Your Email:
Your Name:
To:
Subject:
Message: Hi, I thought you might be interested in this article I found. Commonsense Time Management for Attorneys Whenever I begin working with a new attorney or group of attorneys in a law firm one of the first things I hear is: “I just don’t seem to have enough time to get everything done.” Of course there is plenty of time in the day but attorneys are known for not efficiently managing the way they use that time. Time management is a misnomer. Getting things done in an effective and efficient manner is not about managing time. It is about managing your activity. Below are ten things you can do today to help improve the way you use the time you have. They may seem really basic but sometimes the basics are exactly what we need to focus on in order to get back on track. Make a List This one is super simple but not always used to maximum advantage. Most attorneys hate to use a “to-do” list at first. This is because they have a difficult time designating one client’s matter as more important than another. As a result they often leave things off the list and that is a mistake. In creating the list you should write down everything that must be done —down to the last detail. Get it all down on paper. You will be amazed at how helpful the act of listing the items will be in getting you organized. Simply having a list where you check off completed items will provide you with significant motivation and a good deal of personal satisfaction. Prioritize Obviously, a list loaded with nonessential tasks can easily be completed giving the attorney a nice feeling but still he gets little done as the list lacks real work. Prioritize your list into four categories. These include: Urgent, Important, Significant and Secondary. You can easily do this by assigning numbers to each category. Urgent tasks get a number “1”. Important tasks get a number “2”. Significant tasks get a number “3” and Secondary tasks get a number “4”. The most important factor in assigning numbers to these items is to realize that you are assigning these tasks to a category based upon the task themselves and not based upon your own frame of reference. Too often attorneys will look at the list and say: “That’s urgent but I just don’t have time to get to it so I’m going to mark it as Secondary”. That’s the wrong approach. You must be objective when assigning your tasks to a category. Delegate Duties Many attorneys feel that if they don’t do something themselves it won’t be done properly. They need to get over that and pass the chore on to the person or people best qualified to handle it. Almost everything can, at least in part, be delegated. Assigning even a portion of a task to someone else will help you make progress than if the task sits unaddressed while you work on something else. Many attorneys say that if they assign a task to someone else and it is done incorrectly it will take more time to do it over. While this may be true, if you take a long term view of your law firm, you realize that assigning things to others (sometimes more junior attorneys or paralegals) and having them learn “on the job” is one of the ways your law firm grows and becomes stronger. Never, ever do something yourself that someone else can do for you. Handle A Document or File Only Once This is an old tip that makes a lot of sense. Every item (documents, email, phone message, etc.) that crosses your desk requires time to deal with. If you don’t manage to dispose of that item or piece of work when you first handle it, you will be required to do so at a later time. Every time you handle a piece of information and put it down – only to pick it back up again and remember what it was or what you were going to do with it – you cost yourself valuable time. Get into the habit of reading these documents and then addressing them immediately. Either handle them immediately or assign them out. Don’t deal with them more than once. For more attorney time management tips click continue reading. Link: http://www.rainmakerlawyer.com/site/permalink/commonsense_time_management_for_attorneys/