Category: Goals

9/23/13 We are looking at your long term goals.  What did you come up with?  Do not even be practical at this stage.  Dream.  If you can come up with 2 or 3 that’s even better.  Then you can decide on one.

One of the problems lawyers encounter when they start this process is that they have been taught to be “risk aversive” . This means that every idea they come up with gets scrutinized with great depth for all kinds of problems that might occur.  Don’t do that when you are doing this exercise.

Just put down what you would really like to be doing in 5 years.  How much money do you want to be making? What do you want your practice to look like?  What do you want your relationship to your family to be like?  What hobbies do you want to be pursuing?

Next week we’ll talk about what to do with these ideas that you have developed.

9/15/13  My sense today is that time goes by so quickly that sometimes we lose precious things we want to accomplish.  Waiting around for something to happen before we get on with a particular goal is pretty much magical thinking.

Take for instance the person who has to wait for his children to grow up to change careers or to go back to school.  Yes, these are big decisions but instead of taking such an all or nothing approach, sometimes making little goals that will lead to big ones is a great idea.

In this case the lawyer could begin planning just what that UMBRELLA GOAL might look like in 5 or 6 years.  Then under that large goal, he can set up small goals which can be accomplished in the ensuing years leading up to that.  Maybe taking one class a semester or volunteering or working on a targeted Board could help to keep him on the path now.

In this way he moves towards the goal and  keeps up the momentum.

What long term goal might you have that you could set now and work towards?  How would you do that?  Write this down and start doing some planning.  Next week, we’ll see how you are doing.

8/26/13  Sorry, I’ve missed a couple of weeks.  Had a birthday and traveling are my excuses!

Just before we enter Fall, let’s take time to look back on what has been accomplished during the summer months.  Have you been setting goals during June, July and August that included work, plan and learning?  If not, now is the time to start doing that.

Start slowly, Next week plan out one work goal, one play goal and one learning goals.  It could look something like this:  Monday:  Finish the Smith Motion    Wednesday:  Have a date night  Friday:  Read a couple of articles that are in your “to do” pile.

Now calendar in you own goals and mark them off as you complete them.  This is a start to better habits for getting things accomplished and by starting small you are going to be much more successful.

Commit to doing this NOW.