Think multitasking is beneficial? Think again.

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I’ve been intending to post about a New York Times article I read a few months ago, and today’s the day.  I have noticed recently that I’m receiving a lot of emails informing me that the sender is now limiting the number of times she checks email in the course of a day, and to contract her by phone for pressing matters.  (More on why that is on another day.)

And yesterday, I happened upon a provocative — if rather old — article on CNN.com reporting on a test run by a London psychiatrist.  The study tested three groups in completing an IQ test: the first group worked only on the test; the second group worked on the test while receiving emails, phone calls, and text messages; and the third group worked only on the test but had smoked marijuana.  The first group, of course, performed the best; the pot-smokers came in second (down 4 points); and the distracted test-takers came in last by 10 points.  According to the researcher, juggling incoming messages has an effect equal to missing an entire night of sleep.

The article Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic reports consistent results.  Neurobiological evidence indicates that the human brain simply can’t do two tasks at once, if the tasks require any mental processing.  In other words, we can walk and talk at the same time (most of us, anyway) but, as reported in the article, when study participants were asked to see an image of a vowel and then say the vowel and to hear a sound and press the correct key on a keyboard, participants experienced up to a second’s delay.  As the researcher who performed that test notes, a second usually isn’t a big issue, unless it’s a second’s delay in hitting the brakes while driving at 60 mph.  The researcher doesn’t use his cell phone while driving.

Another Study I’d seen reported elsewhere that reveals surprising effects of interruptions.  Observing “information workers” in high-tech companies showed that interruptions occur about every 10-and-a-half minutes.  (I found another source that, regrettably, I’ve misplaced suggesting that interruptions occur every 3 minutes — and my experience indicates that to be a much more believable number.)  On average, workers take 23 minutes to get back to the interrupted task, including a tour through two other unrelated tasks; and about 20% of the time, workers never do get back to the original work.

Now, what does this all mean?

1.  We work better when we avoid interruptions.  If you’re trying to get something accomplished, close your door, put your phone on do-not-disturb, and don’t check email.

For those of you who are hyperventilating now, try it.  It’s a big change, but it’s effective.  You can always ask you assistant to watch your email (consider, of course, that you’re creating an inefficiency there…) while you get accustomed to this idea.

2.  Work in focused blasts and build in recovery time.

Studies indicate that the ideal “focus” period is 45 minutes, with 15 minutes left for recovery.  Even if you choose to check email repeatedly throughout the day, consider checking it instead during your 15-minute recovery time.

3.  Devise methods to keep your place during interruptions.

Sometimes interruptions are unavoidable, and that tends to be more true for those lower on the totem pole.  Keep a pad nearby and make a fast note when you’re interrupted to remind you of where you left off.  Perhaps you can’t choose not to be interrupted, but everyone can say, “Hang on, let me finish this note so I won’t lose it.”

Are you busy — Or productive?

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One of the most important pieces of coaching rests in illuminating distinctions.  I have several favorites that come up in the course of a great many coaching engagements: reaction vs. response, hearing vs. listening, assertion vs. assessment, interesting vs. purposeful, and so on.  One distinction is particularly relevant to effective action: busy vs. productive.  My favorite definition of busy is “full of or characterized by activity.”  Another definition of busy (often used as in a pattern or design, but still relevant here) is “cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting.”  Hmmmmmm.  Productive is, of course, derived from the verb to produce, and my favorite definitions of to produce are “to create by physical or mental effort” and “to bring into existence; give rise to; cause.”

As I’ve written before, I think we live in a culture that embraces busyness and has made it a virtue to be busy.  And yet, I’m taken by the idea that being busy can mean being “cluttered with detail.”  I’ve certainly found myself there: researching something that’s of tangential relevance to what I’m doing, so that at the end of the day I’ve worked hard all day long and accomplished… Well… Not much.  But it’s an easy trap to slip into, because it feels good to be busy.

I once had a conversation with a colleague about billing.  He said that he’d spent an entire hour staring out of his office window and thinking about a case, and he came up with an approach and strategy that simplified a difficult issue, one that substantially increased the client’s chances of success.  His conundrum?  How to bill for time spent staring and thinking — as well as how to find more of that time and how to protect it since he didn’t appear to be “busy” but he was in fact very productive.

The law actually recognizes this distinction in billing rates.  A 1st or 2nd year associate is billed at a lower rate than a more senior associate or partner because (among other reasons) experience teaches a lawyer how to use her time most productively; the work accomplished in an hour by a senior associate is almost certainly more useful (i.e. more productive) than that accomplished in the same hour by a new associate.  And yet, both may appear to be equally busy.

When someone describes working a lot without getting the results he wants, I often suggest he ask, “Am I busy, or am I productive?”  The question is an adjunct of the Quadrant II time/priority management system that Stephen Covey teaches, and it takes that system to the next level because the question makes manifest the danger of working on an important task without being productive.

This question is particularly appropriate for practice/career management issues.  For example, in the course of a job search, is it busy or productive to spend hours reading ads on a job board?  The answer likely depends on the board and on whether there’s follow-up to an ad of interest.  It’s also appropriate in substantive practice at times, to question whether certain activities are productive or whether they’re just generating work.

So, consider devoting a few minutes today to checking over your task list, or to reflecting on how you spent your time last week, and ask… “Am I busy, or am I productive?”

When the words just won’t come.

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Have you ever had the experience of sitting down to write something important, having a rough idea of what you wanted to say, and yet finding yourself so tired or so distracted that you have significantly reduced ability to get the writing done?

I’m not talking about ordinary writer’s block or waiting for a muse to rest on your shoulder — that’s a luxury rarely available to lawyers.  What I’m describing is the temporary inability to draft something that’s reasonably straightforward in a way that accomplishes a workmanlike goal.  What can you do to jar the words loose?

1.  Take a break.  Get up from your desk, get the blood moving, get a change of scenery.  There is little more disheartening or un-motivating than staring at a blank screen (or pad) and searching for the words you need.  I strongly suggest not reading or trying to write, because that’s just more of what’s challenging you in the moment.  Get a cup of coffee, walk around the block (or at least around your floor), or close your eyes and listen to music that energizes you.

2.    Map your approach.  Sometimes the problem is having an idea that’s not yet sharp enough to reduce it to paper.  In that instance, try creating a map.  Write the core issue in the center of a blank piece of paper, then write related words or symbols around it and connect them to the main issue with a line.  Wikipedia has a good description of mind mapping, including a picture of a sample map.  Mind mapping encourages non-linear thought and easy organization, and it will create a path for you to follow as you begin writing.

3.  Begin in the middle.  Pick some part of your final product and start there.  Although a conclusion is a nice place to begin because it will define your approach and may thus make the rest of the writing easier, the important thing is to write some part of your draft.  Even if it’s a paragraph of illogical, emotional argument that you’ll cut from the second draft, just starting will move you forward.

4.  Just start writing.  Many lawyers have an internal critic who comes out to play at inopportune times.  You may start a sentence six times and scrap it each time because it just doesn’t sound right, and the result is verbal paralysis.  So give yourself permission to write something, anything, no matter how bad it may be.  Even if you end up with the legal equivalent of “it was a dark and stormy night,” at least you’ll have a start and something to edit.

5.  Try something unconventional.  When all else fails, turn what you’ve been doing inside out.  Try dictating instead.  Using a different mode of communication can be enough of a change to access the inchoate concept floating around in your mind.  If you don’t want to dictate, try talking out loud, whether to yourself or to a colleague.  Or write in another setting.  Though it may be heresy to some, there is actually no law that requires you to write in your office or even your home office.  Maybe writing at Starbucks or in a park would help.  Maybe you’d be more effective sitting cross-legged on your bed.  Give it a try.  Or write in longhand instead of typing, or vice versa.  Try writing like someone you admire (how would [insert an esteemed lawyer here] phrase this?) or writing like a pirate.  If you get to the point of trying something unconventional, make it as wacky as need be — laughter can also help to break the verbal jam — and then consider whether or how to bill your client for this “out of the box” experiment.

Another take on what constitutes work/life balance and why it matters

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I’ve been rereading First Things First, by Stephen Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca Merrill recently, as I’m creating my list of “must read” books for clients concerned with time management, work/life balance, and the like.  This book was first published in 1994 and I read it then.  Perhaps the best accolade I can give it is to say that I’ve remembered many of its principles and still apply them today.

While reading the section entitled “The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing,” I started thinking about work/life balance and how “the main thing” may vary from person to person, and how work/life balance is often so poorly understood because the phrase suggests that there is a perfect balance between work and life that everyone should attain.  That view is (in my mind) so fallacious as to be dangerous.  And last night, I ran across two paragraphs in First Things First that address the issue beautifully:

We live our lives in terms of roles — not in the sense of role playing, but in the sense of authentic parts we’ve chosen to fill.  We may have important roles at work, in the family, in the community, or in other areas of life.  Roles represent responsibilities, relationships, and areas of contribution.

Much of our pain in life comes from the sense that we’re succeeding in one role at the expense of other, possibly even more important roles.  We may be doing great as vice-president of the company, but not doing well at all as a parent or spouse.  We may be succeeding in meeting the needs of our clients, but failing to meet our own need for personal development and growth . . . Balance among roles does not simply mean you’re spending time in each role, but that these roles work together for the accomplishment of your mission.

(Emphasis mine.)  We each choose the roles we want to live, and we define how we want to live them through a mission statement or similar expression of values and intentions.  Outside forces may impact the roles we live (the law, for instance, provides a minimum standard of care for parents) but generally speaking, we determine how to perform in and through each role.  For instance, one person’s mission statement might open by saying, “I am a lawyer who….” Another could read, “I am a parent who….”  And yet another might write, “I am a person who….”

I hold that the mission statement that revolves around the person, not the roles that person seeks to fill, stands the greatest chance of success because the statement recognizes that a variety of attributes and skills will create the life that the person wants to live.  The same is true, I believe, for career success.  We bring our whole selves to work.  As Judge Tuttle put it, “[S]ome specialized and highly developed techniques may be included, but [the professional’s] mode of expression is given its deepest meaning by the personality of the practitioner. In a very real sense his professional service cannot be separate from his personal being. He has no goods to sell, no land to till. His only asset is himself.”

Work/life balance is necessary to replenish the self and to keep the asset fresh.  The balance supports the work.  And so (as I continue to seek a different descriptor) work/life synergy renews and sustains the resource that accomplishes the work.  Just as some of us need 6 hours of sleep a night and some need 9, the source of renewal will vary in quality and quantity from person to person.  What’s more, the synergy goes both ways: just as “life” facilitates “work,” “work” may facilitate “life.”  A lawyer may carry out the duties of her work in part to teach her child of what it means to be a professional, or perhaps she may use her work to further her political beliefs.  And quality and quantity will vary in this direction as well.  What matters is the recognition that each part of a lawyer’s life, each role that he chooses to assume, will either support or undermine his overall effectiveness in life — recognition that exists in concert with appropriate action.  And that’s why “work/life balance” and “work/life synergy” matter.

I challenge you today to consider what roles constitute your life.  And then, search for the synergy among the roles that creates the whole.  How can you strengthen your performance in each role in a way that will strengthen the whole of your life?

Ultimate guide to productivity: My tip

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Cristina Favreau, The Savvy Entrepreneur, has tagged me to participate in The Ultimate Guide to Productivity, started by Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog.  The rules are as follows:

  1. Write a post on your best productivity tips. Challenge yourself by picking your single best productivity tip (although this isn’t a requirement; you can give us more if you want!)
  2. Include links to other people that have written posts, or include their tips in your post with proper attribution.
  3. If you use Technorati Tags then tag your post “ultimate guide to productivity”.
  4. Tag others in your post to spread the meme. Tag as many people as you like!

Other responses are collected in another Instigator Blog post titled A Bonanza of Productivity Tips.  I’d love to read through the other tips before offering my own, just to be sure that I’m not duplicating someone else’s submission, but productivity dictates that I not take the time to do that right now!  Instead, I’ll offer my 3 top tips, in hopes that at least 1 will be new to the mix.

1.  Work for 45 minutes each morning before checking email.  I admit that I do cheat a smidge on this, by checking my BlackBerry before I get started working.  But that allows me to check for any urgent messages without getting caught up in “reading through quickly” and, worse yet, “just taking a second to respond” before I get started working.  I love email and rely on it for both business and personal communication, but it can really suck the time out of my day.

2.  Get up from my desk at least every 90 minutes.  I discovered that a change of scenery and some movement will refresh my energy.  It also keeps me from feeling like I’m 90 years old when I finally do stand up.  I don’t do much — sometimes just a few quick stretches, sometimes a run for water or other necessities — but my mind is always clearer when I sit back down.

3.  Think energy management before time management.  Ok, so I lifted this verbatim from the time management workshop I presented on Friday.  Energy management is critical, because if I don’t make sure to keep my energy up, I can’t make the most effective use of my time, nor can I be maximally productive.  I use what I learned in The Power of Full Engagement to keep my energy up physically, emotionally, and mentally, and I stay connected to the purpose of what I’m doing (which the authors of Full Engagement refer to as “spiritual capacity”) by asking, “For the sake of what am I doing [this]?”  While I am careful to use my time as productively as possible, I do so in the context of managing my energy first.

Rather than tag anyone in particular, I’d like to open this up to others generally.  What are your top productivity tips? Please comment or post on your own blog.  I’m looking forward to learning some new gems!

Timesheet habits: don’t procrastinate.

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Timesheets routinely come up as a bemoaned part of practice, something that no one likes to do.  Many lawyers develop the habit of doing timesheets in bulk, usually at the end of the week but sometimes at the end of the month.  That’s a terrible habit for a wide variety of reasons.

Unless your notes are truly spectacular (i.e., timesheet quality at least in substance), you will lose time because it simply isn’t possible to remember every single call made or received, every in-firm conversation, etc.  I’ve seen some studies showing that lawyers who do end-of-month timesheets can lose up to 30% of their time.  That’s bad for the firm and for the attorney.

Approaching billing with this habit of procrastination makes what could be a fairly simple and straightforward task into a Huge Effort.  Timesheets become the constant millstone.  Sure, you get to ignore them for a month at a time, but then you’ll have to devote at least a full morning and probably longer to reconstructing your time.  The longer one waits to prepare timesheets after actually doing the work, the harder it will be to recreate the time and the longer it’ll take to prepare the timesheet.  Bad for the firm, bad for the attorney.

Moreover, it appears that clients may move from accepting monthly bills to wanting the ability to monitor lawyers’ work in real time using e-bills.  Technology may enable clients to demand not only a budget but also real time updates on how the budget is being used, whether it’s being exceeded, etc.  While that system isn’t in effect in the US today, it’s apparently coming in the UK, and lawyers would be well-advised to adapt their habits to minimize the pain if, or perhaps when, e-billing crosses the pond.  See also Tom Collins’ posts discussing the reasons for the move to e-billing and describing the software support that will assist in meeting clients’ demands.

If creating timesheets contemporaneously with completing the work is helpful for capturing time, saving time, and preparing for what sounds a lot like the next step toward client awareness and management of the performance of legal services, where’s the downside to developing strong habits?  Explore your billing software to see whether it has a timer function — most do.  If not, at least use your calendar to mark down your time as you work, and transfer it to a timesheet at the end of the day.  This one habit will increase both your productivity and your apparent productivity significantly.

6 Tips to turn your commute into valuable time

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Very few people have truly short commutes these days.  I know of only one woman who lives within 15 minutes of her office, regardless of the time of day she makes the trip — and that’s because she’s only a 15-minute walk away.  The rest of us put up with anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours a day in commuting, time that often feels wasted.  A few years ago, I lost my 20-minute one-way commute when I moved to a lovely house that was at least 45 minutes from the office.  If I traveled during busy traffic times (not even rush hour, just busy) the drive time swelled to a minimum of an hour and twenty minutes and often longer.  I was not happy.

Most of us hop in the car, listen to the radio or a CD, grind our teeth (or worse) as we try to cope with traffic, and essentially move through the commute time mindlessly.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’ve learned some ways to use that travel time to my benefit, either personally or professionally.  I’m sharing these tips now, in recognition of the increased traffic that tends to accompany the start of the school year.  These tips assume that you’re driving; you have many more options if you’re able to take mass transit or to carpool, which most lawyers can’t, just because of the uncertainty of working hours.

1.  Podcasts.  There are tons of terrific podcasts that will enrich your life, both professionally and personally.  On the professional side, check out David Maister’s work, which you can find here.  These podcasts are organized by topic (the latest being on business strategy), and each is an incisive, immensely practical, and even entertaining take on topics of importance to professionals.  The Wall Street Journal offers a variety of podcasts that will get you up to speed on news, financial issues, and some lifestyle trends.  And NPR always has something new and interesting.

To find podcasts that interest you, visit Podcast Alley or the iTunes Podcast page.  You can find podcasts about current events, religion, history, entertainment, spirituality…. You name it.  Sample some and see what piques your interest.  It’s amazing what you can learn that will be helpful immediately in your professional life, what you can contribute to your next cocktail party conversation, and what might inspire you.

2.  Books on CD.  If you don’t have time to catch up on the latest best-sellers, this might be the answer.  Audio books are available at most libraries or you can buy them.  My favorite solution is Simply Audiobooks, which is a Netflix-style rental-by-mail service.  (And, of course, Simply Audiobooks has a podcast with book reviews, too.)

3.  Thinking time: Plan (or review) your day, practice for an argument, mull over potential case strategies, etc.  It’s often difficult to get time to stare out the window and just think, and yet that’s one of the most valuable things we can do.  If you spend commuting time contemplating a particular legal point — what are the downfalls of the argument you’re considering, and what’s the risk/benefit analysis? — you will often find that the time is profitable.  Even if it’s just mentally organizing yourself for your day or your evening, thinking time in the car will allow you to make better use of your time in the office or at home.  Keep your cell phone handy (hands-free, please) so you can leave yourself a voicemail with your brilliant conclusions, or invest in a micro-cassette or digital recorder if you have an assistant who can transcribe your thoughts for future reference.  Commuting time is also a good opportunity to reflect on your goals, whether what you’re doing is moving you closer to attaining them, etc.

4.  Learn something.  If you’re a lifelong learner, this tip might be for you.  Invest in CDs of lectures on history, philosophy, business, science… Whatever tickles your fancy.

5.  Relaxation time.  Ok, traffic isn’t relaxing.  But if you surround yourself with music you enjoy, make sure you have hot coffee or cold water, optimize your car seat for comfort, and — most importantly — optimize your attitude, it can be somewhat relaxing.  Decide not to worry about getting ahead through traffic since more often than not, arriving at your destination five minutes later than you’d hoped won’t change the course of your day.  (If it does, choose to decrease your stress level and leave earlier.)  Drive mindfully, noticing the sights you pass, the colors of the sky, what people in cars around you are doing.

6.  Vent.  Especially when you’re driving home, take time during your commute to rehash the day’s events and to vent any frustration you may be carrying.  Don’t bring the toxicity into your home; instead, take your private time in the car to say whatever you’d like to whomever you’d like without any negative consequences.  Just don’t be surprised when folks in other cars look your way and giggle… And don’t get so wrapped up in your venting that you succumb to road rage.

7.  Think about whether you should move closer to work.  As you drive mindfully, notice the neighborhoods you pass.  Perhaps one of them should be home for you.  According to Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, every 10 minutes you add to your commute causes a 10% decrease in the amount of time you devote to your family and your community.  There’s a psychic toll as well as a financial toll.

Each of these tips will help to minimize the commuting burden and to maximize the pleasure and efficiency you experience at work and at play.  The key is in making conscious decisions on how to use your time.�

Time management skills: is a task urgent or important?

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One of the top concerns for most lawyers is time management.  We all have so much to accomplish in so little time, and it often seems that we’re always trying to cram more activities (whether professional or personal) into the non-negotiable 168 hours we have each week.  Most of my coaching clients bring time management issues to the table at some point, and the high levels of stress that many lawyers face derive largely from time pressures.  One distinction, “urgent” versus “important,” can form the basis for effective time management.  Let’s dig in.

Urgent vs. important is a simple distinction that applies equally to the substance of a lawyer’s work as well as to practice or career management.  Stephen Covey has written about time use and devised a four-quadrant chart to help us judge where we spend most of our time:

QUADRANT I: Urgent and Important:  Crises, problems, deadline-driven projects.

QUADRANT II: Not Urgent, but Important:  Preparation, problem prevention, planning, relationship building, values clarification, true recreation (“re-creation”).

QUADRANT III: Urgent, but Not Important: Interruptions, some phone calls, some meetings, some email.

QUANDRANT IV: Not Urgent, Not Important: Junk mail, spam, busywork, trivia, “escape” activities, mindless web surfing, etc.

Where do you spend most of your time?  While it’s undeniable that Quadrant I requires attention and Quadrant III calls for attention (though the call may be illusory), Quadrant II is the critical zone.  That’s where the real work that truly moves us forward gets done.

For instance, suppose you’ve decide to leave your current job.  Quadrant I may demand you update your resume, call a recruiter, and set up a job agent on a job search website.  Quadrant III is returning a call from a recruiter who has the perfect position — except that it’s in Salt Lake City and you have no desire to live there — and it’s most interviews.  (Note that in this example, it’s hard to evaluate in advance whether something is important or not!)  Quandrant IV is browsing all the legal jobs in the U.S. on a website — things that may look like they’re related to your job search but really do nothing for you except waste time.  And Quadrant II is where you spend time when you stop to think about what exactly you want in your new job: firm or in-house?  Small, medium, or large firm?  Should you work with a recruiter?  What geographic location suits you best?

Quadrant II yields the strongest results.  That’s where the real work happens, where we’re able to engage in analysis that will help move us forward.  It may be helpful or even critical to spend time in Quadrant I; we all spend some time in Quadrant III, but we can be aware of that time and choose to limit it; Quadrant IV is best avoided because it’s neither productive nor refreshing time.

Question for reflection: both in practice and in your career/practice management, where are you spending your time?  Are you visiting Quadrant II enough?

According to a 2001 article published in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly:  “Lawyers are good subjects for coaching because they are results-oriented professionals. But like most busy professionals, it is hard for lawyers to consistently focus on things that are important, but not urgent. In addition, while attorneys may get good training in “lawyering” in the early years of practice, they are less likely to get any consistent and focused training on how to develop their professional and personal lives. A law degree can still open up a lot of doors for you, but real career satisfaction takes both hard work and planning. Having the degree, and working in a good law firm, are not enough.  Many of us do not take the time to reflect on what we really want. Some of us do not know what steps to follow to get what we want. Still others know the steps, but cannot figure out how to rearrange their professional and personal lives to make room for these important, but not urgent, activities. A coach can be the key ingredient in making things happen.”  Do you need a coach?

I’ll close with an example.  I worked with a client I’ll call Sheri, who was having a great deal of trouble getting everything done that she needed to in the office.  She found herself staying later and later, then going in earlier and earlier, and before long she was exhausted and angry that her personal life had disappeared.  We started with the urgent/important distinction and looked at the kinds of tasks on her “to do” list through that lens.

Sheri decided to cut Quadrant IV activities completely and to get better at identifying Quadrant III activities so she could eliminate as many of those as possible.  And then she looked at the Quadrant I tasks she’d listed to see whether any could be delegrated or otherwise handled.  And then our focus shifted to Quadant II.  Sheri developed a schedule that guaranteed her planning and strategizing time (pure Quadrant II activities) and found that by spending time on those tasks, she was able to prevent problems and facilitate the orderly accomplishment of important aims.  Her stress level decreased, as did the number of hours she had to spend putting out fires.

Sheri was delighted to discover that working out qualified as a Quadrant II activity, and she planned a half-hour walk or visit to the gym five days a week.  As a result, she began to feel better physically, which also decreased her stress level and increased her energy so she could get more work done in the hours she had available.  By further focusing on categorizing tasks in the quadrants, minimizing time spent in Quadrants III and IV, and maximizing the time she spent in Quadrant II, Sheri developed work habits and a daily schedule that allowed her to get her work done, to feel good about it, and to have some time and energy for her personal pursuits as well.