legal sanity

About a year ago, I took a business and personal empowerment course that - among other significant lessons – taught me how to take action in the face of uncertainty, fear and negativity. One of the course mottos that I’ve embraced as my own is “ready, fire, aim.” It’s my reminder that the changes I seek in my business only happen when I stop pondering and talking about them, and start acting on my ideas and intuition.

The notion that action speaks louder than words is embedded in a thoughtful post by Thom Singer  called Thinking Too Much ??? In it, he recounts how one lawyer he knew invested so much time and energy in weighing the details of a marketing plan that “he spent no time doing.” A similar cautionary message runs through a lawfirmblogging.com post titled Don’t Argue Over Where To Put The Unicorns. It relates what happens when we become so fixated on the possible results and implications of a project that – “dwelling on what could possibly, remotely, maybe, potentially happen” – we become frozen in our tracks.

Considering the same subject from a slightly different angle is a Brains on Fire post about Control Issues. Although many business people crave control and believe they have it, the post notes, control is just an illusion. An illusion and obsession that keeps us from seizing opportunities for real business progress. To lift this veil and embrace reality, we’re given this no-nonsense instruction: “quit thinking about it. Talking about it. Having meetings about meetings about. Or pretending to do it when you aren’t acutally [sic] doing it. Just freakin’ do it.”

For many lawyers, the task of getting unstuck and taking action is easier to accomplish with the help of a mentor or other trusted advisor. This is a point I covered in a recent post on positive law firm leadership. You’ll find David Maister’s recap of, and commentary on, that post among others he’s culled for a very insightful Blawg Review #76.