A guest post from Rebecca Nassi, JD, MA
I recently attended a workshop on the topic of success presented by Robert Holden, Ph.D. His experience ranges from working with top executives in Fortune 100 companies (such as Dove and Virgin) to some of the largest global law firms. During his talk he emphasized that when we don’t take the time to define success for ourselves we get busier by default. This disconnects us from true power and true work.
Like you, I check my email more often than I probably need to. It’s a universal obsession. Our mobile devices allow us to work longer hours. But where is the evidence that all this extra effort is significantly improving the bottom line?
When I was practicing law, I had the typical schedule of a busy attorney. My time was spread so thin that I barely had time to engage in business development, let alone devise a strategic plan for it. It’s no wonder that so many lawyers gravitate toward familiar (safe) activities such as lunches with existing colleagues or Bar Association committees. But it’s important to ask yourself: what is the end game? Do you need to network with more attorneys or are you better off networking with potential clients? If it’s the latter, consider where they congregate. Surely it’s not at a Bar event.
So, examine the things that currently keep you busy. If they don’t fulfill you and align with your vision of the future they may be producing empty, counterfeit results. As Robert Holden says, “If you don’t define success, you’ll always be too busy to define success.”