Monday’s efficiency/productivity tip

Most of us start each day with a “to do” list, or at least a good idea of what must be accomplished.  Time management experts often suggest starting by knocking off the easiest tasks, and overachievers often attack the toughest item first.  However, each of these approaches misses the mark and may facilitate being busy at the expense of being productive.

Instead, I suggest starting each day with the most important task.  It may be a phone call that takes 5 minutes or a drafting project that requires 5 hours; once that task is accomplished, though, the day has by definition been productive despite any crises that may pop up.  The next step is, of course, to hit the second most important task.

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I’m headed back to Atlanta today, following almost a week in Dallas for a conference.  Carly Fiorina spoke yesterday and had some interesting points on leadership that I’ll share in a future post.  The question I’m left mulling is, how can lawyers in private practice show up as leaders?  And how do lawyers in private practice show up as leaders?