In last week's post, I talked about using time as a competitive advantage in your practice because time is important to clients. Obviously, time is important to lawyers, too. Do you know how much of your time is wasted on a daily basis as a result of interruptions, lack of focus, non-urgent and non-important tasks?
To get the best out of your work day, you must prioritize. This requires some planning and thought up front, but it will pay dividends.
If the task has an important purpose and a high value result, make it a priority. If you're having trouble prioritizing, here are some questions that you can ask yourself:
- What is the purpose of this task? (Why am I doing this?)
- Is there a deadline?
- How “old” is this task?
- How important is this task for my business?
- How important is it for my client?
- Does it apply to more than one client?
- How essential is this task to reaching my client's goals?
- Does this task contribute to my core values or business?
- Can it be done by someone else?
- Is it more or less important than the other things that need to be accomplished within this time frame?
- How much time do I have available?
- How much energy do I have available?
- What will the return be?
- How will my firm/practice/clients/employees be affected by this task or its outcome?
- What will it feel like when this is done?
- What will be the result emotionally, productively, financially or organizationally?
Once you have determined whether a particular task, activity, or even client matter is a priority, schedule it - block the time and protect it so that priority items actually get done - and don't allow interruptions for priority items.
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