Category: Uncategorized

I WANT TO GIVE YOU A PRESENT ON MY BIRTHDAY.  THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS I HAVE SEEN ON “YOU TUBE”.

On several occasions recently I have been asked what in the world is up with the Spiral Staircases featured in my blog?

As most of you know, my logo has a path….that’s the path to success with coaching.  I then got fascinated with Spiral Staircases and envisioned the Staircase to Success. The interesting thing about the spiral staircase is that it just doesn’t go up, it also goes down.

I often find my clients going down instead of up.  Some even go one step down and then two steps up which is great. But going down for long periods of time which includes not working their goals, is unproductive.

Also the staircase is not straight down.  It goes around in a circle, so that it is safer if someone falls on it (won’t go as far before stopping) and it is definitely more beautiful than just a straight down staircase.  Another thing I think happens is that you can have a longer staircase without levels if it is spiral.

Now that’s a great analogy!  We can climb up safely, go father up and enjoy the thrill of doing it in a beautiful setting.  Shouldn’t this be what growth is all about?  So I got a really elegant one for you today.

WOULDN’T IT BE FUN TO TAKE A TRIP ON THIS ONE?

To travel, all you have to do is step on it at the bottom and climb up one step at a time.  Each goals you discover you want and each time you reach that goal, you have gone one more step up that staircase.

SO START TODAY. 

• FIGURE OUT ONE TASK THAT YOU WANT TO DO THIS WEEK. MAKE IT SIMPLE, LIKE LOOK AT EVERY CASE IN YOUR OFFICE AND PLAN WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN NEXT.
• NOW WRITE HOW MUCH TIME YOU WILL SPEND ON THIS TASK INTO YOUR CALENDAR FOR THIS WEEK.
• NOW DO IT.
• NOW FEEL HOW GOOD THAT IS.

Keep up the good work……

8/12/13  Here I am back from the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.  Lots of talk about the wage discrimination  between men and women.  Are you ready to get active to go forward with getting this resolved?

What is one thing you could do this week to help the cause?  This is both a female and male problem which was pointed out that men have to work extra hard to make up the difference of what their spouse makes.  Men would actually have to work less if wages were equal.

Can you join an organization which focuses on this?  Can you write a Congressman?  What else could you do?  Let me know. I would like to share it with others.

8/6/13 Back from Los Angeles having gone to a friend’s 80th birthday party where he was salsa dancing.  Hopefully we can all still be dancing at 80!

Hope you had time for a vacation from LAW too.  Let’s talk a little about Burn Out.  This is what you get when you don’t take a vacation and don’t take care of yourself.  Burn Out is really depression at its worse because you literally don’t care about doing anything productive.  Or sometimes anything at all.  It comes from overwhelming yourself without a break.  It can also come from continually doing something you dislike or have the feeling that the tasks are soul draining.

Lawyers get into big trouble with Burn Out because they don’t file important papers and don’t want to talk to their clients.  This leads to a call from the Bar and other nasty things like bankruptcy.  So how do you guard against this?  We’ll talk about that next week……

7/22/13 Sorry, I missed you all last week.  So how did you do with your “vacation” plans?  If the answer is “nothing”, do it this week.  Also if you want to take a WORKING VACATION just email or call me and I can send you the rules for a Working Vacation.  It’s fun and will give you a quasi-breather.

Take time to look back on last month and how much you accomplished.  You should be able to do this by reviewing your calendar.  It’s always good to give yourself credit.  You don’t do enough of that.

7/8/13 Back from Yosemite and feeling rested and relaxed! What time off do you have scheduled for yourself in the next two months.  If the answer is “0” immediately plan a time to just relax and have a vacation even if it is only a 3 day weekend.  As Stephen Covey would say, we all need to “prime the pump”.

So your action task this week is the schedule a vacation.  Write it in your calendar and then as Nike would say: JUST DO IT.

6/24/13 What action task did you do last week?  Was it successful?  Do you need to build on it?

One of the main problems about setting and completing goals is that there needs to be a follow up.  This often is forgotten.  So, if you have lunch with Mr. Smith on June 1st. , he needs to be “touched” or followed up with by June 15th.  This can be a quick email saying how much you enjoyed meeting him or it can be a copy of an article that might interest him. The article should not be an advertisement for you but something that will help him and his business. . Next you put Mr. Smith in your “B” contacts unless you feel secure that he will refer to you. Then he can go into your “As”.  Also calendar for another phone or lunch in another 6 months.  If its worth a lunch, its worth a follow up.

Remember, your purpose in making relationships is to  invest in the success of the other person. This is a difficult concept for most business people as they focus on profits and equate that with success. Certainly having enough profit to maintain a comfortable life is important but the clue to getting there is helping other people have a comfortable life.  That’s the way the world works.  There are several new business books out which attest to this.  Titles and Authors to come.

PS. I’ll be gone next week in lovely Yosemite so no blog…..Have a great summer.

6/17/13 Yeah, the ABA just informed me that they will be publishing my book.  The working title is “HOW TO BE A BETTER LAWYER TODAY WHILE SURVIVING THE 21ST CENTURY”. As some of you know, I have it about 2/3 finished and have been working on it for three years but this will force me into high gear!

The message gained from that for my coaching clients and faithful readers is to keep persisting in difficult tasks which take time and patience to have results.

Take one task today that has been difficult for you to succeed at and decide one action that will push that task forward.  It certainly does not have to be something as formidable as writing a book, but can be as simple as updating your website or getting a speaking engagement or writing an article or contacting all of your “A” contacts.  Please email me what you are doing or call me to discuss on my Open Coaching Hours (see website). Love to hear from you.

6/11/13  I have been reading LEAN IN by Sheryl Sandberg and she says a lot about how women are not taking the opportunity to stand up for themselves and advance in their professions.  Gone are the work/life balance concept and here to stay is asking men to do their fair share.

Is there one thing you could be more aggressive about this week?  Like asking for a raise?  Raising your fee? talking to a staff member about performance?  firing someone who will never be able to do the job?  talking to your spouse or SO about what you want out of the relationship? Sending or taking back something you don’t want?  and on and on….

Write it down and send the step you are taking to one friend and me.  We can keep you accountable.

5/27/13 Today is Memorial Day….if you didn’t already know that.  What I am amazed at is the fact that more soldiers have committed suicide than were killed in battle and that it continues.  There is a lot of emotional things that could be said at this point but just absorbing the facts may lead us to do something about this on an individual basis.