Getting addicted to getting things done

April 6, 2015 by
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I’m about to finish a book project and it feels good. Not just because I will have another tool I can use in my business, not just because it represents another source of passive income, but because it really does feel good to get things done.

You know this is true. When you wrap up a case or finish something you’re working on, you have a pleasurable sense of satisfaction. Finishing feels good.

It turns out that there is physiological explanation for this feeling. When we finish a task, our brains release Serotonin, the so-called pleasure drug. This motivates us to take on more tasks, and bigger tasks.

We can use this to condition ourselves to be more productive.

“What we want to do if we want to set ourselves up for increasing productivity is put minor or smaller challenges in front of us so we build up that ‘done’ moment,” psychologist Leslie Sherlin says.

One way to do this is to break down your tasks into smaller chunks. Instead of writing an entire 90-minute closing argument, for example, write just the outline. It feels good to finish this and you are motivated to take the next step.

You can also break up your work into smaller increments of time. Instead of planning to work two hours on something (and trying to find the time to do that), do it for ten minutes. (Consider the Pomodo Technique where you use a timer to work 25 minutes, followed by a five minute break.)

Smaller tasks and shorter time intervals gives you more opportunities to “finish”. The more you do, the more you want to do more. You are literally addicted to getting things done, and that’s probably a good thing.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management Tagged With:

What will you do next?

April 2, 2015 by
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I’m working on a project. I still have a fair amount left to do but I already know what I’m going to do next. In fact, I’m already working on it.

I’m collecting research, making notes, and creating an outline. When I finish project A, I’ll be ready to move immediately into project B.

It’s exciting to know I have a pipeline of things to do. It inspires me to finish my current project, and allows me to start the next project with some momentum. It’s even better because my next project is somewhat related to the current one.

I don’t know what I’m going to do after I finish project B, but I have lots of ideas and I will choose one long before I finish project B. Of course, while I’m working on that one, I’ll choose the next project.

How about you? What are you working on now? What will you do next?

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Filed Under: Productivity, success, Time Management

How to earn more by working less

April 1, 2015 by
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No doubt you’ve heard of Parkinson’s Law, which says that, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

Translation: most people waste time.

You can get more done in less time by allocating less time to tasks and projects. That means allocating one hour for a task instead of two hours. Or assigning a due date in 48 hours instead of a week.

Having less time available gives you greater focus. You make quicker decisions. You let go of perfectionism. And you work faster.

You get more done in less time because of Horstman’s Corollary to Parkinson’s Law: “Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.”

Translation: you waste less time.

The problem is, when you’re in charge, you can do what you want to. If you want to extend a self-imposed deadline, you do it. Hey, nobody will know.

One solution, which I have talked about before, is to make sure that somebody does know. Make yourself accountable to your clients, your spouse, your employer, your staff, or your Maker. Tell people what you’re doing and when you’ll finish. Make it a promise or guarantee. And ask them to hold you accountable.

You can also train yourself to set and keep shorter deadlines by continually reminding yourself of the benefits for doing so.

Every day, spend a minute or two cogitating about the benefits of getting more done in less time. Think about how much more you earn by completing projects in less time. Think about how much extra time you have for other paying work. Think about how much extra time you have with your family or for doing other things you enjoy.

At the start of your day, look at your task list and calendar and make a conscious effort to shorten due dates and assign less time to tasks. At the end of the day, record how much time you saved on each task. At the end of the week, add up the amount of time you put into your “bank”.

What about work that is billed by the hour? If you can draft a document in one hour instead of two, you must do so. Raise your hourly rates accordingly because apparently, you are worth more than you thought.

Or, as I have repeatedly suggested, move away from hourly billing to flat fee or project based billing, which is ultimately better for you and for the client.

Don’t sell your time. It’s limited. Sell your advice, value, or work product, and earn more by working less.

More on how to earn more and work less: The Formula

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

If it’s Tuesday, it must be clients

March 24, 2015 by
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You have a lot on your plate. This morning, you have to review pleadings and get them filed and served. Then you have a meeting with your office staff. After that, you’re off to a hearing. When you return to the office, you have a new client to see. Before you go home, you plan to catch up on some billing.

If you get interrupted in any of these tasks, you lose momentum. It takes time to get back in the groove and, therefore, you’re not nearly as productive as you’d like to be.

Is there a better way?

One idea is to do what Twitter founder Jack Dorsey does. He gives each work day a “theme,” so he always know “what to focus on that day, and what to return to when [he gets] distracted.”

So perhaps you use Mondays for paperwork and Tuesdays you see clients. Wednesdays might be for administrative tasks and meetings with office staff. Perhaps you will schedule depos and arbitrations on Thursdays. Fridays could be for planning, marketing, and working on big projects.

Or, you might reserve mornings for court appearances and paperwork, afternoons for clients and meetings.

However you do it, the idea is to schedule your work in blocks of time so that you always know what you’re doing and you avoid multitasking.

Think about how you could create theme days (or half-days) in your practice. Look at your calendar for the last month or so and look for patterns. Also consider your energy levels at different parts of the day.

Or. . . maybe wait and do this on Friday. It’s Tuesday and I think you’ve got some clients coming in this afternoon.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Productivity, Time Management

The only productivity rule you need to know

March 13, 2015 by
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Shelves of books have been written about time management and productivity. Every day, we are told about the latest methods and systems for managing our lives. And we look at them, oh yes we do, because no matter what system we currently use, there has to be something better.

But there’s really one productivity rule you need to know.

It’s a simple rule. Simple to understand, simple to remember, and simple to use.

Follow this rule and you won’t need anything else.

What is this Holy Grail of productivity?

Behold:

“First things first, second things never”.

If you want to be productive, continually ask yourself “What is the most important thing I can do right now?”

And do it.

When it’s done, or you have done as much as you can on that task, ask the question again. “What’s the most important thing I can do right now?”

In this way, you continually focus on your top priority, and you don’t get bogged down in anything else.

Always do the most important thing. When you complete that task, something else will take it’s place as your most important task, and that’s what you should do next.

Don’t worry about the 927 other things on your lists; you can only do one thing at a time.

First things first. (Do what’s most important.) Second things never. (If it’s not first, don’t do it.)

Here a couple of ways to make this rule work better.

  1. As you look at the universe of things you might do, i.e., all of your lists, notes, calendars, and so on, choose the three “most important tasks” (MITs) for the day. This way, when you complete the first task (“first thing”) you can immediately start on task number two, which will then be your new “first thing”.
  2. Choose your three MITs the night before, so you can get started on the first task the next morning.

That’s it. First things first, second things never.

One rule to rule them all.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management

Sometimes, the best way to handle a problem is to ignore it

March 11, 2015 by
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You’ve got a problem and you’re searching for a solution. Or you know what to do but don’t have time to do it.

Fear not. Sometimes, the best way to handle a problem is to ignore it.

The problem may go away by itself. Or turn out to cause damages that are relatively minor. Or manageable. Or covered by insurance.

It’s all relative, isn’t it?

Some problems are big and hairy. Others, not so much.

Before you start looking for solutions to a problem, make sure the problem is something that truly needs fixing.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Why is this a problem?
  • What are the benefits of fixing the problem?
  • What’s the worst that can happen if I don’t fix it?
  • If the worst case scenario occurs, can I afford the consequences?
  • What are the costs of fixing the problem?
  • Can I ignore the problem for now and fix it later?
  • Can I fix part of the problem now and fix the rest later (or ignore the rest)?
  • Can I delegate some or all of work needed to fix the problem?

You may find that the problem isn’t as bad as you thought. You may conclude that your time is better spent fixing a different problem, or tackling an opportunity that promises bigger benefits.

You don’t have to fix every problem. Sometimes, the best way to handle a problem is to ignore it.

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

Getting things done in burst mode

February 23, 2015 by
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I read an article recently about the work habits of a novelist. He said that he works best when he doesn’t write every day, as conventional wisdom suggests. Rather, he gets more done in “burst mode” (my term) where he will write up to 8,000 or 10,000 words in a day.

His job (full time as I recall) and family obligations make it difficult to carve out sufficient blocks of writing time during the week. He found that an hour a day wasn’t long enough to find his writing mojo and get up to speed. Give him eight or ten hours on Saturday, however, and he could knock out an entire book in record time.

The point is that each of us works differently and we need to honor what works best for us.

As you know, I advocate setting aside time each work day for marketing your practice. You can get a lot done in as little as 15 minutes a day, if you do it consistently. But I acknowledge the value of working in bigger blocks of time, especially on bigger projects. In fact, I do it myself.

In my practice, I would often show up at the office on a Saturday and plow through a pile of files. In a few hours of undisturbed time, I would do more work than I might do in an entire week.

In school, instead of studying every night, I often crammed for tests the night before and wrote entire term papers in a weekend. That’s how I liked to work and I got good grades. In fact, I’ve read that we often do our best creative work when we do it quickly.

All hail burst mode!

In school, we have deadlines and due dates. The same goes for most legal work. But that’s not true with marketing. So, if you want to do marketing in burst mode, you need to schedule the time in advance and stick to that schedule.

You might schedule one Saturday each month for marketing. In a few hours of undisturbed time, you could create a new seminar or produce a month’s worth of articles, blog posts, emails, or social media content.

Getting things done in burst mode doesn’t necessarily mean doing nothing throughout the week, however. The above mentioned author uses snippets of time throughout the week to take care of administrative and less demanding tasks related to his writing. You can, too.

During your Saturday marketing session, you might plan out the people you want to call that month. With your plan in hand, you can take a few minutes each week day to make those calls.

You can also use your weekdays to make notes and outlines and collect research material in preparation for your Saturday session.

Being productive is simple. Figure out what you want to get done this week or this month. Look at your calendar and decide when you’re going to do it. Then, do it.

As long as you’re getting important things done, when you do them probably isn’t that important.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: ,

Never check email in the morning?

February 17, 2015 by
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Everyone and his brother says we should never check email in the morning. They say that doing so allows others to dictate our morning tasks and we should instead focus on our pre-determined agenda.

But I do check email in the morning. Voice mail, too.

Checking email and voice mail lets me scope out and plan my day. Yes, my task list and calendar show me the important things I will be doing but emails and messages can be important, too.

But while I check email and messages in the morning I don’t respond to them in the morning. I do that after I get my other work done.

My morning routine includes going through my inbox, purging junk, and starring (gmail) important emails that require a response. When I’m done, I know how many emails I will need to respond to later that day. If there is work to do associated with those emails, I know that, too.

Same thing with phone messages. I write down who called and why and call them back later.

And hey, emergencies happen. While that’s rare for me today, I feel better knowing that I’ve made sure everything is okay. That’s better than ignoring the outside world for several hours and wondering if I’m missing something important.

Want to know another secret? Don’t tell anyone but I also check email throughout the day. Many times, in fact. Texts, too.

Yikes. Do I break every rule in the friggin book?

Guess so.

Anyway, that’s what works for me. Your mileage may vary.

I use Evernote to organize all of my tasks and projects. Go look

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Filed Under: Email, Productivity, Time Management

Use your calendar to prioritize your work

February 11, 2015 by
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I did a consultation with an attorney yesterday. Like most attorneys, he’s a busy guy. In addition to his practice, he owns a small business which he hopes will allow him to transition out of practicing and into semi-retirement.

The first thing we talked about was his work schedule. To achieve his goals, he needs time each week for:

  1. Legal work
  2. Marketing the practice
  3. The business
  4. Marketing the business

I couldn’t tell him how much time to allocate to each function, only that he should allocate some time to each function. I told him to pick a number–an hour a day for this, two hours a day for that–but be prepared to change those numbers as experience and income dictate.

As the business grows, for example, he may allocate less time for marketing the practice. Or vice versa.

At least he has a place to start.

But will he? Will he do what he knows he needs to do each day? If experience is any indication, he’ll probably do the work, but let the marketing slide.

Unless. . . he blocks out time on his calendar for each function, in advance, and that’s what I told him to do.

When he looks at his calendar, he’ll see that it’s time to do 30 minutes of marketing for his practice. He’ll pull up his list of marketing activities and write something or make some calls. Since this has been blocked out in advance, he knows not to spend that time doing anything else.

Later in the day, during the legal work block of time, he’ll see that he’s got two client appointments. He also knows that he has to review a document and send some emails.

Now he’s cooking.

These blocks of time are appointments with himself. If a client calls during the “marketing the business” block, he doesn’t talk to them. He calls them back at another time.

You prioritize your work by scheduling blocks of time, in advance, based on what you know needs to get done.

This one concept could change everything for him, and for you if you don’t already do it. By deciding in advance how you will conduct your day, you stay focused on doing what is in keeping with your priorities and goals.

You are in charge. You make the rules. Decide how you want to spend your time and calendar it. Then, do what the calendar tells you to do and don’t do anything else.

Do you know The Formula to earn more and work less?

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Productivity, Time Management

Being a sole practitioner doesn’t mean doing everything yourself

February 10, 2015 by
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In response to yesterday’s post about taking the day off, a subscriber asked, “So how does a sole practitioner disconnect on vacation and turn off the phone? I haven’t had a real vacation in 15 years”.

Of course the short answer is you just do it. You have someone else answer the phone, something you should always do, and you have some else talk to clients and prospective clients and take care of the office.

In other words, you have people.

Being a sole practitioner means not having partners. It does not mean doing everything yourself. You have employees or virtual employees or assistants and outside lawyers who handle appearances and other things only lawyers can do.

Yes, this does add a layer of complexity to your practice. You have to supervise your people, or supervise people who supervise your people, and you have to be comfortable with delegating work. But this complexity gives you something even better in return. It gives you freedom. You can take vacations. You can sleep late. You can go to the movies in the middle of the day.

Having people also allows you to earn more money. If you do things right, you earn enough additional income to pay your people and have more net income after you do.

But there are a couple of additional things you need to do to make this work.

First, you need to specialize. You can’t expect to be good at “everything”. Nor can you make a compelling case to prospective clients as to why they should hire you instead of someone who specializes in what they need.

The email I received asking the question at the top of this post ends with a list of the attorney’s practice areas, to wit:

REAL ESTATE

** Residential Closings
** Commercial Closings
** Short Sales
** Loan Modifications
** Reverse Mortgages
** Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
** 1031 Exchange
** Escrow services
** Property Tax Appeals
** Foreclosure Defense
** Motions to vacate foreclosure sales
** Mortgage Reinstatements
** Landlord Tenant

COMMERCIAL LAW

** Civil Suits
** Business Incorporations
** Debt Settlement

FAMILY LAW

** Divorce
** Child Support
** Modification of Settlement Agreements
** Mediation

CRIMINAL LAW

** Federal/State Defense
** Felony
** Misdemeanor
** Traffic Tickets
** License Suspension

It’s too much. No wonder she hasn’t taken a vacation.

Pick one practice area. Clients prefer to hire lawyers who specializes. They’re also willing to pay them higher fees because lawyers who specialize are perceived as being better, and they usually are. When you do lots of one thing, you tend to get better at it.

You also find it easier to keep up with changes in the law, new forms, and best practices. You spend less time (and money) on “compliance,” which gives you more time (and money) to invest in doing things that lead to more profits and growth.

Yes, you have to give up work that isn’t in your specialty. But you can refer that to other lawyers who send you business that’s outside of their specialty.

In addition, marketing is easier and more effective for lawyers who specialize. Which leads me to the last point. If you want to be able to take vacations, earn more and work less, you have to get good at marketing. Not great, necessarily. Good enough is good enough, as long as you do something on a regular basis.

Specialize, delegate as much as possible, and get good at marketing. Those were the three things that allowed me to go from being overworked and overwhelmed to quadrupling my income and reducing my work week to three days. You can do the same thing.

Learn more: The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Continuing Legal Education, Law office management, Legal industry, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Specializing, Time Management
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