Do The Right Thing
I was recently listening to a speech Lou Holtz gave to a Notre Dame graduating class. You may remember Coach Holtz, as he is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games, and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings. I think he must know a thing or two about success and how to achieve it. While listening, I was struck by one thing he said in particular: “There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing. And, there’s never a right time to do the wrong thing.” He also stated: “You should do the best you’re capable of at all times.” These are foundational principles for leading a successful life and building a successful law firm.
I’ve always stated: “If you’re not growing, you’re dying. “ I believe you should look at yourself in the mirror each morning and ask yourself, “Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the best I’m capable of each day, and will I do it today?” Many people often comment on how many on-going projects I have at any given time and how much I accomplish in a single day. My mother used to say: “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” And I believe there’s wisdom in that idea. Successful people, whether in sports, law firms, or life, understand the importance of setting goals, and approaching each day with a desire to give it a 100% effort. One of the secrets I’ve found that dramatically increased my productivity is the decision to avoid procrastination and to make it my business to knock out the distasteful or difficult tasks of the day first. Otherwise, you will likely find ways to fill the day with all your other tasks and that nagging “need to do” item just never gets done. Instead, it keeps getting carried over to the next day’s list. Avoidance isn’t the answer; Hitting it hard and with a full-frontal assault is the better approach. Once it is done, your sense of accomplishment is greater, as well as your sense of relief. Plus, it gives you more determination to tackle the rest of your day’s responsibilities. So, STOP putting things off !
Your marching orders should be: Create goals, create a detailed execution plan, and then take ACTION TO implement your plan!
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Another foundational principle that will help you build a successful law firm is: Delegate your weaknesses to others in your firm who can do it better and Leverage your strengths. No one can wear all the hats needed in a law firm, even if you happen to be a super-lawyer! There are some things that you excel at and others that are simply not your strong suit. Those things that you naturally gravitate to and which come easy to you and those things that no one else can do nearly as well are the things that you need to keep on your plate. However, the things that someone else can do, and may even do better than you, are the things that you should delegate to others, either in-house or through outsourcing. When you begin to live out this principle, you will be amazed at how much more productive you will become, and how much smoother your firm will run. It is the wise person that is willing to look objectively and honestly at their strengths as well as their weaknesses and delegate accordingly.
Claim your Free Law Firm Strategy Session
If you haven’t seen the recent Webinar, I did entitle: “Implementation on Steroids,” I suggest that you make time now to go into YOUR PILMMA Member’s Toolkit and listen to it. This presentation only takes about 20 minutes, and it could double or triple what you are able to implement over the next 12 months.
The key to implementation is setting up short-range goals. Instead of thinking in terms of annual goals, you should think in terms of setting quarterly, or 3-month goals. Believe it or not, this simple mindset shift will allow you to double, triple, or quadruple your actual productivity by year’s end. The secret is to get your key players, the ones I call your “stakeholders,” involved in these critical quarterly strategy meetings. Your “stakeholders” may include your partners, your firm administrator, your marketing director, etc. Commit to scheduling these important planning sessions for once a quarter. In each meeting, brainstorm regarding plans and goals that will move your firm forward. Gather input and perspective from all your key players. Then, narrow the list of possible goals down to the two or three goals that you want to get accomplished in the next 90 days. Once you decide on the these most important quarterly goals, take them one at a time and immediately start brainstorming together as to the specific tasks that will need to be done to implement each goal. By doing so, you are taking active steps to ensure that your plan is going to move from the idea stage to actuality. The last step is to assign those tasks you have identified to specific people in the firm or identify who is responsible for outsourcing the specific tasks to vendors. Use a calendar and set strict deadlines for the completion of each task.
To establish accountability, and to provide needed encouragement, you will want to have short weekly meetings to keep up with the progress of each person’s tasks and make sure the goals are on track for completion by the end of the quarter. You can track and manage these tasks easily by using organizational software. At PILMMA, we have started using a free software program called Flow. The program is user-friendly; it allows managers to set clear tasks and due dates, and allows for everyone involved to see the progress. This kind of software enables you to manage everyone’s tasks relatively seamlessly. This is NOT the same kind of software that you use for case management. You have a case management system for running and managing cases, but you need a different type of software to help you manage all the other projects and tasks that you want to accomplish to grow your law firm. If you want to hear more about setting these quarterly goals and about increasing your productivity, then take 20 minutes today, go into the Members Toolkit and listen or watch the Webinar entitled: “Implementation on Steroids.” It’s truly a game-changer and it’s a life-changer!
Remember; today is yesterday’s PLANS put into ACTION!
