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The New Oxford Dictionary announced “unfriend” as its word of the year for 2009. You can hear the NPR story online. It’s worth listening- the very short discussion includes a list of words that didn’t make the cut, including my favorite, “trampstamp”.  (having to do with a tatoo in a particular location)

Enough about anyone else’s word of the year, what I’m interested in is YOURS. If you had to choose one word for 2009, what would it be? The New Oxford Dictionary chooses their word “to reflect the ethos of the year…”.  What word do you choose?

There are lots of definitions of ethos on the Web, the one I’ll refer to here is ”the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era”, from a Princeton University resource.  What word reflects the distinctive spirit of 2009 as you experienced it?

Sometimes a bit of reflection lights an area you hadn’t seen before. Sometimes it lights a bump in the road or a new path. Try it. If you find yourself with a bit of time for thought, invest it in thinking about your “word of the year” for 2009. 

Of course, you know what’s coming - can you see any candidates in the works for your “word of the year” for 2010?

Do you ever discount your fees if you think someone can’t afford them? You know they need a good lawyer like you, but they just can’t pay your full fee? First- thank you for your dedication. I’m blown away by your compassion. Second- I’d love to give you a way to continue to do what you think is right at the same time you do what’s right for you.

I always say that work funds your life. Your law practice provides a return to you in the form of time and money. Think about that. You invest your time and your practice returns free time and income.  The choices you make about specialty, clients served, office space, pricing, leverage, etc., drive the amount of time you work or don’t, and the amount of money you make.  

The investment management world is where the return on investment conversation started. What if you think of your work time as an investment portfolio? You invest your time, expecting a certain return. That’s your business plan. If you put pro bono or discounted fee work into perspective as a planned PART of your practice portfolio, then you can be very intentional about the amount you do and how it impacts the overall portfolio return.  Sticking with the investment analogy, you’re going to fund your discounted work with the higher returns on your full-fee work. You manage the mix, or asset allocation, to make sure that the average rate of return meets your requirements. You feel fairly compensated for the amount of time you spend working.

Putting the notion into practice, you need to know how much of your work capacity is available at any time at a discounted price. If the amount of time you choose to invest in the discounted work is booked- then you either decline or delay the prospective client who can’t pay full fee. When time available at a discount opens up, then you can take more work at the discounted rate. Otherwise, your focus remains making sure your full-fee capacity stays booked solid so that you can afford to fund that discounted work!

One of the reasons I love working with lawyers is that you are genuinely committed to service. What I want for you is to be able to be of service at the same time you make a good living. It’s all about being intentional and at choice. If you choose to discount your work for worthy causes, that’s fine. Just be sure that you manage your work capacity and the allocation of your efforts to  discounted versus full-fee work.

Once again, we’re back to the airplane/oxygen mask approach. Follow instructions. Be sure to take good care of yourself first, so that you’re around to take care of any others who may need your help.

Does your “to do” list keep you up at night? Handle it. If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth giving a deadline. Any task that will take more than about fifteen minutes should go onto your calendar, with time blocked to get it done. Use “to do” lists for small tasks that you want to remember and limit the shelf life of “to do” items to a day or two. 

Any items that roll over day after day need to be killed. Clearly, they aren’t worth your time. If your list is getting longer, spend more time doing the daily and weekly planning that will ensure you prioritize and reserve time for the work you should be doing.

Don’t try to manage your business on a “to do” basis! The more connected your work is to your calendar and schedule, the more realistic you’ll be about how much time you have and how you want to spend it.

Have you ever postponed a deliverable or delayed a court date because you weren’t ready? Even though you had plenty of lead time? I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard lawyers talk about blowing through internal deadlines because they weren’t “real”. I’d like to ask for a shift on that perspective- any deadline you set in order to ensure that you complete a task is real. There’s no such thing as a fake deadline.

If you have a deliverable with a beginning and an end, it’s a candidate for “projectizing”. What I mean by that is to break the final product into smaller chunks and establish milestones for completing these mini-deliverables. In addition to milestones, you need to block time on your calendar to get the work done.

The only way to be sure you’ll deliver on time is to estimate what work needs to be completed, and when. Establish internal deadlines and manage to them if you want to meet your external deadlines. Take them seriously, the consequences of missing them are all too real!

The “I have to get that done before our call” magic is one of the most important byproducts of a coaching relationship.  It works like this:

1. You figure out what you want. (not always as easy as it seems!)
2. We strategize and agree to certain actions and behaviors that will get you what you want.
3. Working with the reality of your calendar, we create an action plan by adding the time dimension, dates, to the steps. This also introduces prioritization to your process.
4. On each coaching call, we check in. You’re accountable for the actions you did or didn’t complete.
5. We reconnect back to the “I want” goal. Success is celebrated!  Or, if you didn’t do what you’d intended to do, we might change the goal or the action or maybe just move the date forward.

It’s a recursive process that “calls” itself.  You cycle through. The process is rarely linear, it’s iterative and messy, and it cleans up over time as you get into the habit of aligning your action consistently to “what you want”.

You can hold youself accountable by writing your goals and action plans down. It’s proven that committing goals to writing increases the probablity of reaching them. You can create an “accountability pal” relationship with a peer or friend. Maybe you want to call into a “blog for 31 days” style public accountability group.  And, of course, you can work with a coach or join a mastermind group.

Whatever route you choose- when you do your weekly planning, take a little extra time to think about how you can put accountability to work for you.  You’ll be impressed with what adding a little magic does for you!

I’m big on process-izing. I suppose the correct term is systematizing. Whatever term you use, it’s the notion that if there’s something you do or produce regularly, it pays to create a repeatable process. 

This post isn’t about how to create a process, but the basic idea is:

1. Define the “process” specifically: where it starts and ends
2. Document needed steps, timing of steps, dependencies, resources or approvals, etc.
3. Create templates & checklists to accompany steps, if appropriate
4. File the process, train people in it, or otherwise insert the process into your office environment so that it’s useful!
5. Periodically check in to see the process remains efficient and relevant.

Got it?  All right. So, I’ve been hanging out with school supplies recently and I’ve got calendars on my mind.

Here’s the idea- buy a new day planner, and use it to collect ideas and information about office processes. Get one with month-at-a-glance pages as well as detail pages.  Block time and use it to sit down with the visual of a month and think about standard processes that occur over a month.  Remember, this isn’t about the actual month/day- you could actually use that blank day planner you’d had high hopes for in 2007!

Say you keep January as the month-at-a-glance SUMMARY process calendar, either noting processes week by week or simply listing all the processes you plan to create.  Then use the other monthly sections to detail processes.  Use any month for any category of processes and flip back and forth as you add/change/delete. At some point, the planner becomes an ad hoc or starter process manual, and- hey, some of us just need a starting point, right?

If you haven’t formalized financial processes for your practice- start there. Check out this Financial Calendar post for more ideas.  New client processes are another natural.  A new client process might start with the signed agreement and include templates and ticklers for internal admin activities like “create file structure” as well as client relationship activities like send “thank you for your business” note. Take your next new client and use a blank month section of your process day planner to record the steps that occur as you move through the relationship.

The idea is to use the day planner structure to focus your attention on process.  Of the things you know you should be doing and aren’t, creating office processes is one that has a big bang for the buck.  Process allows you to streamline your efforts while making it much more difficult to make mistakes or let things slide. Creating processes is also the first step to delegating or outsourcing activities that don’t rock your boat.

The busier you are, the more important it is to manage the systems in your office, and the less time you have to do it. Try using a new day planner to make it easier.

As always, the rocket science is in the doing.  However- this idea is closer to  concept than implementation. I’ll be trying it out myself to see how to make it more useful.  In the meantime, if you find something that works for you- please share!

The number of ad hoc “spot coaching” calls I’m fielding this summer is unprecedented. Most are calls from frustrated clients/former clients who feel they’re being pushed unreasonably, taken advantage of or treated unfairly. They’re telling themselves to stop taking things personally, but they can’t seem to break away.  When your reaction is emotional, pay attention. Respect the emotion without letting it rule.

The most common sources of the calls seem to be interactions with [stupid] clients, [useless] employees, and/or [crazy] relatives. Here are a couple of tips to try if you come up against these irritants, or if you’re tired of listening to someone else rant about them!

1. Above all, remember to do what serves you best. More directly- don’t waste any time or energy! Both are far too scarce. It does not serve you well to be pissed off or upset, there is no benefit to ”winning” or being “right” in most of these situations. Distraction takes you away from your own priorities and goals. Better to accept, deal, learn and move on!

2. Remove yourself from the source until you feel rational. Be productive, get other things done. Go to the gym. Get to a yoga class. An action movie. Chill. Reacquaint yourself with your sense of humor.

3. OK, now it’s time for the “accept, deal, learn and move on” process.

• Accept- review the facts. Understand that what’s past, can’t be changed. Believe “perception is reality”. Understand your own capabilities and shortcomings. Determine the best possible outcome given the facts. Figure out the pros/cons of potential options, decide what to do.
• Deal- do what serves you best. Follow up with the options you came up with. See what happens. Behave. If you decided it was worth it, put up with more than you think you should. If you decided you’re done- disengage with grace. By the way, one flavor of “dealing” is to give things another chance, to decide specifically “not to deal” at this time.
• Learn and Move On- figure out what the takeaway is and then get back to the present. The best way to have more good days than bad is to use each one most effectively.

So, sounds simple, I know it’s not easy. (I could never admit to feeling that I have “stupid clients” and I don’t have any “useless employees”, but- man, that “crazy relative” thing surely feels familiar……) I’m so happy to take those spot coaching calls, because it’s really pretty easy to redirect folks back to a more positive space. All it takes is a little loving objectivity.

The most important thing is to shorten the time frame from realizing that you’re being hijacked by feelings to getting back to the present. The golden rule, do what serves you best, is key. Remember it. If you do, you’ll find the road is a lot smoother and the journey much less stressful!

Bottom line: life is short, struggle is optional! 

Roll with the punches. You’ve heard it over and over and now again. Endless quotes exist. If there were a gift I could give you, it would be the ability to painlessly learn from failure. (note- first version was ”joyfully learn from failure”, but I decided that was stretching it a bit, had to laugh and find a different word)

Hanna is starting music lessons at home this summer. She’s been playing the bass clarinet with group lessons at school, but this is the first time she’s been tutored.  Listening in from my office, I heard high praise. Ron, our new music teacher, complimented Hanna on playing through her mistakes. He pointed out that when she made a mistake, her eyes stayed on the music, moving forward, and she didn’t falter. He said, “A lot of people stop when they make mistakes, but you jump right back in. That’s great, because you know the music isn’t going to wait for you.”

When you have a nearly 11 year-old playing a bass clarinet- “mistakes” can be pretty impressive. Unintentional SQUAWKing can be ear-shattering! I hope that Hanna can translate her “jumping right back in” skills to other areas of her life. It will serve her very well!

You’re not 11. Your mistakes have different consequences. Still, the best thing you can do is roll with the punches. When I coach time management, the first concept is about “you can’t manage time”. You can’t take things back; if you’re lucky, you get a do-over.  When you feel like you’ve failed or just made a mistake- learn what you can and jump back in!

The music isn’t going to wait for you.        

Note: if you learn from self-help ware, then you might enjoy John Maxwell’s book, Failing Forward, Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success. It’s one I recommend. I also like having it on the shelf, there are times when just reading the title makes me feel better!

Ron Lieber’s plan, “A Day Off to Tackle the Financial To-Do List”, in Saturday’s NY Times, is perfect if you’ve been intending to get a handle on your financial situation and/or paperwork- but keep putting it off.  Lieber likened the concept to the more familiar one of taking a “mental health day”. Financial health is a definite factor in my own mental health, so I love that connection.  Worrying about finances is best addressed by spending the time to get the facts and make a financial plan.

I’ve written a lot about time blocking- the notion of setting aside time that you’ll protect at all costs - and this is the ultimate block, a whole day! Check out Ron Lieber’s online writing about financial housecleaning  and turn to your calendar to block the time to get your financial concerns out of your head and onto your schedule soon.

Health. Definitely worth the pursuit! Don’t worry. Get healthy!

I got a speeding ticket. I deserved the ticket. I had zero interest in contesting the ticket. The last one I got was about 100 years ago, on the highway from Spokane to Coeur D’Alene, heading out for a day of sailing on the lake. I was due for the one I got in a (shock and horror!) school zone in New Jersey! I’m still a little embarassed.  

I got 11 letters from attorneys within about 25 miles. Each assumed I was outraged and wanted to contest. 7 of them had information about points and consequences, which was helpful. Two made me feel as though I’d been moved into a category called “criminals”. 

To my surprise, none of the lawyers who wrote mentioned other services. What if I don’t need a lawyer who to contest a speeding ticket, but I do need a will, or a real estate attorney? Maybe I feel that I’m ready to have a family lawyer relationship of some sort. I checked the lawyers out; none of them were SOLELY focused on traffic or vehicle violations. All of them missed an opportunity. 

Event marketing can be a terrific way to get in front of new prospects. Traffic ticket or other violations are triggers. You still need to choose the ammunition that will be most effective.  My intent isn’t to offer lawyers sample marketing letters for prospects who get speeding tickets. What I want is for you to look at your current marketing efforts and see if you’re missing opportunities. If you’re marketing but not seeing the type of clients or revenue you’d like- then consider tweaking the approach. 

In the current example, would it be worth the effort to research more information about the person you’re writing? Might you send a different mailing to someone in one zip code or age group versus another? Would you send a different one to owners of a particular type of car? Can you tell if it’s a first offense? 

Don’t want to do research? I’m big on marketing intimacy and focus, what would you write to your ideal client? For example, say she’s a professional woman with a family and some assets. She’s more concerned about the fact that she doesn’t have a will or other basic legal protection than she is interested in fighting a traffic ticket. Still too complicated? What about simply trying a different letter for every 50 mailings? Vary the font size, change a few key words, see what happens. 

I don’t know the hit rate for the kind of mailing I received. Maybe the numbers make sense. To me, it was a miss. I didn’t want to contest the ticket, and I didn’t want to meet the lawyer behind the letter. The point is to review your marketing, track the results, and make sure your aim is on target! 

Note: Anne Miller is a terrific writer, coach and speaker who works specifically with people to use metaphors effectively.  Clearly I haven’t yet taken advantage of this great resource!  HOWEVER, don’t let this discourage you from checking out her free newsletter, the Metaphor Minute. There are also free podcasts and other materials, it’s worth your time if you’re interested in writing and speaking resources.