Motivation |

Sprint to the Finish and into the New Year

December 3, 2021 Doug Brown Growing Your Practice, Motivation, Strategy

The finish line is in sight! In less than 4 weeks we’ll start another year.

For some, that means it’s time to slow down and cruise to the end of the year.

Don’t let that be you.

Races are won or lost in the final stretch. The stretch we are in right now.

And you’ve got another race starting on January 1st – so you want to carry momentum and not have a cold start.

This short and simple exercise will make it easier for you to both finish strong and carry the momentum you need into the new year.

Ready?

Turn to a new page in your handy notebook and write down your answers to the 3 questions below. The act of physically writing out your thoughts, either in bullet points or sentences will help you remember and get into action. It will also be a handy reference when you do this again at the beginning of next quarter.

1) What has worked really well for me in the last quarter?

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

3) What can I improve in the next quarter?

Answering these 3 questions will allow you to celebrate your wins, and to course-correct to make sure you achieve your goals for the year!

And if you’d like the “TL;DR” version – and how to do it – keep reading.

Read on to learn more …

Ok, you’re still here.

1) What has worked really well for me in the last quarter?

Starting with your wins helps get you in the right state of mind – especially if you are not in the habit of celebrating as the wins come along.

If you’re struggling to find wins it might help to think of it in categories. You might use business categories like time & productivity, cash flow, clients, the team that supports you, your network, and your own well-being. You might also use personal categories like career, family, fun, relationships, community, or spirituality.

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

This gets its very own question because these are the primary causes of stress for most attorneys and entrepreneurs. How has your cash flow and productivity been over the last 6 weeks? What do you need it to be in the next 6 weeks?

If you’re ahead of plan then don’t let up – see how much better you can do. If you are behind the plan, or you are unsure, then this is the time to decide what concrete thing you can do in the coming week to improve. Commit to working on that for 30 minutes in 3 of the next 5 days.

If your thing is getting more qualified cases then you might start with the referral strategy. Simply identify one person who has been a great referral source in the past. You can call them – on the phone. Have a conversation about what is going on in their business, and see if there is a way you can be of service to them. They will ask the same of you, and that will be your opportunity to share with them (or remind them) the profile of a good and qualified referral for you.

One of my clients did this and after a single phone call got 3 additional referrals. Just imagine what it could do for you if you make one of those calls each week for the next 6 weeks. Remember, you are not calling to ask for referrals – you are calling in the spirit of service to that person because the relationship is important.

If you are not sure how to describe a qualified referral then it is time to get busy working on that. Because if you can’t describe the referral you want then there is little chance that your people can deliver those referrals to you. If you’d like help with that just hit REPLY and we’ll find a time to talk.

3) What can I improve in the next quarter?

You’ll probably have a lot here besides money and time. Most professionals are so self-critical that this can be a pretty long list. That’s ok, for now. Let the thoughts flow so they are all right in front of you. Don’t get hung up on what didn’t work. Focus on what you can do to make it better. Then pick the top 3 things that you control, and block time to work on one of them each week for the next 3 weeks. Then repeat for the following 3 weeks. You’ll have a chance to review how you did at the end of the quarter.

You will get whatever you focus on. If you focus on problems you will get more of those. If you focus on opportunities and growth then you will get more opportunities and growth. So use the experience of the quarter to find the opportunities in the next – and work on those.

Onward!

-Doug

It’s Not Complicated. Simple is Better.

November 23, 2021 Doug Brown Law Practice Management, Motivation, Time Management

“Business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” ~ Warren Buffett

Simple is more effective.

One of the most simple practices I’ve used to take control of my business and my life in this is gratitude.

I used to think that gratitude was something that was satisfying or brought me joy.

Then I discovered I had it wrong.

Gratitude doesn’t come last. It can come first.

A gratitude practice can cause satisfaction, wellness, and joy.

Yeah, the business guy is talking about joy. But why not?

Don’t we deserve joy once in a while?

It’s not a spiritual thing

My gratitude practice has never been a spiritual or metaphysical quest for a higher state of being.

I started it on the advice of my coach at one of the lowest points in my professional life.

I figured, “what the heck, I’ve got nothing to lose”.

It was difficult at first. And after a while, I started to feel the difference.

Differences I later learned are supported by scientific studies, like:

Lower stress
Better ability to deal with overwhelm
Sleeping better (because it had become pretty elusive)
More focus to work my way out of the situation I was in
Improved resilience to roll with the punches
Improved relationships – which helped to lower stress.
Giving myself space to have fun – and appreciate it.

A gratitude practice is a really simple idea.

But it doesn’t mean it’s easy to adopt or maintain so you get the benefits I found.

Luckily the critical thinking skills that make you a successful executive can help you find the things you can be grateful for – even in the most difficult and unfortunate of times.

There are so many ways you can practice gratitude. Here are 4 simple steps to get you going.

Commit. Simple things don’t work immediately. The real benefits come over time through consistent practice. Be prepared for some immediate wins, followed by backsliding, and then more progress. You are learning a new skill and you’re bound to fall down – just like my kids when they learned to ski. Don’t give up.

Start, Imperfectly. Just start doing it. Right now. Take a deep breath. Think back on the last 24 hours. Identify a single thing you are grateful for. It could be a big thing, like a relationship, or something very simple. Don’t judge. Just identify. Keep it simple.

Write it down. Getting your thoughts into writing makes them real and out of your head – which is a pretty busy place where stuff gets lost. When you write it down you will process it and remember more effectively. This practice has helped me through some of life’s most stressful times – and to remember some of the most joyous. Use paper. Yes, paper. Writing things by hand requires more engagement of your brain and physical systems which makes it more effective. And if you don’t like paper, use a stylus and a handwriting app on your tablet (I use Penultimate with Evernote). Or type it. Just do it.

Share Your Gratitude. Make the effort to say “Thank You” regularly. It might be for little courtesies at the store or the delivery person. You could reach out and say thank you to a client for trusting you, or a referral source. Or a friend for just being there. What would it be like to make an intentional effort to say “thank you” in a sincere and genuine way, just three more times a day?

Prompts can help you get started if you are stuck. Here are some that I like and use:

People. Start with family and think of one individual person and one thing you’re grateful for about them or your time together. You can do the same thing for friends, clients, referral sources. The list gets pretty long when you think about it.

Places. Your home, or your community. Places you’ve traveled, vacations you’ve taken.

Moments. Something you are looking forward to. A happy or satisfying memory. A time when you turned around a difficult situation. It could be a simple as the place where you enjoy your morning coffee.

Your career. What you’ve accomplished. The people you’ve helped. What your job has allowed you to accomplish.

Yourself. Your knowledge, skills, and abilities. Your relationship. Your ability to learn and solve problems. Your energy, passion, and presence.

I am grateful for the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives and in the businesses of my clients – and the people in my world. Maybe even my dear readers, like you.

The best part is that the people I work with all have the ability to achieve their goals.

And I get to be their guide, to help them do the work and find simple solutions so they can live the life they were meant to live.

“You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. Once you get there, you can move mountains”. – Steve Jobs

How will you simplify this week?

The Missing Links …

October 5, 2021 Doug Brown Business Planning, Motivation, Strategy

Michael came to me for help with building his practice. He was already a very skilled professional with a list of clients waiting to work with him. He was making good money and he had grand visions of the business he wanted to build – but it was all he could do to keep up with his current workload.

Like many professionals, Michael built his success on his intelligence, personality, work ethic, and excellent instincts. His business revolved around him and his ability to make virtually all of the decisions and be in control of almost everything. He knew in his heart it wasn’t sustainable – and he needed a way out – and up.

I see this all the time because professional education focuses on what it takes to provide professional advice and service – not how to run a business. At least that’s what law school was like for me.

These missing links for many professionals, including Michael, are core business disciplines such as:

Strategic Planning and Goal Setting. How to create a practical strategic plan to guide your business so you can achieve what you really want, and move away from simply reacting to what comes your way.
Leading and Managing People. How to use leadership and management skills to drive team productivity and improve client relationships and service.
Building Processes and Systems to reduce errors and improve quality and speed.
Protecting your own energy, time, and attention you can be at your best for yourself, your business, and your family.

The first step is most often creating space and time on your calendar to get to these higher-level tasks. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Especially when the stakes are high and everything revolves around you. Stay tuned for tips on how you can create this kind of space for yourself.

When you’ve created that space you’ll need to get in action to see which of the four missing links need attention in your practice. And if you’d like help with that, just Click this Link and let’s talk.

Essential Quarterly Questions for Success

September 28, 2021 Doug Brown Motivation, Productivity, Strategy

Can you believe it? We’re in the last week of the 3rd Quarter!

That makes today the perfect day to stop and check in on how you’re doing on your roadmap for the quarter.

This short and simple exercise gives you a greater sense of control and certainty for the weeks ahead. If you invest just 30 minutes to work on these 3 questions you will also greatly improve the chances that you actually reach your goals for the quarter and upgrade your income.

Ready?

1) What has worked really well for me in the last 6 weeks?

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

3) What can I improve in the next 6 weeks?

Answering these 3 questions will allow you to celebrate your wins, and to course-correct to make sure you achieve your goals for the year!

And if you’d like the “TL;DR” version – and how to do it – keep reading.

Read on to learn more …

Ok, you’re still here.

1) What has worked really well for me in the last 6 weeks?

Starting with your wins helps get you in the right state of mind – especially if you are not in the habit of celebrating as the wins come along.

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

3) What can I improve in the next 6 weeks?

You’ll probably have a lot here besides money and time. Most attorneys are so self-critical that this can be a pretty long list. That’s ok, for now. Let the thoughts flow so they are all right in front of you. Don’t get hung up on what didn’t work. Focus on what you can do to make it better. Then pick the top 3 things that you control, and block time to work on one of them each week for the next 3 weeks. Then repeat for the following 3 weeks. You’ll have a chance to review how you did at the end of the quarter.

You will get whatever you focus on. If you focus on problems you will get more of those. If you focus on opportunities and growth then you will get more opportunities and growth. So use the experience of the last 6 weeks to find the opportunities in the next 6 – and work on those.

Make it a great week this week!

-Doug

Suffering is Optional

September 17, 2021 Doug Brown Mindset and Mental Health, Motivation, Strategy

We see way too many lawyers suffering when it just isn’t necessary.

They have busy practices – often they are busier than ever. But they’re not happy.

They’re trying to be everything to everyone – all the time.

Without even realizing it, they’ve bought into the “no pain no gain” myth about building their practice.

And when they see the truth they know that suffering is optional.

Like Steve, who got more time to spend with his daughter once he learned how to structure and grow his construction law practice – without working more hours.

This is just one of the myths we’re going to bust in our free webinar masterclass where you will Discover 5 Hidden Obstacles to Growing Your Law Firm (and Exactly What to Do About Them)

It’s on Tuesday, September 21 @ 12 noon ET (9:00 am PT; 5:00 pm IST/BST).

Reserve your spot by going HERE now (and register even if you can’t attend the live training so that we can send you the replay.)

You’re going to walk away knowing exactly what to do to avoid the causes of unnecessary suffering when you’re trying to grow your practice.

You’ll get the same strategies that we teach to our executive coaching clients…strategies make life dramatically easier… and don’t take much time to implement.

You can still make 2021 the best year ever – and set yourself up for the extraordinary opportunities ahead.

Be ready.

The Dog Catches Car Problem

September 10, 2021 Doug Brown Growing Your Practice, Mindset and Mental Health, Motivation, Productivity

You’ve worked really hard to get where you are.

Now you’ve got the work coming and you’re really busy doing the work you’ve always wanted to do – work that pays you well – if you could just get to it all.

You’ve started to get the help that’s easy to get – like outsourcing your bookkeeping and getting someone other than you to worry about your IT and your copiers – maybe even your phones.

But you need to do more if you’re going to keep up.

You might have the dog catches car problem. You know, where the dog finally latches on to the bumper of the car it was chasing only to wonder “… now what?!!”

If this sounds familiar then you’re ready to do more than just grow your practice. You’re ready to do something businesses call “scaling”.

When you simply grow you’re increasing revenue and resources (expense) at the same rate. That makes it difficult to make more profit – which is why you’re in business in the first place.

When you scale you’ll be adding revenue at a faster rate than you take on costs. Which means you get to keep more of the additional revenue as profit. And probably work less if that’s your choice.

To avoid the dog catches car problem you’re going to need to go even deeper in creating bulletproof systems and processes so your business can run without you needing to be everywhere all the time. When you do that your business can run without you – and you’ll still have the control you need.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for these kinds of systems. But there are common principles that work in virtually every firm.

You could spend the time learning how to scale all by yourself – and hope you get it right in time.

Or, you could follow the example of the world’s top athletes and enlist the help of an experienced guide to help you avoid hidden obstacles and accelerate your success.

If you’d like to know more about that just get in touch and we’ll talk.

How to Untangle Your Thoughts to Solve Complex Problems

August 18, 2021 Doug Brown Motivation, Productivity, Strategy

What do you do when you are trying to solve a problem but your thoughts are tangled up? It can happen when you’re under time pressure and you’re trying to create something new or deal with something that’s really different.

Your brain starts moving really quickly – identifying options and trying to evaluate possible solutions. The next thing you know you’re stopped cold – like when a boat gets a rope wrapped around its propeller shaft. In this video, I share how I get untangled when I’m in this situation. Check it out, and let me know if it’s helpful to you.

Please like and share how you get untangled when you’re stuck.

Got motivation?

August 3, 2021 Doug Brown Mindset and Mental Health, Motivation

Don’t wait until you are motivated to take action.

It can often be a very long wait.

Especially when you are working on something out of your comfort zone.

The motivation you need might never come, or it might come too late.

Like my client, George.

He was pondering why he wasn’t motivated to do the work required to get new clients for his practice.

I told him it didn’t matter.

We had already plowed that field.

All that mattered now was being in action toward a goal he already decided upon.

To do the work.

Motivation follows action.

When you are in action you will make progress.

You will be in control. And that momentum leads to motivation.

The way to get in action is to decide.

That’s it.

Make a decision on what action you’re going to take.

Decide when you create the plan for the day.

Keep it simple, clear, and direct.

Make it something you can accomplish in the time you’ve got.

And when the time comes, act.

Repeat.

Motivation will follow.

Be in action.

-Doug

P.S. … Really successful attorneys seek out a coach for the same reasons top athletes surround themselves with coaches. To hone their skills, to offer fresh perspectives and honest feedback, and stay on track to their goal.

Like my client David, who recently wrote:

“Doug’s coaching produced tangible results for me in the form of increased profits for my firm and general attitude improvement. The attitude adjustments were significant enough for my wife and children to offer unsolicited complimentary observations about my overall demeanor.”

If you’re ready to up your game and get the kind of results that David did then CLICK HERE to connect and see if we’re a fit.

It’s Just Not Logical …

July 23, 2021 Doug Brown Growing Your Practice, Motivation, Productivity

Your clients do not hire you based on logic.

Your clients decide to hire you – and refer their friends to you – based almost entirely on how you make them feel. Based on emotion and unconscious urges.

In fact, researchers find that emotion is the thing that really drives purchasing behavior – and decision-making in general. The evidence supports this conclusion. Just consider why people buy one brand of a vehicle over another or live in a certain neighborhood, wear certain clothes. First and foremost it’s about how those things make them feel.

Sure, people use logic as part of the rationalization or justification for what they want to do. But logic comes second, not first. Without the emotional connection, you never get to logic.

This is why so many lawyers struggle with generating referrals and securing new clients. They are trying to appeal to a person’s logical brain – and that brain isn’t listening.

Clients hire lawyers because they have great big problems, or opportunities, that they can’t solve by themselves. These problems are charged with emotion – most often based on some fear, uncertainty, or doubt.

If you want to attract your ideal clients then you’re going to need to meet them where they are on an emotional level. Then you’ll need to show them how their life will be better when their problems are solved – and how that feels.

Take a look at your marketing messaging – on your LinkedIn or your website. Or even your “elevator pitch”. How are you connecting with them emotionally? How do you know?

-D

P.S. … If you’d like to know more about how to connect with clients then you need to understand the journey that brings them to you. This blog post will show you how.

Getting more great clients requires more

False Start!

July 13, 2021 Doug Brown Business Planning, Motivation, Strategy, Your Career

False Start! 5 Yard Penalty. Repeat First Down!

I once witnessed our high school football team suffer 5 false start penalties in a row. The 4th down punt was inevitable.

False starts don’t just happen in football games, track meets, and swim competitions. They happen in your practice too. And you can suffer the same fate as the football team – except that don’t have the option to punt.

Business false starts happen when you unsuccessfully attempt to begin something.

You know, the important and urgent project. The one with the deadline looming like the headlamp of an oncoming train.

Then, you sit down to get started only to discover that you don’t have what you need to complete the task.

So you waste valuable time and momentum getting ready. Before you know it, your time block is up and all you did is move backward.

You don’t have to tolerate false start penalties in your practice.

Instead, find ways to improve and practice your planning system so that the information you need is at your fingertips and ready to go at the right time.

What’s one thing you’re trying to improve in your system to avoid false start penalties?

Sprint to the Finish and into the New Year

It’s Not Complicated. Simple is Better.

The Missing Links …

Essential Quarterly Questions for Success

Suffering is Optional

The Dog Catches Car Problem

How to Untangle Your Thoughts to Solve Complex Problems

Got motivation?

It’s Just Not Logical …

False Start!

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