Archive for year: 2013

When I’m working with an individual client, I always listen carefully for signs of overwhelm.  Whether overwhelm comes from business development activity or (more commonly) from the press of billable work, the result is catastrophic for business development success.

Business development aside, overwhelm can tank a day faster than just about anything else.  On days with overflowing email, an endless task list, and phone calls that just won’t stop, you may find it almost impossible to operate  effectively.  Even if you manage to limp along, overwhelm-driven distraction may send things falling through the cracks.  Over the years, I’ve hones in on a variety of methods to beat overwhelm, and these are the top 10, based on my own experience and client feedback:

1. Move.  Overwhelm tends to cause mental paralysis, and the fastest fix is a quick burst of physical activity.  Walk around the block or your office floor, dance for 30 seconds (close the door!), or do 10 jumping jacks.  Get your blood pumping.
2. Lift your mood.  Overwhelm breeds lethargy.  Use music, fresh flowers, aromas, or whatever works for you to get a lift.  I keep a bottle of orange essential oil at my desk because I find that a drop or two perks me up almost instantly, and I have a “get going” playlist of peppy songs that gets me going every time.
3. Focus intently for a short time.  After the computer and telephone, your most productive piece of equipment could be a digital timer.  When you feel stuck, set the timer for 45 minutes and power through that time, knowing that you can take a break as soon as the timer beeps.  Make it a game:  compete against yourself using the timer to see how quickly you can sort through papers or complete other dreaded tasks.  The timer and competition will get you going, and momentum may keep you working even after the alarm sounds.  Here’s the timer I use.  (I recommend you  NOT use the timer on your cell phone–too much temptation to check email or Facebook there.)
4. Clean it up.  Clutter reduces productivity and creates overwhelm.  If your desk is too messy (and “too messy” will vary person to person), set aside 15 minutes to clear it off, even if that means stacking papers and moving them to the floor.  If your email in-box is so full that you feel anxious when you open it, set aside an hour to tame it.  (Don’t know how to accomplish that in an hour?  I’ll have some tips for you next week.)
5. Call in the reinforcements.  Find the right help for your source of overwhelm.  Perhaps your assistant can help you clear your desk, or a colleague may be able to give you feedback to help cut through the mental clutter.  When you feel overwhelmed, it’s hard to see outside the bubble of stress.  Get some help.
6. Dump it.  One common source of overwhelm is the mental  task list.  When you’re juggling “must do” items in your head, fighting to remember all of them, you’re pulling energy from productive activity for simple memory maintenance.  Do a brain dump and get the tasks on paper.  Free up  your mind for more useful work.
7. Get out of the office and do something else.  Admittedly, you can’t always implement this tip, but it can be very effective.  Have you ever noticed how often brilliant ideas strike while you’re in the shower, running, walking  the dog, or doing other activities unrelated to work?  When the body is working and the mind is free to wander, creativity flourishes.
8. Access a different part of your brain.  One litigator I know uses art to focus himself before a trial.  Art allows him to pull back from the logical, analytical side o f his brain and bring forward the emotional and creative parts.  What can you do to bring another part of your skills to the table?
9. Mind map.  If you’re searching for an elusive link between facts or trying to form a creative argument, try using a mind map.  Get a clean piece of paper, draw a circle in the middle of the page and label it with the problem or circumstance you’re contemplating.  Think about related subjects, actions you could take, and people who might be helpful in addressing the issue, and draw lines and branches to represent the ideas that come up.  If you’re really stuck you may find a mind map more useful than an ordinary list.  Click here for a video on this technique.
10. If you’ve tried several of these approaches unsuccessfully, you may be exhausted.  Think of your energy as a pitcher of water.  If you pour and pour and pour without replenishment, the pitcher will empty and nothing you try (except adding more wateR) will allow it to pour more.  If a quick break or quick spurt of energy doesn’t refresh you, your pitcher may be dangerously close to empty.  Identifying that spot and taking action is a critical professional competency.

 

Life has a way of throwing curveballs.  Sometimes they come in the form of emergencies that demand attention, sometimes they’re staff departures, (planned or otherwise), and sometimes they’re opportunities that you just can’t pass up, even though jumping in will eat every bit of time and energy you have.

How do you cope with those curveballs?  You can implement three strategies now so that you can deal with curveballs as they come your way.

1. Create an “operations manual”.  Those of you working in large firms may have access to some sort of manual that defines how certain tasks are to be completed.  However, whether you’re in a large firm or working as a sole practitioner, you must have a document that explains how we do things around here.  How should an assistant answer your telephone, when should he schedule appointment for you, and what should he tell clients who need to reach you urgently?  What needs to be accomplished every day without fail?  It’s daunting to imagine creating such a document from scratch.  Start today.  Document every task that you complete and ask your assistant to do the same.  (No assistant?  No excuse!  If everything is in your head, the need is even greater.)  The manual that you build will allow you to cut down on the time necessary to train a new employee, and if you are called out of the office without notice, the manual gives a roadmap to keep things running without you.
2. Use technology well.  Most lawyers now use some sort of electronic calendar and docketing system.  Who else has access to your professional calendar?  Even if you choose not to allow anyone access to that information on a day-to-day basis, you should consider creating a login that you can provide on an as needed basis to an assistant.  If you are currently working without an assistant, you should create a way for a temporary assistant to have access to your calendar so that she can contact your clients and reschedule appointments if necessary.  (In fact, it may be incumbent upon you to do so, depending on the ethics rules in place in your jurisdiction.)  Let’s hope that you’re reachable in the case of a curveball — but if you’re hit by a bus, some mechanism must exist to meet your clients’ needs.
3. Maintain a comprehensive “to do” list.  Many of us go through our days tucking “to do” items into our memory.  This approach creates stress, as you’ve experienced i you’ve ever been lying in bed, just about to drift off, when you’re suddenly jolted to full consciousness with the question, did I send that email / make that call??  For purposes of the “what if” conversation, however, if you maintain your task list in your head and get pulled away by a curveball, there’s little change that you’ll be able to sort tasks effectively to be sure every task is covered.  If the curveball should take you suddenly out of commission, you’ll have no opportunity to pause and download all of the tasks in your head onto paper.  Instead, use a Word document, a spreadsheet, or a task management application to keep track of every task (of any magnitude), and be sure you can sort those tasks by due date, importance, client, and project.

If you use these strategies, you’ll be able to handle the curveballs that come your way.  Remember that curveballs generally come with no notice, so assess your preparations today and begin to fill the holes you discover now.

“I know how to burn a hole in paper without a match or a lighter or anything.”  Last week while I was playing in the park with some kids, Anna, age 7, showed me how to use a magnifying glass to focus sunlight on a piece of paper and burn a hole in it.  It was magic to her until I explained that the magnifying glass focuses the sun’s rays to make them much stronger than they’d otherwise be.  And for Anna, the ability to focus was almost more exciting than the magic she’d perceived, because she could understand and repeat it.

Focus.  It’s an easy concept to grasp but sometimes a difficult one to apply, especially when you’re facing numerous demands on your time and energy.

You know multitasking isn’t the answer (you do know that, right?) but it can be so very tempting.

As I often tell clients, if you can’t focus on business development so that you act consistently on a cohesive, strategic plan–if you allow yourself to be pulled this way and that by whatever is most pressing at the moment–you will not be successful in growing your practice.

But it’s easy to get distracted, especially by something as truly pressing as billable work.  That’s why I’ve selected quotes about focus for your review (below).  Consider putting them where they will catch your attention.

That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity.  Simple can be harder than complex:  You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.  But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
~Steve Jobs

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power.  Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
~Tony Robbins

You don’t get what you want in life.  You get what you focus on and expect.
~Tony Rush

Often he who does too much does too little.
~Italian Proverb

 

Every single one of my clients faces the need to build new habits at some point.  Whether it’s replacing an unhelpful old habit or building a new one from scratch, the process of illuminating automatic behavior and changing it can be quite difficult.  At the same time, building a habit that operates without conscious thought and that supports desired outcomes is a marker for success.

You have to have the right habits.

Especially when it comes to business development, I’m a proponent of building strong habits.  Why?  Because habits build a structure that takes over in the face of challenges.  Habits are behaviors that we perform without thought.  They just happen.  And when they don’t, we feel so uncomfortable that, for better or worse, we usually revert to the habit.  There’s a lot of power in a habit.

But it isn’t easy to establish a new habit, and it’s often even harder to break an old one.  We’ve all heard the “do it for 28 days and you’ll have a habit” advice.  That doesn’t match my experience, though, and too often it doesn’t match my clients’ experience.

Several recently published books explore habit, but Duhigg’s The Power of Habit captured my attention.  In an Amazon Q&A, Duhigg shares what sparked his interest in habit:

What sparked your interest in habits?

I first became interested in the science of habits eight years ago, as a newspaper reporter in Baghdad, when I heard about an army major conducting an experiment in a small town named Kufa.

The major had analyzed videotapes of riots and had found that violence was often preceded by a crowd of Iraqis gathering in a plaza and, over the course of hours, growing in size.  Food vendors would show up, as well as spectators.  Then, someone would throw a rock or a bottle.

When the major met with Kufa’s major, he made an odd request:  Could they keep food vendors out of the plazas?  Sure, the mayor said.  A few weeks later, a small crowd gathered near the Great Mosque of Kufa.  It grew in size.  Some people started chanting angry slogans.  At dusk, the crowd started getting restless and hungry.  People looked for the kebab sellers normally filling the plaza, but there were none to be found.  The spectators left.  The chanters became dispirited.  By 8 p.m., everyone was gone.

I asked the major how he had figured out that removing the food vendors would change peoples’ behavior.

The U.S. military, he told me, is one of the biggest habit-formation experiments in history.  “Understanding habits is the most important thing I’ve learned in the army,” he said.  By the time I got back to the U.S., I was hooked on the topic.

Duhigg’s book is divided into three parts:  The Habits of Individuals, which explores how habit works and how to create and change them, The Habit of Successful Organizations, which describes how various businesses use (and perhaps abuse) habit formation, and the Habit of Societies, which investigates societal habits and related ethical questions.  Filled with stories, anecdotes, and tweetable insights, the book is a quick read that seems to be well-grounded in research and experience.

I was surprised to learn that, according to cited Duke University research, more than 40% of actions are habits rather than action motivated by conscious decision.  Duhigg defines habits as “the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day.”  That’s when I began to pay close attention to the book.

Habits are based on a three-step process:  a cue that triggers the action, the action itself, and the reward.  Using examples such as the habit of checking email (routine) in response to a message waiting alert (cue) to relieve boredom (reward).  Duhigg explains why habits are so difficult to change.  When a cue triggers us, we crave a reward, and the habit occurs automatically.

To change a habit, Duhigg teaches, choose a cue and a reward, then focus on the reward until you crave it, and preferably join a group composed of others who believe that change is possible.  It sounds easy enough, and Duhigg offers plenty of examples, but he also acknowledges that habits become deeply and often unconsciously engrained, making change difficult.

I was particularly intrigued by Duhigg’s recitation of research that demonstrates the success of those who make specific plans for action well in advance and know how they’ll work around obstacles.  We’ve all watched carefully cultivated habits fall apart when work gets unusually busy or a child gets sick, and Duhigg’s recitation of finding after finding serves as a strong prompt to anticipate obstacles.

What’s in it for you?

The Power of Habit offers both conceptual and concrete tips on how to make habit-building more conscious and more successful.  As noted above, every single client I’ve worked with in the last six years has bumped into habits at some point.  Bad habits (such as returning to the office with intentions to follow up with a new prospect only to watch days slip by without any movement) have to go, and new ones take their place.  Implementing Duhigg’s suggestions will  help.

I wish The Power of Habit had offered more discussion around identifying harmful habits that are not obvious, such as the realization that Iraqi riots wouldn’t occur without food vendors’ presence.  It’s one thing to know what habits are getting in the way, and it’s another entirely to see a pattern of blockages without being able to identify the linchpin habit that’s creating problems.  (Very often, an outside observer is the best way to spot that habit.)  Once you’ve identified the deleterious habit, though, Duhigg can help you to change it.

I’m studying The Power of Habit to help my clients find more effective ways to build automatic behaviors.  If time is limited, I’d strongly recommend that you read at least the first four chapters.  You’ll get a good grounding in how to create and change habits, and you’ll likely find yourself at least skimming the rest of the book.

In the meantime, ask yourself:  what do I do with little or no thought that’s getting in my way?  What reward am I craving?  How can I get that reward without the harmful behavior?  What should I substitute?  Even if your study of habit remains on that relatively surface level, you and your business will benefit.

 

What are you willing to risk to grow your practice?  The reality is that reward almost always requires some risk, whether it’s the risk of stepping outside your comfort zone, the risk of putting an investment on the line, or the risk of rejection.

There’s no point in taking foolish risks, but without taking some risk, you’re unlikely to accomplish your goals–unless, of course, you aim too low.  By nature and by training, we lawyers tend to be a bit risk-averse.  This month’s quotes offer food for thought on risk…  How do you decide when to take a risk and what stakes to accept?

It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.  ~John Paul Jones

You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved.  They go together.  ~Earl Nightingale

Life is inherently risky.  There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.  ~Denis Waitley

Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his idea, to take a calculated risk, and to act.  ~Maxwell Maltz