-by Stephanie Wachman
Are you tired of being overworked? Chances are you didn’t go to law school to be burdened with business development on top of practicing law. Finding balance as a lawyer is an ongoing “Trial”. Decrease stress and increase your productivity with these simple tips that will help you to easily manage your law practice and life.
Being a legal professional means time is your most valuable asset.
However, multiple distractions, multi-tasking and not adhering to a schedule can eat up a lot of your time on a daily basis, in fact research shows that for every distraction you can lose up to 25 minutes of productivity.
Add to that stress, an increasingly heavy workload with moderate to no additional support. The stress of not ever feeling like you have control over your time and schedule can wear you down both physically and emotionally. To help you navigate under the weight of it all; I have compiled a short list of tried-and-tested time and energy management tips to help you navigate out from under your workload to finally catch your breath.
1. Think Strategically Every Day
The best way to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the work waiting for you is to think about and write down 3 achievable high-level strategies you’d like to tackle daily. Set a timer for at least 8-10 minutes every morning and write down the three strategic goals you want to accomplish. This will help you to both prioritize and give you clear idea of what exactly needs to be addressed daily.
When planning out your day, remember to be realistic. Don’t list more than what you can handle. Also, try allotting time to each task to understand if your estimate is accurate or way off.
2. Stop Suffering from Overwhelming Procrastination
The incredibly huge project that is looming over your head and making you procrastinate can be daunting and ultimately cause you to put it off until it becomes a big problem. When dealing with a very big project think about it very deliberately and map out a timeline of what needs to happen between when you start and when you finish. This will make the task more linear and manageable as you move one step at a time towards completion.
3. Do One Thing at a Time
Stop multitasking. It will only end up stressing you out, and it will likely cost you more time to correct. In fact; research shows that our brains don’t do two things at once, we actually switch from one task to the next quickly, called Switch Tasking. The best way to have the power of your brain work with you is to prioritize your tasks, and focus on one thing at a time. Only when you’re done with one project should you move on to the next one.
4. Switch off the Distractions
Your work naturally comes with a huge set of distractions, from people popping into your office to unscheduled client calls, email galore and way too many meetings. Chances are you’re also constantly facing distractions and interruptions throughout the day in the form of phone calls, email, notifications, texts and social media. It’s time to block them out, at least for a while.
The best way to deal with these interruptions is to schedule specific time slots to answer your phone, check your email, or go through your social media. I call this Time Blocking. By blocking your time into 15-40 minute blocks you will improve both your concentration and focus. Try turning off your alerts, voice mail and pop ups during these blocks of time to eliminate distractions. By giving your brain “focus” time you will be more productive and have better ability to concentrate.
5. Control Mental Clutter
It’s hard to effectively manage in a completely disorganized and scattered work space. Our brains can get overwhelmed just by walking into a messy work environment with papers and books everywhere.
Keeping an organized desk will save you TONS of time (and stress!), especially when it comes to looking for certain documents and preventing mental clutter. Many of my clients have said that walking into a disorganized office actually causes them stress. If your office is filled with piles that you haven’t looked at in years, it’s time to move them out of your office and into the trash or file them away.
A clean, organized work environment will decrease stress and help you focus on what’s important. Start by identifying Zones with Post It notes that you’d like to tidy up and slowly work through one zone at a time until it is organized and clutter free.
Lawyers lead “CRAZY BUSY” lives from deposition to trial to business development, it’s a full schedule. Don’t let CRAZY BUSY get in the way of your health and happiness. Start managing it now, to improve your day tomorrow.
