Forget About Time Management

Yes, that is right.  Time management is a waste of time because it simply is not real.  It is impossible to manage any segment of time - not an hour - not a minute - not a second.  It is absolutely fruitless.

This is a trap of thinking into which many lawyers fall.  The anticipation then is you can warp time to meet your case needs, your duty needs, your personal needs.

My family and I like to go to Mass on Saturday night.  Mass typically takes an hour of our time.  The priests at St. Anthony's typically go over the mark.  Then Mass goes for an hour and fifteen minutes or an hour and a half.  My children, especially, get anxious.  Why?  They are trying to manage their time (even when God is concerned).  They have plans.  They promised to meet up with friends at 6:30, which meant that Mass needed to get out around 6:00.  I understand the dilemma , although it does not bother my wife and me as much.

In the office, nothing goes right for the same reason.  You delay projects because you believe it is going to take too long, only to find out it was quick and easy.  You worry about your cases because you do not know how they will turn out.  Will they settle quickly?  Will they be protracted?  And, is it not always the case that no matter which case you think will settle quickly, it never works out that way.  Briefing takes longer than you thought it would.  That initial interview went on too long.  You have 12 things on your list to do today and you only managed to get 6 things done.

You are managing time.  Time is unmanageable.

The solution (or at least partial solution) to this problem is to worry about self-management.  Where you cannot manage time, but it is possible to manage ourselves in the time we have.

This can also be called "working by objective".  Objectives are larger than cases, projects, duties or routines.  They deal with overall goals about career, family and they are designed around who you are and what you want to be.  If these routine tasks are frustrating you because of the time constraints involved, then the chances are very good that they are not helping you pursue the goals or objectives for which you are aiming.  Maybe law is not right for you.  More than likely the practice area you are pursuing is not a good fit, the work/life blending or balance is not right, the type of cases your are taking (or the fact that you are taking every case coming in your front door) is not the right mix, or you just cannot make yourself get rid of those problem cases, or the earnings are not what you need.

If your objectives are right, and your goals are being met, then you will come to the realization that you simply cannot get it all done. (Shock!!! Horrors!!!).  It is a true statement.  When your day is over - when your week is over - when your month is over - when the year is over - when the decade is over - when your career is over - when your life is over, you will still have things to do.  You will still have things that need to be finished or completed.  So, quit trying to warp time.  Stop attempting to get everything completed in 24 hours, or by the end of the week, or by the end of the month, or before next year. The goals are not projects or cases.  Goals and objectives are bigger than these.

You have heard the term, "He is comfortable in his own skin".  What in the hell does that mean?  I think it means that a person has goals and objectives on the top of his mind.  He knows them.  He is focused on them.  And, he is not uncomfortable managing himself toward that end, despite what others might think.

When you try to manage time you work longer and longer hours.  You stay stressed out.  You act out against family, friends, colleagues and opposing counsel.  You become self-centered.  You burn out.  The solution?  You will work to get as much done as you can reasonably get done, and that is all you can do.  That is all you need to do.  If your goals and objectives are big enough, and you understand them well enough, at the end of the day (so to speak) you will understand that you have progressed closer to your goals.  That is not time management.  That is self-management.  And, that is something of which you can be proud.

Now understand, I am not advocating that you miss Court deadlines, or not show up to trial to represent your paying client.  Obviously, these do not meet your objectives.  I am not saying there are not priorities even with self-management.  You might not be able to manage time, but you can invest it.  And, like with any investment, there are good investment and bad investment strategies.  You might not be able to manufacture time, but it is a commodity.   In managing yourself you do need to focus on the best investments of your time.  Activities that will keep you from getting disbarred are likely good investments.

I am also not advocating that you do nothing.  That is a losing proposition.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, you need to get busy.  If you are sitting in your office at night trying to figure out what you can do to be productive, I say stop that nonsense.  Leave.  Turn off the light.  Go see your family.  Then, when you get back to work, just get busy.  Prioritizing is one thing.  Too much planning, thinking, contemplating is called procrastination.  It is caused by trying to manage time instead of objectives, goals and priorities.

Now, after you have prioritized, and you have done what you can do, what do you do with those matters, those cases, those clients, those staff members to which you cannot find the time with which to deal? Get rid of them.  (What?).  Throw them out.  Give them their walking papers.  Show them the door.

If you set goals, if you manage yourself and not time, if you prioritize, if you have overall objectives, and some case is not getting worked as a result - some staff is not being dealt with as a result - some matter is not being tended to properly as a result, then it obviously does not meet your goals or objectives.  IN FACT, IT IS STANDING IN THE WAY OF YOUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES!!!!!  It is getting in the way way of you managing yourself.  And, it is making you feel bad about yourself as a result.  So kick it out.

"Okay, I put this matter off because the clients stink, but there is money to be made in that case."  Who cares.  Life is not worth this aggravation.  Fire the client.  Let the potential money go.  As one of my poli sci professors liked to say, "You are not seeing the forest for the trees".  You are not focusing on your goals and objectives.  It is helping to make your life miserable.

I have run into a lot of very successful people in my day.  There is a tendency to think these smart people are like chess masters, always playing many moves ahead in their mind.  There is a tendency to say, "they have their lives mapped out."  Well, that is true and not true. I do not deny that all of us play what ifs all of the time, but I have found there is no real road map, there is no series of chess moves that work out all of time.  These people, by and large, are successful because they manage themselves, they prioritize, they have goals and objectives, they see the forest, they do not try to manage time, and, as a result, they take the opportunities that are before them, that meet these goals and objectives, and let go of everything else.  They invest their time wisely.  We too often call these people "opportunist", but that is not fair.  These people do all that they can, when they can, and understand they can do no more.

We should try teaching this in our law schools.

Comments

[Grant Griffiths]

Wonderful post Chuck!!!!!!!