A friend of mine owned a home remodeling business in the late 2000s. Although his wife also worked, he was the primary source of income for the family. As happened with millions of others in the Great Recession, his business fell on hard time. He had to start making decisions about which bills to pay for his business. One bill that he let ride a little too long was his workers’ compensation insurance. While it had lapsed, one of his workers got electrocuted and had to be hospitalized. The worker developed some kidney problems, and the hospital stay got longer....
How can we put ourselves in the best frame of mind to learn from failures? [This is an excerpt from my new book, Level Up Your Law Practice, which can learn more about here and purchase wherever you like.]
In their simplest form, self-limiting beliefs are assumptions or perceptions that we have about ourselves and about how the world works. They are “self-limiting” because in some way they are holding us back from achieving what we are capable of. The difficulty with limiting beliefs is that they tend to be sticky. Once we’ve formed a belief — whether political, religious, or about ourselves — we look for more evidence to support the belief and discount evidence to the contrary. While this gives us a foundation for understanding an otherwise complex and confusing world, it also means that beliefs can...
For each of the past three years, I’ve written about the importance of goalsetting. We’ve talked about what goals should look like, in that you need to be setting S.M.A.R.T. goals — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound. And I’ve been transparent with you about how having written goals has been transformative for me in both my law and writing practices. I have not met all the goals I’ve set. Far from it. Maybe I’ve met half of them. But I’m absolutely certain that having the goals, particularly the overly ambitious ones, has projected me further down the path of...
Law firms are often comprised of three generations of personnel. We best serve our clients needs when, rather than assuming generational stereotypes, we use our personal knowledge of each other’s personality types and individual experiences to collaborate on projects and provide feedback. This intergenerational communication is the best way to get the most out of each other and promote an inclusive and thriving culture. You can read more about the importance of communicating across generations in my new article in DRI’s For the Defense, “Encouraging Words: Feedback, Communication, and Intergenerational Collaboration.”
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...
