notified that this is possible, although I’m not sure when it became so.

What this means is that you can use Worflowy as the front end of your productivity system, managing lists of tasks and projects, and link therefrom to notes in Evernote where you have stored more detailed information such as webclips, articles, and documents (i.e., Word, Excel, images, etc.)

Of course you can also link to websites or other cloud based apps. This opens up all kinds of possibilities.

I’ll do a in depth post about Workflowy at a later date.

I had a lot of fun on the podcast and want to thank Andy and Dan for inviting me. I’d love to get your feedback about the podcast or any questions you might have about the subjects discussed.

The ebook: Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity

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

What do you do when you have too much to do?

May 31, 2013 by
Share

I’ve got lists. Lots of tasks and projects. Things I’m working on and things I plan to work on. Everything is organized in Evernote. I follow my own version of GTD. Every task or project has at least one tag to identify it as something I plan to do Now, Next, or Someday.

But while everything is organized and tagged, I still have too much to do. It’s overwhelming. So I find myself avoiding my lists and doing what is nagging at my brain, which defeats the entire purpose of having a task management system.

Currently I have 54 Now tasks, 531 tagged for Next. I’m supposed to look at everything during my weekly review, but with that many tasks on my list, I find myself procrastinating.

What do you do when you have too much to do and your weekly review isn’t working?

You declare task bankruptcy.

You get rid of everything and start over. A fresh start with your tasks.

While I had never heard the term “task bankruptcy” before, I’ve done it before. I did it to achieve inbox zero with my email. I did it when I stopped using one online task management app and started using another and there was no way to export/import my tasks. I can attest to how good it feels to wipe the slate clean and start over.

Starting over doesn’t mean throwing out everything. I will refer to my lists in the process of creating new ones. But every task will be scrutinized and will have to earn it’s way back onto my lists.

First, I will move all of my tasks and projects into a temporary notebook. My main notebook, where I keep all of my tasks and projects will then be empty.

(NB: In Evernote, I use one notebook for all of my notes. I use tags to identify when I will do something (Now, Next, etc.) and for reference purposes. Multiple notebooks leads to confusion–Which notebook should I file this note in? Which notebook DID I file that note in?)

Next, I will go through all of my tasks and projects in the temporary notebook. Anything I know I want to do (or have to do) will get moved back into my main notebook. Anything I’m not sure of, that doesn’t call out to me and inspire me, will go.

The objective is to have a lean and mean Now and Next list. I will still have my Someday/Maybe list, but I will be ruthless in paring this as well.

I guess you could describe this as a periodic review. You go through everything and make decisions about whether you still want to do something and if so, when. That’s what should be done during the weekly review. But when the whole system gets bloated, it makes sense to periodically re-boot.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to do, if you find yourself procrastinating on your weekly review, you might want to declare task bankruptcy and get a fresh start.

But be careful. Once you have zeroed out your task obligations and created new lists, those tasks might start accumulating again. Fortunately, you won’t have to wait seven years before declaring task bankruptcy again. You can do it any time you want.

If you want to see how I organize everything, check out my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

Share
Filed Under: Dealing with stress, Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,

Holy shitakes, Evernote adds reminders!

May 23, 2013 by
Share

Evernote announced today the addition of reminders on Mac, iOS, and their webapp, and promises to soon roll out the feature to Windows, Android, and other platforms.

This is big!

This long awaited feature is the missing piece of the puzzle for those of us who use Evernote for tracking our tasks and projects. We can now add a reminder to any note, include a date and time, and receive notifications via the app and email. For the first time, we can schedule future due dates (or “start dates”), without having to use a funky workaround.

If you have a document due in 60 days but don’t want to work on it right now, for example, you can set a reminder for, say, 45 days and forget about it. On the 45th day, you will be notified that it’s time to work on that document.

Which means you won’t have to put a reminder on your calendar or in any other reminder applications.

We are told they are working on many more features. I hope that includes multiple reminders. If so, then you can schedule the due date for 60 days hence, and a start date for 45 days. Recurring reminders would also be welcome.

I’ve just started using this feature but I can already say this is a very exciting addition to my number one productivity app. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Want to see my Evernote set up? Get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

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