Work/Life balance = Time Management

  • Goals:
    • 6-hour work-day, on average;
    • 1 hour at end of each work day to catch up with clients;
    • Systemize email follow-up through mail chimp, especially in those matters that do not ripen over months; email stating nothing has changed;
    • No more that 5 hours worked in any weekend period; weekends with hours in excess of 5 hours can be offset by weekends with no work at all

Principals:

  • Think Upstream (book by Dan Heath)
    • Avoid normalizing problems: don’t be like many lawyers who go unpaid for many of the legal services that they provide
    • If I don’t like doing a task, Identify if it is necessary to the practice of law, to my client, or to my practice; if it can be stopped: stop doing it; if it cannot be avoided, find a way to delegate it.
    • Look for gaps in the legal market that I can fill with passion
  • Absolute Responsibility:
    • If there is a problem, it is my responsibility to solve it
  • Ying/Yang
    • A healthy life is all about balance
      • Life + the practice of law and not Life = the practice of law

Billing:

  • Avoid hourly billing like a plague

Money:

  • Set a reasonable ceiling for net profits
  • Guard against expense creep
  • Avoid being dependent on that next client

Extracurriculars:

  • School of Man
  • Exercise
  • Podcasting
  • Dungeon’s and Dragons
  • Video Games
  • Social Life