Flow And The Billable Hour Lawyer

Yesterday, I held a LinkedIn Live event sharing why cultivating a law practice which incorporates the concept of working in a flow state makes imminent sense for any lawyer who has a billable hour requirement. Click here to be directed to the LinkedIn recording; read on for a brief summary of the event.

The death of the billable hour has been talked about for years and, yet, the model just won’t seem to die! When lawyers hear about the benefits of a flow state, they myopically focus on the fact they’ll be 5x (that’s 500%) more productive. That’s the conclusion of a McKinsey Quarterly Report from 2013 and is based on a survey of more than 5,000 executives. That focus ignores the myriad other benefits of incorporating flow into your law practice.

Here are some of the benefits of working in a flow state:

• Increased concentration and focus

• Increased work product quality

• Increased client satisfaction

• Reduced potential for burnout

• Better work-life blend (balance is a myth)

Increased client satisfaction leads to solid-gold referral sources for your practice. Reduced potential for burnout leads to you working with more purpose and serving clients who need you longer. Better work-life blend will result in you showing up differently for your family and community.

The benefits of having a law practice which incorporates the practice of flow greatly outweigh any “hit” you’ll take to your billable hours. There’s no valid reason not to build a law practice based on flow.

The 5 Lies Lawyers Have Bought Into: Lie Number 3 - You Must Be Available 24/7.

Cell phone. Text message. Email. Lions. Tigers. Bears. Oh my!

I think Steve Jobs was a genius, but part of me absolutely despises him for being what I view of the enabler of the lie all lawyers are told: you have to be available 24/7. That thought is balderdash! It actually sets lawyers up for failure. 

There are no fewer than two reasons why failure is the only result of being available 24/7.

First, there is a concept in sales you should under promise and over deliver in order to create clients who are evangelists for you and your work. This concept is true for lawyers as well because we all know a 100% referral-based business is the holy grail of any law practice. If you can create that, your client creation is a flywheel that, in essence, is a perpetual motion machine.

If you set the expectation with others you are available 24/7 and will respond immediately, you can only fail! There is no way you can keep batting 1.000. Ain’t happening, my friend. People will remember that one time you didn’t keep your promise and respond relatively immediately. That’s failure and that’s what you’ll be remembered for.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, if you’re available 24/7 why in the world did you become a lawyer? You could go work in retail, fast food, or any grocery store, and get decent benefits, get paid a living wage, and be able to unplug after your 8.5 hour shift. You’d be able to have a LIFE! You could find that illusive work-life blend we all seek. You would have freedom! Instead, by being available 24/7, you’re creating a cage, albeit a platinum one with presumably high pay and at least a modicum of respect. 

I’m here to tell you, you DO NOT have to, nor should you be, available 24/7. 

This all comes down to setting reasonable expectations with clients and any other people you interact with on a daily basis. Set your heuristics (the rules you live by) and stick to them.

When I had an active legal practice, I let clients know I would typically return emails within 12 hours and voicemails within 24 hours. I would also tell them I would not be available after 6 p.m. my time and, if they attempted to contact me, to not expect to hear from me until the following day. Same for opposing counsel. Same for my law partners. 

Those were the my rules. 

The benefits of setting those rules at the outset of my engagements was that I was able to unplug and be fully present with my family and in my community, absent the week leading up to and including jury trials. I also set myself up to exceed my client’s expectations because, occasionally, I would respond to a message immediately or closely after receiving it. My clients became my evangelists and my client pipeline was full of pre-qualified, closer-to-ideal, clients.

You have to get the thought you must be available 24/7 out of your head. It doesn’t serve clients, your law practice, your family, your community. It simply does not serve you.

The 5 Lies Lawyers Have Bought Into: Lie Number 2 - If you're not busy, your lazy.

Picture the hamster on its wheel or, for those with more refined taste, Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill. 

There’s a bill of goods we’re sold from the moment we enter law school, that is double-downed on when we practice law: 

If you’re not busy, you’re lazy.

I’m here to tell you it’s a bunch of crap and, in fact, the opposite is true.

I believe busyness is laziness. Let me explain.

We all have 168 hours each and every week. That’s all the time we have. Period. We can’t make any more. The decisions you make for what goes into your 168-hour pie is where the real work is. If you’re lazy here, then you’ll be busy, busy, busy, everywhere else. 

But what are you busy doing? Are you busy doing your high-leverage work. The work only you can do? Are you taking ideal cases from ideal clients that give you energy and excitement? Are you saying no to virtually every opportunity that comes your way?

This isn’t just me talking here. According to Inc., Warren Buffett believes: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” Steve Jobs famously said: “Focus is about saying no.” Tim Ferris, best-selling author of “The 4-Hour Work Week” wrote: “Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding critically important but uncomfortable actions.”

Please don’t come here believing, as a successful lawyer, you’re some kind of unicorn to whom the rules don’t apply. Don’t tell me these people who have dented the universe in their own unique way got it all wrong when it comes to attorneys in general and you in particular.

Please, stop lying to yourself. Please, stop listening to others’ lies. 

Any coach worth her or his salt can help you build a system to attract ideal clients and make decisions based on what is important to you. A good coach can help you build guardrails so your 168-hour week is filled with meaningful work. That is, frankly, the easy part.

The hard part is finding a coach who can help you radically rewire your mindset so you can learn to block out the voices - both external and the voice in your head - that tell you if you’re not busy you’re lazy. 

I am that kind of coach if you’re ready to do the work. Here’s what sets me apart from any other coach on the planet:

• Your bullshit doesn’t scare me

• I will never shame or “should” you

• You cannot convince me you aren’t great

Are you ready to get to work transforming your life?

The 5 Lies Lawyers Have Bought Into: Lie No. 1 - You have to grind all of the time to be a successful lawyer.

When you take time during your work day to walk or simply zone out, do you feel guilty? When you shut it down at the end of your day do you worry someone will question your dedication? When you’re not head-down focused for days on end are you worried you won’t achieve your goals? All of these thoughts, and countless others, are based on a lie you’ve been told: You have to grind all of the time to be a successful lawyer.

It’s total nonsense. Frankly, it’s worse than nonsense, it’s bullshit, it’s destructive, and it results in less success, not more. If you want to be successful (no matter how you define that word), you simply cannot grind all of the time.

Look no further than Olympic and professional athletes. Those at the very top of their game do not grind for hours on end. Instead, they break their days down into three types of activities: planning, focused work, recovery. There’s a reason they go about their business this way: it works. Period.

Elite athletes also use a system called periodization. They build in times of less intense work over the months of training and competition. These periods of less intense work always come on a regular basis and after intense work has been happening. 

Instead of this type of process, lawyers are told we have to grind to be successful.

There’s an alternative to grinding that will move you closer to success more quickly than grinding. That alternative is being able to enter a state of flow where you have your neurochemistry work for you. It is a process that enables you become up to 500 times more productive, elevates the quality of your work, your clients are served better than they’ve ever been, and, literally, changes your life. It’s called flow. Flow can certainly help you get out of the grind. It’s a system you can put in place.

But learning all about flow and how to trigger it isn’t enough. 

Instead, your mindset needs to be radically rewired so that you don’t get trapped by this and other lies lawyers are told. With a new mindset, you’ll learn to set your own course, define what true wealth means for you - hint, it ain’t all about the Benjamins - and chart your own course.

Are you ready? Click here to schedule a 30-minute discovery session.

AUTONOMY: OWNERSHIP ISN'T AUTOMATIC

I believe every human being has the absolute right to autonomy, to choose their own destiny. The thing is, autonomy isn’t self-executing. Put another way, ownership isn’t automatic. This belief came into stark relief for me in around 2010. 

If you’ve read my prior post about my belief in service, you know about my background. I’ve had three chapters of service in my adult life: Chapter 1 - Registered Respiratory Therapist; Chapter 2 - Lawyer; Chapter 3 - Coach for accomplished seekers.

Here’s the brutal truth. Up until about 2010, I was rudderless. I didn’t have a vision, a life plan, or anything big to draw me forward. Sure, I had made decisions in my life, but they weren’t strategic or meaningful.

Professionally, I became an Registered Respiratory Therapist and moved to San Diego; I decided to become an attorney and, through dedication and focus, did quite well in law school; I decided to move to Boise and accept a clerkship at the Idaho Court of Appeals; I decided to open a law firm in 2006 with two of my friends. Personally, I decided to marry my best friend Michelle; I decided to be a truly present parent to Allie. But, honestly, I didn’t have any plan; I didn’t have a north star. 

I was sitting along the Boise River watching the rafters float by on a hot summer’s day. Just another ordinary day up until that point. Then the image of a raft floating by jolted me. I sat bolt upright. My life was like one of those rafters, but without any paddles. I was at the whim and the will of the river of my life. I could wind up safely at the end of my journey, or I could wind up coming up short because I was pushed into the bank. I could experience the satisfaction of a completed trip, or I could be plunged into the strainers that dot the river and my life could be in jeopardy. My ultimate destination wasn’t up to me…it was up to the river! I realized then my autonomy wasn’t self-executing, that ownership over my life and my destiny was not automatic.

On that day I vowed to put both my oars in the water. I was an autonomous being with the ability to choose my own destiny, chart a path to achieving that future, and become a different person along the journey.

Ask yourself: “Do I have both oars in the water? Am I doing all I can to own my life; my destiny?” Working with me, you’ll learn what it means to really own your future; to design it; to be drawn to it; to achieve it. We’ll radically re-wire your mindset so that you get out of your own way when setting and achieving big things, the things you were put on the planet to achieve, re-define your legacy, and re-design your systems. We’ll reclaim your life so you experience an enhanced sense of meaning, and full and satisfying relationships. You’ll become the leader you were meant to be, a leader living with purpose and intention.

If you’d like to learn more about what a coaching relationship with me can mean to you, CLICK HERE to reserve a 30-minute appointment with me.