The week before the Labour Day weekend feels precious. The calm before the storm that begins on September 6 as we enter the fall rush towards the year end. This week, if you are spending it in the office, take some breaks during the day to relax into some summer activity with ties to the summers of childhood. Maybe it is stepping out to enjoy an ice-cream cone in the park. Or sitting in the sunshine reading a good book. Or a swim after work.  Whatever it is for you, grab on to it, and enjoy.

Self-doubt. Fear. Worry. It happens to all of us. Often the greatest obstacles we face are the thoughts in our heads.

Last week I awoke from a nightmare about utterly failing at a presentation I was scheduled to give to a group of associates later that morning. I was caught up in self-doubt and fear.

On my way to the presentation, the anxiety was still there, with the little negative voice in my head telling me: You are going to bomb. You know this is a tough topic and they have already heard it all before.

While riding the train I turned to my favourite fear-busting practice, neural re-mapping.

I determined to name, quietly in my head, fifteen reasons why the presentation would go well. This strategy forced my thinking into some new terrain. I had to get out of the negative rut, and start mapping some new neural connections about why I was going to succeed.

It worked. It took the entire commute to get my list fifteen reasons listed, and by the last one, I was feeling calm, maybe even positive.

There is no set number of positive things you need to list with this practice. When I am using it for fear-busting, and counteracting the voice of the inner critic, I usually go for five or more.

That morning on the train, fifteen felt right. In a really tough spot I might need fifty.

When you are presented with a fear-inducing opportunity to take on a challenge try listing five reasons why you are up for it.

If you can, writing the list strengthens the practice, but when you can’t, listing in your head works fine.

When we push ourselves to take on challenges, fear is part of the territory. Put this simple practice to work, to help you stretch out of your comfort zone into the scary territory where learning happens.

This Monday Morning Practice is inspired by Don Jones two part series last week here on AWAL:  Life’s Music Lesson #2 – Adopt an Attitude of Practice.

An attitude of practice is about being open and aware that life is one big learning experience, and that practice is how we learn and grow. The path to excellence is paved with practice. And excellence itself continuously evolves and expand and deepens.

The path to perfection on the other hand is paved with fear and obsession. With playing it safe. With limiting risks and cutting off opportunities.  Perfection is death. It is a place where no more growth or learning happen, and with no future possibilities to explore.

In part two of the article Jones examines the obstacles he has experienced to adopting an “attitude of practice” and you may recognize some of your own in this list.

The Monday Morning Practice for this week is about self observation.  Watch yourself in action this week. Every day this week take five or so minutes to reflect on the following questions:

• What inner or outer forces help support this positive attitude of practice for me?
• What inner or outer forces shut down this positive attitude of practice in me?
• What action do I wish to take as a result of these reflections?

Do send me an email to let me know what you learn from this exploration.

The practice this week is for bringing into play when you or a loved one receives some bad health news. It can also be useful for when you are feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope.

This is the practice I am relying on this week, and this month, for maintaining my equilibrium and keeping focused on what’s important.

Last Friday I received a conclusive diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. This news sent me into a real spin with my thoughts flying in all directions.

What does this mean for the future?

How did this happen?

What do I need to do?

Starting the research process into the disease brought up some alarming facts about the kind of pain and suffering many people with Crohn’s experience.

Is this what’s in store for me?

What if… What if… What if?!

I observed my thinking begin to fixate on the disease. I watched my flight and fight instincts propelling me into action with the thought – I have to do everything I can to stay healthy.

Thankfully, in my dreams last night I coached myself and awoke with this slow and steady practice:

• First, it is ok, to not do everything all at once.
• Start with what you know.
• Focus on what you can do today.
• Build the team. Find the people who can help by way of information, mentorship, and support, and connect with them.
• Limit the time spent focused on the disease. There are other important priorities to focus on.

I will take time in the evenings to research and learn, and will take some time during the day to connect with team members but otherwise when I find my thoughts circling back to the illness I will redirect them to other priorities including simply being present in what ever activity I am engaged in at the moment.

Slowly and steadily I will build up my knowledge base. Slowly and steadily I will add to my list of beneficial actions. Slowly and steadily I will move forward.

To apply this to whatever has your head spinning remember these key steps:

• Notice, it is ok to not do everything all at once. In fact it is best NOT to do everything at once.

• Take action on what you can today.

• Build a team to provide support, and use the team.

• Focus on what is presently in front of you and schedule time for ruminating, and worrying at the end of the day. But not right before bedtime!

When the going gets tough use slow and steady to make your way through.

This week’s practice is from the book Flourish by the founder of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman. The practice is the “What-went-well exercise”.

“Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well. You may use a journal or a computer to write about the events, but it is important to have a physical record of what you wrote. The three things need not be earthshaking in importance (‘my husband picked up my favorite ice cream for dessert on the way home from work today’), but they can be important (‘my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy’.)

Next to each positive event, answer the question ‘Why did this happen?’ For example, if your husband picked up ice cream, write ‘because my husband is really thoughtful sometimes’ or ‘because I remembered to call him from work to remind him to stop by the grocery store’.

Writing about why the positive events in your life happened may seem awkward at first, but please stick with it for one week. It will get easier. The odds are that you will be less depressed, happier, and addicted to this exercise six months from now.”

Reposted from November 8, 2015

I just had a great weekend. I discovered that making shortbread with my new KitchenAid mixer is incredibly quick and easy compared to the old elbow grease method.

I enjoyed some long dog walks in with a friend and had time to start reading some escapist fiction.

I also worked on Saturday and Sunday and the above doses of fun kept the weekend feeling like a weekend.

Next week I am facilitating a Grit & Growth panel presentation with four great lawyers at the CBA Leadership Conference for Professional Women. In preparation, I have been on an intensive Grit & Growth research project and one thing I know for sure is that fun is essential for Grit and Growth.

Fun isn’t frivolous.

Fun is rejuvenating; it refreshes your mind and body.

Fun helps keep you functional when under stress.

Fun can give you a fresh perspective on problems,

Fun increases your energy and prevents burnout.

Fun is good for your brain.

Fun stimulates creativity and innovation.

The Monday Morning Practice is to add some fun to every day of your week. If you are like me, figuring out what is fun for you might take some thinking. We spend so much time focused on being more productive and getting things done and fun doesn’t make it onto our to-do-list. It’s the last thing we thing we should be spending time on.

In fact, fun is exactly what we need to spend time on.

To seek out your fun, start by thinking about what you liked to do as a kid. I loved going for long walks in the woods and ready fantasy fiction for hours. My fun now is long dog walks and escapist fiction.

Kirsti who has a busy commercial litigation practice loves puzzles. Nothing spells fun for her like a puzzle spread out on the dining room table.

Cory the IP lawyer is a BBQ master. His version of fun is preparing a beef brisket for friends.

What is your fun? Is it playing computer games? Singing? Crafts? Cooking?

Whatever it is, give yourself a dose of fun every day this week.

Read some escapist fiction.

Watch funny videos on YouTube.

Download a game on your Ipad.

Make cookies.

And remember, fun isn’t frivolous. It’s essential.

Reprinted from December 14, 2015

Here is the full list of my favourite practice habits for productivity, stress-reduction, and working efficiently. Enjoy!

Positive habits are essential for reducing stress and increasing productivity and effectiveness. Here is a list of some of the habits that can be useful for legal practice.

Morning Ritual

Open the day with a quick planning session. Review priorities and upcoming deadlines. Choose your top three priorities for the day (see the “Top Three” habit below).

Big Rocks

This habit comes from Steven Covey’s work. At the beginning of each week, identify one, two or three big and important things you want to move forward in the coming week – your “big rocks”. Our days are filled with email, phone calls and fighting fires, and it is easy for those “important but not urgent” projects to be pushed aside. There will always be emergencies to take care of, but this habit helps you to remain focused on priorities. Know your big rocks.

Top Three

On a daily basis identify one to three of the most important tasks to complete during the day. Write them on a slip of paper and keep it visible on your desk. Aim to get one or more of these tasks accomplished by noon. Your top three might include a big rock (see above) as well as other urgent matters that have come up.

Capture

Neuroscience has revealed that the mind’s executive centre – our prefrontal cortex- is sensitive, drains energy, and can only hold a small amount of information at one time. When we overload the cortex with our to-do lists and reminders we lose valuable cognitive capacity and experience a physical stress response in the body. This habit is about capturing all your to-do items in one spot. Carry around a notebook such as a moleskin, or use your phone to record all to do’s as they come up during the day. Take it with you to meetings, and home at the end of the day. When you are back at your office review the captured items and add to your to-do list. This practical and valuable habit prevents dropped balls, keeps your mind clear, and reduces stress.

Weekly Meeting with Yourself

Put it in your calendar and don’t book over it. Treat it with the respect you would give to a client meeting. Go somewhere where you can be undisturbed. If you stay in your office turn off your email and phone. Work on your big rocks (see “Big Rock” habit above) and to-do list, and schedule blocks of time for focused work.

If you want to get better at delegation, this habit will help. The weekly meeting is a chance to take a big picture look at what is coming up and to answer the question “what can I delegate?”

The weekly meeting is also useful for business development. Decide which clients/contacts you would like to see for lunch or coffee in the coming weeks and after the meeting shoot off a quick email to get those face-to-face meetings scheduled.

Prioritize by Complexity and Energy

This habit has three steps. First create a list of your tasks for the week. Next, divide the tasks into three categories, level one, level 2, and level 3 according to complexity. Then, consider your energy levels during the day and perform each task based on the appropriate fit of complexity to energy level. For instance, if you do your best work in the morning then that is the time for working on the most highly complex tasks.

Checklists

Develop checklists to guide you through managing complex projects such as transactions or litigation files. Save old checklists as precedents and at the beginning of a new project select a precedent checklist and update it with the relevant information. Complex legal work has too many moving pieces to carry in your brain. Checklists are one way to put the important information in one place and to then be able to work on the matter piece by piece.

Turtle Steps

This habit is for when you find yourself spinning your wheels or outright procrastinating on a big project. It is related to the checklist habit above. At times when a project or task is highly complex we can’t get a handle on how to start. We also might tell ourselves that we need a BIG block of time for it and until that comes available we put it off. The Turtle Steps habit recognises that every big complicated project can be broken down into smaller pieces. Sometimes the key is to open the file and start with a next steps review. Or just start to work on it for thirty minutes and when you have to put it aside take some notes to remind you of where you left off and what you were planning on doing next. The main thing is that as soon as you feel yourself stalling, stop, think again, and take the next small step.

Time Keeping

Cotemporaneous time keeping – that is, entering time as the work is done – is the best way to handle time keeping when you consider just how much cognitive resources are required to reconstruct time at the end of the day, or worse, days later.

Tips for developing a contemporaneous time keeping habit include:

• Work in blocks of time and start and stop your timer at the beginning and end of each block.
• Do email in blocks, for instance at the top of the hour, so that you can more easily capture your time on email.
• Recognise the “I will remember this later” for the thinking trap it represents and get the time down immediately.

(See my article with further tips for establishing a contemporaneous time keeping habit.)

One Thing at a Time

Our brains are built for focused attention and intellectual performance drops radically when multi-tasking.

Create zones for intense and focused work during the day. Choose a time during the work day when you are most productive. Turn off the email. Close the door. Focus on one project for up to ninety minutes. Notice the impact this practice has on the quality of your intellectual output. To help protect this time – which one of my clients calls “the vortex” – get your assistant involved. Let your assistant know this is your time for intensely focused work and ask them to help prevent interruptions.

Two Minute List

Start keeping a two minute action list. Here you will list all your short and snappy to do’s. During the day work in one or two 15 minute time blocks for clearing items off this list (see “Batch” habit below). This habit recognises that short two minute tasks are best dealt with in batches during the day in order to support our focus on bigger and more important tasks.

Batch It

Process email and two-minute tasks in batches. Schedule blocks of time for dealing with email or your two minute to do’s (see “Two Minute List” habit) periodically throughout the day. For complex emails with attachments print, read, and formulate a response at a later time.

Beat the Clock

When the priorities are piling up it is essential to move through the work as effectively as possible. Use a beat the clock habit to give each task the appropriate amount of effort and no more. Evaluate the task and assign a time deadline. Strive to complete the work within the set amount of time.

Run a Dash

There’s something you have been avoiding? Then set a timer and work on it for just 10 or 15 minutes. This works for everything from filing, to phone calls, or even the next step on a complex project. It is also great for business development – connecting with contacts over email, scheduling lunches, or sending a client a useful article.

Stress Buster

Follow the advice of Harvard cardiologist Dr. Bensen. When you feel your stress levels rising, pause for just one to two minutes. Place your hand on your heart and take a slow breath in, and then slowly exhale. Count off ten breaths. Your heart rate will slow and your stress level will decrease. This is a very simple and effective habit that sends a physical signal to your brain that you are relaxing and deactivates the stress response.

Listen First and More

The ability to focus and listen with full attention is a critical leadership, legal, and business skill. I had the opportunity recently to meet the CEO and founder of successful private equity firm who took listening very seriously. He had formerly been a partner at one of the top five accounting firms. He told me that when he started his firm he knew that listening would be vital to his success. To improve his skills he hired a psychologist to work with him and attend all his meetings. The psychologist observed the CEO in action and provided him with feedback on his listening skills.

The good news is you don’t have to go to the trouble of hiring a psychologist or coach to help you listen better. Start by setting the habit of always listening first. Listen first when you meet someone. Listen first in meetings. Listen first with your friends. To do this, you will need to also develop the skill of asking questions to get the other person talking. If someone beats you to an opening question, answer, and then ask them a question so that you can get back to listening. Challenge yourself to Listen First for a week and see what happens.

Closing Ritual

Set the timer on your cell phone to ring 15 minutes before your scheduled departure time. Tidy your desk. Prepare your list of priorities for the next day. Complete the daily time entry. End the day well for an optimal start to the next day.

One simple practice to strengthen your Growth Mindset is to adopt intentional mastery goals. Fill in the blank: My goal is to master the skills involved in…. Write it down. Track your progress towards this goal with quick weekly reviews of what you’ve learned and how you have advanced. Join me at the Grit & Growth Summer Retreat in Vancouver on July 20 to make the switch to Growth Mindset. http://conta.cc/2s5Nc0H

Reposted from January 19, 2016

One of the most important books for EVERYONE in the legal profession to read this year is Kelly McGonigal’s The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you and how to get good at it).

Just imagine for a second that everything about stress that we thought we knew, was in fact wrong?

What if that big bad culprit – stress – that we all believed was one of the major factors behind all kinds of health problems, anxiety, and relationship issues – did not need to be bad for us at all, and in fact could be good for us?  That it could help to make us happier, healthier, and more successful?

Yes, hello 2016, here is some good news for all of us. Stress doesn’t have to be the enemy anymore.

McGonigal, a professor at Stanford University, and a health psychologist with a background in medicine and psychology, says that for most of her career she believed that stress was bad too, until she dug into the research.

McGonigal’s Ted Talk and the research detailed in her book provides definitive proof that stress can be good for us. McGonigal clearly demonstrates that our beliefs about stress have a direct impact on how we experience stress in our bodies. And that you can quite simply change how you think about stress in order to reap the positive benefits it can bring.

McGonical discovered that there are multiple ways for stress to be experienced in the human body. The one we are all familiar with is fight/flight stress that comes up when we are facing danger and are experiencing fear. This kind of stress creates concentrated attention and potentially enhanced strength and endurance. We also have available to us a challenge stress response that “increases self-confidence, motivates action, and helps you learn from experience.” With a challenge response you feel focused not fearful.  There is also the  tend and befriend response that comes about from wanting to protect a person or person.  This response “increases courage, motivates caregiving, and strengthens your social relationships.” (Upside of Stress, p.49)

After reading her book in one speed-reading night I had the best sleep I had experienced in weeks. Re-framing my stress from something bad that might make me sick (fight/flight stress) , to being my body’s contribution towards helping me meet the challenges I am facing professionally head on (challenge stress), had a big impact on my week.  I am currently working on numerous large projects simultaneously while preparing for the launch of my new on-line course next week (Grit and Growth Accelerator) and I feel energized and excited.

Don’t take my word for it, do read her book, and try the following:

When you notice you are feeling stressed, pause for a moment and consider:

• How am I experiencing this in my body?
• What is that something that I care about that is triggering this stress response?
• Then ask yourself what part of the stress response is going to be most helpful? Do you need to fight or retreat (danger)?  Or is that you want optimal focus and energy for taking on a challenge  (deadlines, projects, court appearance)? Is it about being mentally alert and energized for some engaging or communicating (presentations, meetings, difficult conversations)?  Or is about needing the courage to speak out on behalf of someone else who is being wronged?

This practice, and the many others McGonigal shares in her book will give you access to your body’s full repertoire of healthy stress responses.

Do give the book a read and implement this practice  then email me to let me know how your experience of stress transforms.

Here’s to being stressed out – in a great new way!

As a coach one of the things I am always listening for are my client’s thoughts. How we think guides how we act. When we reframe or shift our thinking we open ourselves up to the potential for taking different action.

This morning I wanted to share with you one simple thinking trap I see many lawyers run into – particularly with respect to marketing and business development. I call it the, “I need a block of time” trap.

I am going to use a specific example to illustrate this:

Justine has decided that she wants to get a series of short articles out in front of her target clients about some hot button issues they are facing in their industry.

Justine also has a busy corporate practice.

Justine thinks about each of these articles as a big block of time. She thinks, “as soon I get through this busy period I can block off some time to tackle the first article.”

Justine also thinks about her past client Bob who she wants to get back in touch with. “When I get through this crunch I will go for lunch with Bob.”

Justine is falling into two thinking traps. The first is this one:

“Lunch with Bob and the article both require a big block of time that I don’t have now. I will deal with it after the crunch.”

The second related trap is this:

“There will be a time when I am not busy and I will have time for these non-billable objectives.”

Here’s the result – the business development objectives Justine wants to carry out stall out. She rarely has free blocks of time.

Here’s why she is making a mistake.

Most business development can be done in small increments that fit into any busy schedule.

The lunch with Bob and the article are best handled in slivers of time, not one big block.

The lunch with Bob starts with just a two minutes of effort to send an email to reconnect with him. Then later in the week when Bob gets back to her, it just takes just another two minutes to schedule a lunch. The lunch itself later in the week takes an hour and half, but she finds this a welcome break.

Or, instead of lunch, Justine could simply send Bob an email with a link to an article that relates to his business. Then she could take ten minutes the following week to pick up the phone and follow up with him about the article she sent over. This accomplishes her objective of reconnecting with him without investing any big chunks of time.

The article too is best handled in small increments. First step, Justine takes five to ten minutes to decide what she wants to write about. Later in the week, she takes ten minutes to do some research. The article for non-lawyers doesn’t require much research as she knows what she needs to say. Then, Justine writes the article in a series of short bursts, ten minutes one day, fifteen minutes the next.

Justine gives her business development plan five to ten minutes a day, and at the end of each quarter is surprised by how much she gets done.

Take a look at your own practice? What projects sit like big blocks of time in your thoughts? How can you rethink these, as projects to be sliced up, and actioned just a bit at a time?

Instead of thinking “I need a block of time for that” try “what is my next small step to move that forward today?”

Pick one project to approach this way and see what happens.

(Reposted from January 25, 2016)

Start right now.

Place your hand on your heart. Notice your heart beat under the palm of your hand.

Gently smile and think of someone or something that brings you happiness.

Take a slow deep breath. Feel your abdomen rise with the breath. Feel your heart beat against the palm of your hand.

Hold for one or two counts.

Exhale slowly.

Repeat three to five times.

If you like, you can pace your inhale and exhale to the count of five or more. Choose a pace that feels good to you.

You can close your eyes when you do this practice, or leave them open.

If you are in a public place and don’t want to put your hand on your heart, that’s ok, leave that out.

Join me in practicing this simple pause to breathe three times a day.

How hard can that be?

I’m a shallow breather by default.

I have started practicing deep breathing three or more times a day to help counteract this natural propensity.

When I get focused on my work I stop breathing from my diaphragm. This leads to an increase in tension.

Taking mini breaks during the day to breathe helps me to regain mental focus.

Deep breathing also sends a signal to the brain that the body is relaxing and flips my mental switch from stressed to relaxed.

In a relaxed state we have enhanced cognitive capacity and enhanced decision-making skills.

We are better able to handle all the environmental distractions and triggers when we are in this relaxed state.

Join me in adding this simple deep breathing practice to your day.

Notice and enjoy the benefits.

Send me an email to let me know what you discover.

One habit is essential for the lawyer who wants to get more out of life then chasing deadline after deadline. Delegation.

Right now you are either patting yourself on the back saying, I’ve got this down. Or you are groaning an admission that you could do more of that.

Delegation makes you a better lawyer. It improves leadership abilities. Goal setting, communication, planning and feedback skills get honed. You get more done. Delegation has the power to turn an overloaded to-do list into a manageable workload.

The highest form of delegation, teaming on files, establishes a collaborative approach that helps lawyers more quickly develop into skilled legal counsel.

Even if you are a sole practitioner or work at a small firm with no access to juniors there are still options available to you.

To learn more read on from my article on delegation published by Canadian Lawyer Magazine On-line.

Time is fluid.  An hour of your time can hold as little as three email messages and a discussion with a colleague or it can provide the space for writing an entire 800 word article from start to finish.  There are work days where we get epic amounts done and others where we spin our wheels.

This morning I came across The Time LordManifesto by the Dennis Mortensen, Founder and CEO of X.AI.  I immediately knew I wanted to share it with you.  Mortensen says that “properly deployed, technology can help us live as Time Lords.” In truth the principles he sets out are less about technology and more about working in ways that maximize the power of our minds and energy, with technological tools providing assistance.

The first step is to take ownership of your precious time and to not let others squander it.  And to understand that rejuvenation time is as important as work time, as Mortensen writes: “spending every waking moment working leads to diminishing returns, so they [Time Lords] balance their work time with ample moments for contemplation and relaxation.

Have a read, and consider.  Where can you embrace the practices of a Time Lord?

The practice this week is simple, and really comes down to one question:

“Am I struggling with something right now that I could use help with?”

Help can mean a lot of things.

It can mean advice on a file. I have had conversations with numerous lawyers over the years who have made the mistake of trying to problem solve their way through a legal question that is out of their area of experience only to realize a little late in the game that turning to another lawyer for guidance would be the best course of action. This happens with lawyers in big firms – where help is around the corner, and with solo lawyers who are trying to do it all on their own.

Help can mean forming a relationship with a senior lawyer in your practice area for support and guidance. I recently connected a junior lawyer seeking to develop a new practice area with a senior lawyer from a small firm. They are writing articles together now and the senior lawyer is providing some valuable mentorship.

Help can mean getting some coaching support on a practice challenge.  It might be that you want to improve work efficiency, or you want to get better at business development, or you are wondering if it is time to make a transition to a different firm or practice. Whatever the challenge, getting confidential support can help you to actually progress vs. getting mired down in just thinking about it.

Here’s something most people don’t know. The best coaches have coaches. Why? Because good coaches know that coaching accelerates progress.

And on that note, I am currently working with a money coach, Sheila Walkington, who writes for this blog. This year I identified some challenges and decided to invest in some coaching to help me get a plan together and make some changes. Sheila is helping with that.

And throughout North America the various Lawyers Assistance Programs are there to offer confidential support to the profession on a wide variety of challenges. Derek LaCroix, QC, who contributes to this blog, has served as Executive Director LAPBC since 1996. Prior to that he was a trial lawyer for almost 20 years. Derek knows most everyone in the LAP community across North America and so can serve as a first point of contact for any lawyer seeking to access LAP resources in their region. Derek’s contact information can be found in the contributor section of the site.

Don’t go it alone. Whether it is simple advice on how to get your dog to stop chewing the furniture, or a complex legal practice challenge, don’t take too long to get assistance. I frequently hear – I wish I had contacted you sooner – and I never hear I wish I hadn’t asked for help.

Photo credit: torbakhopper / Creative Commons

Reposted from February 15, 2016

As we head into summer I wanted to share with a list of my favorite practice habits for productivity, stress-reduction, and working efficiently. Enjoy!

Morning Ritual

Open the day with a quick planning session. Review priorities and upcoming deadlines. Choose your top three priorities for the day (see the “Top Three” habit below).

Big Rocks

This habit comes from Steven Covey’s work. At the beginning of each week, identify one, two or three big and important things you want to move forward in the coming week – your “big rocks”. Our days are filled with email, phone calls and fighting fires, and it is easy for those “important but not urgent” projects to be pushed aside. There will always be emergencies to take care of, but this habit helps you to remain focused on priorities. Know your big rocks.

Top Three

On a daily basis identify one to three of the most important tasks to complete during the day. Write them on a slip of paper and keep it visible on your desk. Aim to get one or more of these tasks accomplished by noon. Your top three might include a big rock (see above) as well as other urgent matters that have come up.

Capture

Neuroscience has revealed that the mind’s executive centre – our prefrontal cortex- is sensitive, drains energy, and can only hold a small amount of information at one time. When we overload the cortex with our to-do lists and reminders we lose valuable cognitive capacity and experience a physical stress response in the body. This habit is about capturing all your to-do items in one spot. Carry around a notebook such as a moleskin, or use your phone to record all to do’s as they come up during the day. Take it with you to meetings, and home at the end of the day. When you are back at your office review the captured items and add to your to-do list. This practical and valuable habit prevents dropped balls, keeps your mind clear, and reduces stress.

Weekly Meeting with Yourself

Put it in your calendar and don’t book over it. Treat it with the respect you would give to a client meeting. Go somewhere where you can be undisturbed. If you stay in your office turn off your email and phone. Work on your big rocks (see “Big Rock” habit above) and to-do list, and schedule blocks of time for focused work.

If you want to get better at delegation, this habit will help. The weekly meeting is a chance to take a big picture look at what is coming up and to answer the question “what can I delegate?”

The weekly meeting is also useful for business development. Decide which clients/contacts you would like to see for lunch or coffee in the coming weeks and after the meeting shoot off a quick email to get those face-to-face meetings scheduled.

Prioritize by Complexity and Energy

This habit has three steps. First create a list of your tasks for the week. Next, divide the tasks into three categories, level one, level 2, and level 3 according to complexity. Then, consider your energy levels during the day and perform each task based on the appropriate fit of complexity to energy level. For instance, if you do your best work in the morning then that is the time for working on the most highly complex tasks.

Checklists

Develop checklists to guide you through managing complex projects such as transactions or litigation files. Save old checklists as precedents and at the beginning of a new project select a precedent checklist and update it with the relevant information. Complex legal work has too many moving pieces to carry in your brain. Checklists are one way to put the important information in one place and to then be able to work on the matter piece by piece.

Turtle Steps

This habit is for when you find yourself spinning your wheels or outright procrastinating on a big project. It is related to the checklist habit above. At times when a project or task is highly complex we can’t get a handle on how to start. We also might tell ourselves that we need a BIG block of time for it and until that comes available we put it off. The Turtle Steps habit recognises that every big complicated project can be broken down into smaller pieces. Sometimes the key is to open the file and start with a next steps review. Or just start to work on it for thirty minutes and when you have to put it aside take some notes to remind you of where you left off and what you were planning on doing next. The main thing is that as soon as you feel yourself stalling, stop, think again, and take the next small step.

Time Keeping

Cotemporaneous time keeping – that is, entering time as the work is done – is the best way to handle time keeping when you consider just how much cognitive resources are required to reconstruct time at the end of the day, or worse, days later.

Tips for developing a contemporaneous time keeping habit include:

• Work in blocks of time and start and stop your timer at the beginning and end of each block.
• Do email in blocks, for instance at the top of the hour, so that you can more easily capture your time on email.
• Recognise the “I will remember this later” for the thinking trap it represents and get the time down immediately.

(See my article with further tips for establishing a contemporaneous time keeping habit.)

One Thing at a Time

Our brains are built for focused attention and intellectual performance drops radically when multi-tasking.

Create zones for intense and focused work during the day. Choose a time during the work day when you are most productive. Turn off the email. Close the door. Focus on one project for up to ninety minutes. Notice the impact this practice has on the quality of your intellectual output. To help protect this time – which one of my clients calls “the vortex” – get your assistant involved. Let your assistant know this is your time for intensely focused work and ask them to help prevent interruptions.

Two Minute List

Start keeping a two minute action list. Here you will list all your short and snappy to do’s. During the day work in one or two 15 minute time blocks for clearing items off this list (see “Batch” habit below). This habit recognises that short two minute tasks are best dealt with in batches during the day in order to support our focus on bigger and more important tasks.

Batch It

Process email and two-minute tasks in batches. Schedule blocks of time for dealing with email or your two minute to do’s (see “Two Minute List” habit) periodically throughout the day. For complex emails with attachments print, read, and formulate a response at a later time.

Beat the Clock

When the priorities are piling up it is essential to move through the work as effectively as possible. Use a beat the clock habit to give each task the appropriate amount of effort and no more. Evaluate the task and assign a time deadline. Strive to complete the work within the set amount of time.

Run a Dash

There’s something you have been avoiding? Then set a timer and work on it for just 10 or 15 minutes. This works for everything from filing, to phone calls, or even the next step on a complex project. It is also great for business development – connecting with contacts over email, scheduling lunches, or sending a client a useful article.

Stress Buster

Follow the advice of Harvard cardiologist Dr. Bensen. When you feel your stress levels rising, pause for just one to two minutes. Place your hand on your heart and take a slow breath in, and then slowly exhale. Count off ten breaths. Your heart rate will slow and your stress level will decrease. This is a very simple and effective habit that sends a physical signal to your brain that you are relaxing and deactivates the stress response.

Listen First and More

The ability to focus and listen with full attention is a critical leadership, legal, and business skill. I had the opportunity recently to meet the CEO and founder of successful private equity firm who took listening very seriously. He had formerly been a partner at one of the top five accounting firms. He told me that when he started his firm he knew that listening would be vital to his success. To improve his skills he hired a psychologist to work with him and attend all his meetings. The psychologist observed the CEO in action and provided him with feedback on his listening skills.

The good news is you don’t have to go to the trouble of hiring a psychologist or coach to help you listen better. Start by setting the habit of always listening first. Listen first when you meet someone. Listen first in meetings. Listen first with your friends. To do this, you will need to also develop the skill of asking questions to get the other person talking. If someone beats you to an opening question, answer, and then ask them a question so that you can get back to listening. Challenge yourself to Listen First for a week and see what happens.

Closing Ritual

Set the timer on your cell phone to ring 15 minutes before your scheduled departure time. Tidy your desk. Prepare your list of priorities for the next day. Complete the daily time entry. End the day well for an optimal start to the next day.

Always chasing deadlines?

Feel like you are perpetually starting projects too late?

Want to get more productive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you are in good company with the majority of your colleagues in the legal profession.

I have some good news for you.

One simple practice habit can have a big impact on productivity.  I call it the run a dash habit.

Here’s how it works.

To run a dash, set a timer and work on one or two blocks of 10 to 15 minutes to move a lot of small things forward on your To Do list. Or you can get a larger project started by actioning one small next step.

This works for everything from filing, to phone calls, or even the next step on a complex project. It is also great for business development – connecting with contacts over email, scheduling lunches, or sending a client a useful article.

To run a dash you break your projects down into the smallest actionable next steps and capture these on your To Do list.

Have lunch with the in-house counsel becomes send an email to schedule lunch with the in-house counsel.

Report back to the client on the result of the meeting and next steps becomes list key points to communicate to the client.

Waiting for the perfect moment to start is counterproductive. Instead, get started on big tasks early.

Our brains need time to process information and cognate. When we begin work on a difficult project and then set it aside, our powerful brain will continue to ponder it, silently, in the background.

Also, as our brain ponders in the background it is being exposed to a variety of other stimuli from our environment and this can help inspire new thoughts and promote creativity.

The result is that when we return to the task after a break of some minutes, hours, or days, we are likely to return with fresh ideas and insights.

The pace of legal practice is such that we are all likely to always be handling full plates of work. Leaving our big projects for the perfect moment is an exercise in futility and just means we will find ourselves in fire-fighting mode – again – when the deadline approaches.

I frequently employ the run-a-dash strategy with positive results. I always have a number of large projects sitting in my work cue. I now try and take an initial start on each of them well in advance of the deadline. What I find is that by getting started early, when it comes time for the big push I am already well on my way.

What can you take a run at today?