Category: Personal Thoughts
Paraphrasing Alan Weiss, self-esteem is the single most important challenge facing most people. Those of you who know me, know that cycling is my avocation, my passion. In connection with this, I’ve just finished reading How Lance Does It by Brad Kearns.
Of particular interest to me is how Lance Armstrong has been able to focus on his journey, not the outcomes, and thereby maintain his confidence and his self-esteem. Not that he would welcome failure, but that failure was not a factor if he prepared himself and his environment for his best effort.
Several quotes I think are particularly worth noting, at least from my perspective:
"Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say is a projection of their own reality. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering." (by Don Miguel Ruiz in his The Four Agreements)
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Last week-end, I was attending a Vintage Airstream rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as mentioned in a previous post.
Because our “new” vintage Airstream is still being built and our “old” vintage Airstream was totaled from our December accident, we could not stay at the rally, but had sleeping quarters about 10 miles away, a short car ride. To get there, we had a short stint on Highway 550, a heavily trafficked thoroughfare in the area, so I’m told. As we got close to our destination, I noticed the highway was streaming with police. It looked like a major car accident; as I got closer, it looked like a disaster. I could tell the roadway had been narrowed by cones and police cars into one lane. And as I approached the head of the line, a policeman approached me. Suddenly, I realized that I was in the middle of a road block!
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Have you ever wondered what an Airstream looks like, naked? (more…)
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The number 1 April Fools’ Day joke as reported by USA Today was the "Swiss spaghetti harvest:
In 1957, the BBC said Swiss farmers were harvesting a huge spaghetti crop due to the near-elimination of the spaghetti weevil. Coverage showed peasants picking spaghetti from trees." … I saw this on television as a youngster … and BELIEVED it! For many years, I never knew this was a prank. I learned that spaghetti couldn’t grow on a tree or in the ground. But, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. Not until the USA squib did I know it was actually a prank.
Reminds me of those who continue to repeat a phrase or idea, thinking that repetition will make it "right." Do you know anyone who does this?
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Where there’s smoke, they say there is usually fire. When people begin to talk about "sales attorneys," attorneys whose function is to sell the services of the law firm rather than perform legal work, the closer to reality that position will become. (more…)
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I was recently reminded of Lily Tomlin’s sentiment. One of the greatest attributes of the legal profession, aside from its being a loving, caring profession, is that we continue to learn new things every day! I suppose that’s one reason to call it a "practice."
But, when we continue to learn, we also know that there is a lot still to learn. This tends to impact one’s self-esteem. In talking with several psychologists and organizational development experts, poor self-esteem is one of the greatest challenges to lawyers.
Recognizing that this is a lifelong journey may take the pressure off of current feelings about one’s skills and self-esteem. That, also, may make one more sensitive to clients’ needs and less aggressive with opposing counsel. Civility (a major Bar initiative) comes with self-confidence, which also tends to reduce costs for clients.
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Yesterday, I attended the West Regional NCAA basketball game between UCLA and Texas A & M. I also watched the Stanford / Marquette game that preceded the West Regional UCLA game. Both games were about as rough and close as basketball games can be. Both games featured some of the best college athletes playing today. One lesson to be learned from these young athletes is that the game is not over until over … UCLA, for example, had mental toughness to stay in the game despite playing one of their worst games of the year. As a biased UCLA fan, I do not believe their performance was influenced that much by their opposition, notwithstanding that their opposition was excellent.
For me, this is reminiscent of the discussion I had recently with a client who asked me to do a profitability analysis of her firm She and her partner believed that the expenses of their small firm were too high My review of the data indicated that there were areas where reductions or revised characterization would be relevant. For example, several capital expenditures could be removed from the expense side of the profit and loss statement and recast as assets; a management fee could be removed or recast as a draw by one of the partners because such a fee is inappropriate for a small firm. However, the real focus for this firm should be on increasing its revenue. That would have the most dramatic impact on the performance of the firm. Recasting the expenses would not change the cash flow of the firm, but would help generate the mental toughness confidence that they are not in terrible shape, that they could succeed, and provide the mental toughness to continue seeking the appropriate client base to generate increased revenue.
Looking at the relevant data helps remove the fear of failure, engender confidence that small changes in one’s own behavior can have large impact on one’s success, and bring the realization that success is just around the corner.
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LawBiz Tips edition for the current week has been released. Using financial benchmarks to analyze your firm’s performance has been the focus of several financial software companies. Is this of interest to you?
Also, I talk about dreaming having a poor ROI. What does this mean for the law firm? Read LawBiz Tips and learn my approach.
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Lisa Solomon is tech savvy. I learn from her everytime we’re together.
We went to dinner while in Chicago this last week and she took several photographs. Here are two of them that are listed on Facebook, one of the sprouting social networks. One should be careful what is placed on internet boards such as this … This entry is sedate and trustworthy. This is the first posting for me, excluding our Airstream trailer, of photos on this site.
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During the ABA TechShow, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rob of LexBlog.
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