My basement was kind of a disaster. Boxes haphazardly strewn about. Tools and equipment that had not been organized in the last 18 months, despite the best of intentions. Kids toys that had been played with and discarded. A pile of things to take to the landfill. So after months of trying not to notice the mess, I picked up and organized the basement. Now I have a tidy basement. But if I just focus on the result that now I have a clean and well-organized basement, I will turn around in a few months to discover it has devolved...
A few weeks ago, Curt Runger of Attorney Mentors sent me a text message saying that he had been seeing my posts on LinkedIn and that if I would do one thing differently, LinkedIn's algorithm would like me better and increase my visibility. I've known Curt for a while now and trust that when he tells me something, he knows what he's talking about. So I implemented the change. Over the past three years, I have never had particularly good results from sharing my blog posts on LinkedIn. Usually about 140 folks see the post on LinkedIn and a few...
I am near-sighted, which is really only useful for tying knots with fishing line or doing anything else that can be done within 18 inches of my face. I didn’t always know I was near-sighted. It wasn’t until I started driving that we discovered it. My mother was riding with me while I had my learner’s permit. She abruptly turned to me and asked, “Why didn’t you stop at that stop sign?” I replied earnestly, “What stop sign?” She didn’t miss a beat before announcing, “We are going to make you an eye appointment.” It wasn’t until I walked out...
Jake and Paul of the Lawsome Podcast had me back on their weekly show. In addition to discussing my new book, Stop Putting Out Fires, we talked about a variety of topics that included the stress relief of yard work, communication skills, the Enneagram, and law practice management. You can find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or you can check out the webpage for the interview for an exhaustive list of other places the episode can be found. I last appeared on the Lawsome Podcast in August 2018 to talk about Building a Better Law Practice.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve written a good bit about the importance of lawyers engaging and exploring their creativity. In fact, I've gone so far as to say that when we take time away from work to devote to family, hobbies, and exercise, we will be better lawyers. I can’t understate the importance of using all our gifts, rather than suppressing them for the sake of the billable hour. Your creative expression may take the form of cooking, writing, photography, knitting, or singing; whatever it is, do not forsake it. For a decade, through high school and into...
In early November of 2018, I finalized my 2019 goals. I committed them to paper in the moleskin notebook that I've carried everywhere since August of 2016. But before we jump into talking about 2019, I want to give you evidence that setting goals matters. Looking to the past for evidence of success When I bought my moleskin notebook, two of my earliest entries pertained to goals for my law practice for 2017 and goals for this blog for the last five months of 2016 and for 2017. I had launched the blog in June 2016, and up until August,...
Much is made of coaching trees that derive from assistant coaches who have worked for prominent head coaches. The success or failure of the coaches that branch out after having worked under a particular head coach can bear significantly on the legacy of the head coach. Consider the former coach of the Green Bay Packers, Mike Holmgren. Two well regarded head coaches were once assistants under Holmgren: Andy Reid and Jon Gruden. Reid's teams are perennial playoff contenders, and Gruden has won a Super Bowl. Each of those guys also has a coaching tree. John Harbaugh, Ron Rivera, and Doug...
Five Mile Creek is stalked by a yellow crowned night heron. Every morning she fishes there for crawfish, wading its waters looking for a good spot. One morning, I took my camera so I could watch her more closely. This is what I saw. The heron perched on a submerged rock and waited, watching. For long minutes, she stood motionless. Water bugs and leaves floated past her. A school of minnows swam by. Still she stood there, statuesque. Abruptly, she plunged her head through the surface of the creek. Just as quickly she pulled herself upright with a crawfish wriggling...
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I was sitting in my four-year-old's room finishing up the square knot on his muslin-blanket-turned-superhero-cape. He looked at me with a twinkle and said, "Let's play the jumping game!" I put my hands on the ground palms down and assumed the posture of a silverback gorilla. Jack climbed onto my back, perched on my shoulders, and started counting. "One. Two. Three. GO!!!" He launched himself as far as his little legs will push him and landed with a rolling crash, cape fluttering behind him. As only a small child can after such a collision, Jack popped up. His grin was...
You have ultimate control over your own success or failure. The locus of control is squarely within your domain. It's important that you understand that. This isn't to say everything you attempt will be successful no matter how badly you want it -- certainly it will not. But there are things you can control for to determine your ultimate success. Here are three factors that contribute to your success. 1. Talent You have no control over whether you have talent in a particular area. Or even the amount of talent you do or do not have. Talent is a genetic...
