3rd Key to Success and Fulfillment: Plan Your Personal Life Around Your Roles
What do you suppose is the most frequent coaching agenda item I receive from lawyers I coach? It is managing time. Lawyers say to me: "I do not have time to do my billable work, client development and still have a family life." Since the lawyers I coach raise it time and again, that topic is likely on your mind as well.
Some time ago, I listened to a Harvard Ideacast titled: Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way? I urge you to listen to it. In the podcast Melissa Raffon has many ideas I thought were helpful, including making a list of things to do, then estimating how much time each will take and then blocking out time in your calendar to do them. When I practiced law I tried to do that each week.
Melissa also posted a blog Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way? I thought her ideas in the blog were also helpful. In the blog post she suggests breaking down your responsibilities into categories and then planning time around those categories. Based on what I learned from reading Stephen Covey's books: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Because my work has frequently taken me out of town, and because I worked on client development on Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoons were "father-daughter" time. Jill and I ate lunch where she chose (usually an ethnic restaurant that Nancy did not like), then we were off to do whatever she wanted to do. That time with Jill was usually the most important thing I could do each week as a father. I will always treasure our discussions.
In this video clip I discuss how to plan your work and life around your priorities.
Are you writing down the most important activity you can do in each of your roles? If not, it is highly likely you are missing some important personal activities because you are being consumed by your billable work. That is a recipe for frustration and burnout. Give this approach a try.
