You get it – business development/marketing is an important part of being successful attorney, but it can take lots of your time, and you don’t have that much to spare.  So how do you get the most from the time you do spend on marketing?

1. Know what you really want out of each one of your marketing efforts.  

   Get pretty specific.  Lawyers often spend time spinning their marketing wheels, because they know they should spend time on business development, but they don’t really know what to do or what they are going to get out of a particular task, other than the feeling that they are doing something.

2. Know whether you will get it.  

   Once you know what you want out of a potential marketing effort, think about whether that proposed activity will get you there and is in line with your marketing plan.  For example, some attorneys might see a change in the law that they think they should write about.  Maybe they think commenting on this change gives them some credibility.  If that’s all they’re looking to get out of such an article or client alert, great.  However, if their goal is to bring in business, this effort may not be one that gets them there.

1. Know who you will reach, who you want to reach, and what they want.  

   The above client alert is problematic because it starts with the attorney thinking about what would make a good article, rather than focusing on the audience that the attorney wants business from, or to connect with, so it will not be as helpful in accomplishing the attorney’s marketing goals.  If the attorney writes a client alert about a nuanced change in the law that only affects a small percentage of the attorney’s clients in a small way, the time spent to write that alert will not go too far in bringing in new business.  Perhaps the attorney would get more new business by writing an article about a common, basic issue that many clients are likely to see.  Focus on the people on the other end of your marketing efforts, makes sure you put the right people on the other end of those efforts, then think about whether they want to hear the information you are thinking about delivering, or whether they are likely to share that information with people that you are trying to reach.

2. Know whether you will reach those people, how many of them you will reach, and how you can reach them.

   Efforts spend on marketing are wasted if the information is not reaching the intended audience.  In fact, the effort spent to create an article, for example, is just the beginning.  You must also put effort into making sure that information reaches the right audience, in the right way, at the right time.  Think twice about leaving that effort solely to any marketing people at your firm.  They are often very helpful but if they do not understand your goals, or have your insight into a particular industry or type of client, they cannot do as much as you can do by working with them.

3. Give your audience a reason to look at what you are putting out there.  

   We are all flooded with lots of information these days, so your potential reader/listener needs to know why you are sending/telling them something valuable.  Think about your title, introductory language, and setting the stage for the rest of the information you will share.  Notice titles that catch your attention and note trends among them.  You can even keep a file of them as inspiration for your own marketing efforts.

4. Know how much you can use that same item you produce.

   This is an often-missed step.  Your time is valuable, and you probably have little to spare, so make sure the time you spend on business development gets you as much value as possible.  For example, that client alert on a shiny, new, subtle change in the law that is complicated and took forever to write may go out, be skimmed by a  few people, read by even fewer, be irrelevant a week later, and never see daylight again.  A straightforward article on a basic topic in your industry that is constantly relevant may be much more valuable for your desired audience and much easier for you to write.  Maybe you even explain that issue regularly and can pull and edit the last email you send explaining it to turn that into an article.  That is an item that you can use over and over again, that is easier to do in volume, that a reader may reference repeatedly, that they will share, and that you can build into a library to increase your credibility in a given area.

Want some super easy ways to be happier, healthier, faster, better, and more successful in the little time you have?

Be in the loop on issues that affect women in practice in just six minutes a month.  Your 0.1 hour briefing starts now:  

1. Tackling a Few Reasons for Working too Much
2. Enough of Work Life Balance?
3. You Can Develop Business
4. You Don’t Have to Try So Hard to Be Happy
5. Ms. JD’s New President

1. Are you working too much?
   
    Ok, silly question, but Muse has a few potential reasons why and some ideas for each one.  First theory – it’s a survival thing, i.e., you’re worried about losing reputation, billable hours, your job itself, promotion to the next level of partnership.  So start by asking yourself whether there’s an imminent threat or if you are just nervous in general.  Next, try to leave a half hour or hour earlier over the next week.  Set a time when you will leave.  You may very well find that you are accomplishing plenty, probably the same amount in less time, and that you are happier and healthier, especially if you take the time off to do something good for yourself.  Even better – schedule that something for a time that forces you out of the office at your new designated time, such as a workout class, yoga, dinner with a friend, or class in a new hobby.
   
   Another potential reason is that you are doing it for financial gain, which can be a good thing.  However, be specific about your financial goals and track how you are meeting them, rather than just having a vague goal to maximize income at the risk of burning out.  Have a billable hour goal too and track it carefully.  Vague billable hour goals and tracking lead to overworking.
   
   One last reason we’re throwing in – you’re just used to working too much.  It’s your default setting, what everyone around you is doing, and you feel stuck in the endless loop of a high work load.  #LawyerProblems  As lawyers, it can be nearly impossible to control your workload the way you would like to, so control it to the best of your ability.  For example, make sure you do what we call riding the wave.  When your work slows down, don’t keep working at a high pace unnecessarily.  When you have less to do, make sure sure you are still moving efficiently at the tasks you do have on your plate so that you make good use of the slower times to relax and refresh.  (Our readers know we think scheduling your whole day is a good way to do that.)
2. Enough of Work Life Balance? 
   
   Is this phrase a problem?  Jenna Cho digs into this issue at ATL, reminding us that so-called-work is part of life and discussing the idea that we always feel like we should be spending more time doing one thing or another.  She also highlights the important of finding what balance means to you personally.  Of course, it can be difficult in practice to balance your life the way you prefer, but what can you do to come closer to what works best for you?
3. You Can Develop Business. 
   
   Molly Cherry has a great article on marketing and business development, its importance, and what you can do.  She points out a familiar problem – we spend our first few years in practice with our work coming from others.  It’s easy to think that business development and marketing is not something you have to worry about for years, especially when day-to-day demands and trying to meet hours provide enough pressure.  Plus, what exactly are you supposed to be doing when it comes to marketing?  So, you leave it for another time. Then, as you become a senior associate, much of the work you used to do goes to newer associates, and you find yourself considering partnership, transition to a new firm, or starting your own firm, all without the right foundation in place.”Relationships  — including in business — take time to build and require nurturing.”  Very true! Molly highlights the importance of starting relationships now, because people are far less likely to do business with those who are new to them. She shares a few ideas on how to get started, but you can also check out our article on the importance of business development if you are new to marketing.
4. You Don’t Have to Try So Hard to Be Happy
   
   Great news right?  Lifehacker covers a Perspectives on Psychological Science article on happiness warning that trying too hard to be happy may not be a good thing.  “Constant happiness doesn’t allow you to dip into the contemplative thoughts that well up when you’re feeling morose, or allow you to experience the flush of motivational energy you get when you’re angry….it’s okay to feel other emotions—to be sad, anxious, or frustrated. It’s actually necessary if you want to avoid trapping yourself in a fishbowl of low motivation, constricted creativity, and risky behavior.” Also, if you’re trying really hard to be happy, you might set happiness standards that are too high, then get really disappointed when you don’t get there, leading you in the opposite direction.  “In a way, happiness is a feather slowly floating down from above. If you reach out to try and catch it, the feather will swirl away. But if you watch it and let it float down into your hand, you can finally grasp it.”
   
   Also, focusing too much on achievements as a source of happiness may mean that you set higher standards than you can achieve then again move in the opposite direction when you don’t reach your own goals.  You have probably experienced the rush of achieving something you worked hard for and also how quickly that feeling quiets down.  Often, we over-romanticize an outcome in our minds and are underwhelmed when we get there.
   
   Instead, we can get a better result by enjoying the day-to-day, which can be easier.  Find a way to build things that make you smile into your day then revel in those little things.
5. Ms. JD has a new President.

Finally, congrats to Ms. JD’s new President Raychelle Tasher!

Women lawyers are smart, hard-working, and talented.  We are really good at many things.  Unfortunately, we are not so great at recognizing our accomplishments.  In fact, we often go the other direction, criticizing ourselves too much or setting unrealistic expectations.  Let’s dig into three ways you may be undermining yourself:

1. You forget you’re surrounded by other amazing people.  We are often surrounded by other impressive humans – lawyers, business people, academics, politicians – something to be grateful for and inspired by.  The problem is, all that amazing-ness can start to feel a little too normal when it’s a big part of your world.  In other words, we can very easily take for granted some pretty incredible accomplishments.  For example, it’s easy to forget just how awesome it is just that you are a lawyer, that you have the knowledge and insight to help clients, and that you are well-respected by other amazing people.  Keep challenging yourself, but try to remember all the little accomplishments, because they are really not so little.

2. You compare yourself to others…and not very thoroughly.  Ever have a great day and feel pretty pleased with yourself?  Maybe you went to the gym before work, impressed a client, got all your time in for the previous week, had a great meeting, and finished a research project all by lunchtime.  You feel like a champ.  Then you see a firm-wide email congratulating a colleague for getting an article published in an industry magazine, and you start to internally criticize yourself for not spending enough time on your marketing efforts.

We have a knack for finding the one thing that someone else is doing better than us on a particular day.  Then we unravel a bit.  The truth is, your industry-published co-worker probably didn’t make it to the gym that morning or impress any clients that day.  Maybe they had a mundane meeting, were late to the office, and are behind on their time and other projects.

Next time you feel tempted to compare yourself to someone else, remind yourself how impressive you really are, that you are focusing on just one thing they are doing right at that moment, and that, at the same time, someone else is probably also thrown off their game by something impressive you are doing right now.

3. You end your day frustrated by something you didn’t get done.  More specifically, you probably had 20 items on your to-do list and miraculously accomplished 19 of them.  It was probably realistic to expect you could accomplish only 15 of those things, but rather than feeling like a superstar overachiever for hitting 19, you’re staring at that one unchecked box on your to-do list.  Why do we do this?

First, we never realize that our expectations for the day are unreasonable because we make a to-do list without mapping out how long it takes to tackle the items on our list.  Yet another reason we’re such big fans of scheduling the whole day.

We don’t count unexpected accomplishments.  In other words, maybe you didn’t get to everything on your to-do list because you lost an hour to solving a close-call-crisis for a client.  That’s an amazing accomplishment, but it doesn’t always register that way if it is not something you set out to do at the beginning of the day.  (Time out to virtually high-five those of you who add that completed, unexpected task to your to-do list just to have the satisfaction of crossing it off again.  We feel you.)

We also take on too many goals at once.  Maybe this past new years you decided that you were going to drink more water, go to the gym three times per week, get your billable hours in on time, eat more vegetables, and read a novel a week, all while continuing to rock at your career.  It’s great to set new goals, but it’s more realistic to focus on one or two key things at a time and add/replace others as we master those few.  Just throw the rest on a personal wish list until you are ready.  That way, every time you think of something you should be doing, remind yourself that goal is ancillary for now.  Return to focusing on your current goals, and feel the weight lifted.

If you need to take two minutes at the end of the day to literally list everything you did that day, go for it!  Even doing this just for a week can be very enlightening.  Plus, it’s a great way to end the day.  (If you like the idea of ending your day with a little sense of accomplishment and gratitude, check out the Five Minute Journal.)

Bonus: Want a productive, multi-tasking way to remind yourself how awesome you are?  Update your resume!  Update your descriptions of your current position and responsibilities, add any marketing articles you have written, groups you have joined, presentations you have given, etc.  You should also start an accomplishments file to make review time easier.  

Have you ever driven home after work, then when you arrive you don’t really recall the drive there? You remember finishing work, packing up, getting in the car, starting it, and turning on the radio. You planned to head home.  You set that plan in motion, but the rest is fuzzy.

Sometimes our careers go this way. We start out with a plan – take the LSAT, get into law school, study hard, take the bar, get a great clerkship, find a good job in practice…and then one day you have been practicing for years. We get used to having a plan, but sometimes when we reach the end of the years-long plan we had in front of us, we keep floating along, things get fuzzy, and the next part of the plan is not clear.

Other times, there is a plan (e.g., get that good job in practice, work hard as an associate, make partner at the same firm), but the plan doesn’t get updated and may not feel like a good fit after a few years.  Sometimes the plan doesn’t materialize in quite the way you thought it would.  Maybe right now your career feels like a mismatch with the way you want to live your life or continue your career.

However, when we reach the end of our plan, or have a plan that doesn’t seem to fit well anymore, we often still keep going in the same direction.  Why? 

We feel stuck.  Maybe you feel financially trapped where you are because you need to keep your salary the same.  Maybe you feel geographically trapped because you’re not seeing other opportunities in your area.  Maybe there are other things going on in your life that don’t allow you the flexibility to make a change to your career.  Maybe you are afraid of making a move.  Maybe you have grown comfortable.  Maybe you are intimidated, and the idea of making a change is too overwhelming, or you don’t know where to start.  Maybe you want to make a change but you just don’t know what type of change would address the discomfort you feel with where your career is right now.  Perhaps even though your career doesn’t feel like a good fit the way it’s going, you just feel too busy to do anything about it right now.  Maybe you want to make a change but don’t feel that you can do it just yet.  Maybe you don’t think there’s a realistic way to find a better fit for you, or you think getting what you want is too idealistic.  Perhaps you just keep hitting the snooze button on making a change, thinking you’ll make a change just as soon as this happens or that happens.  Maybe your hectic schedule pulls you from one day to the next, not leaving you any time to pause, get some perspective, and reassess where you are or would like to be.

Over the next few months, we’re going to dig into these issues bit by bit.  If these issues are hitting home for you (you’re in good company!), please 1) be sure to join our email community so you don’t miss our  coverage of this topic, and 2) send us an email and let us know what it is about your career right now that feels off and the biggest struggles keeping you from making a change.

You can also share this post using the share bar on this page to help other women lawyers follow along as well!

Last month, we heard from Andie and Al. You can learn about this amazing duo and see their first WLN interview if you missed it.  Now, let’s keep digging in!  (Spoilers: Andie and Al gave such great insight and tips that we couldn’t get enough, so you’ll see at the end that we asked them for even more valuable tips for our WLN community.)

WLN:  Let’s jump back in with you giving us some advice to help a woman distinguish herself in the male-dominated field of law.

Andie and Al: Women in traditionally male careers – lawyers, doctors, tech entrepreneurs, fighter pilots – just about all, high status high financial rewarded careers – face negative stereotypes about women, family, job commitment, and leadership. As the stereotypes go:  A woman just doesn’t have the right set of characteristics to be an effective successful lawyer.  And if she does, then there is something wrong with her:  she is not a nice person, she is a b*tch, she is a bad mother, and she is certainly not feminine. So, to distinguish herself and effectively to deal with negative stereotypes, we suggest three preliminary steps and four next steps that follow on from the preliminary ones. First, monitor your communication with yourself — be positive and supportive.  This is so very important.  Second, learn how to manage the impression other people have of you:  know when to be tough and when to “dial it down.”  And third, monitor your communication with others.  Know what triggers negative gender stereotypes and how you can sidestep or avoid these or face them head on, provided you know that is what you actually want to do. When you do these three things, you can distinguish yourself by doing four more things:

1. Seek out challenging projects and opportunities, don’t hang back because of long hours or travels, and speak up, don’t let the men dominate the meetings and discussions.
2. Don’t provide too much information about your family responsibilities, your fears, your concerns. You don’t need to say you’re leaving to take care of your kids or going to a softball game.  You can simply say you are not available for a call at 2 pm but you are happy to talk any time after 3:30.
3. Show a sense of humor: you don’t have to join in the men’s locker room jokes, but you need to be a good sport with a capacity to laugh.  And, when things get difficult, you need to rely on a coping sense of humor.
4. Don’t worry about being “likeable,” you need to be talented, willing to promote yourself, and in the right place at the right time. You don’t need to be seen as nice or sweet or caring.  You need to be seen as a competent person who is someone who gets the job done.

WLN: Speaking of humor, Andie, can you share with us a story about a time when you used humor and how it made a difference?

Andie: Humor is a wonderful coping mechanism.  It comes in different flavors that are suitable for different situations and circumstances.  I have always had a quirky and irreverent sense of humor, which I frequently use to diffuse stressful and difficult situations. As a young lawyer, I was called into a meeting that was already in progress in one of my law firm’s conference rooms.  As I walked in, I heard our client (who had his back to the door I had just walked through) say:  “Andie’s a girl?  I can’t possibly work with a woman.” So, I put my hand on his shoulder and made some sort of a joke about needing to start our introduction on a different note.  I walked out of the room, and when I came back in, our first awkward meeting was behind us.  Over the years, we worked together on several important projects, occasionally laughing about our first meeting. When I look back on that awkward client meeting, I often wonder what might have happened if my first reaction had been to take offense and get angry, rather than to smile, make a joke, and move on.

WLN: Andie, we’re heard you say that women want to be likable.  Can you talk more about that?

Andie: When I was 13 or 14, I already knew I wanted to be a lawyer.  My parents had one friend who was a lawyer.  So, they arranged for me to have lunch with him for some career advice.  Well, he spent the entire meal telling me why I didn’t want to be a lawyer.  He told me there was a difference between “lawyers” and “lady lawyers.”  Lawyers can be happy and successful, but lady lawyers can never be both.  If I became a lawyer, no one would ever love me.  I would never get married.  I would never have a family.  I would not have any friends.  Obviously, I didn’t listen to him, but what was going on?  Why would he say such things to a young girl?  I think he was very accurately tuning in to the likability problem that women faced then — and we still do — because of gender bias. Women often seek to balance their social and professional relationships by self-editing their participation.  They seek to compete, but not too hard in the hope of still being likable.  They are concerned about what we call in our book, Breaking Through Bias, the Goldilocks Dilemma.  Women leaders are seen as competent (too tough) or likable (too soft), but rarely both (just right).  And, men can get angry at work.  No Problem.  But if a woman gets angry, both men and women criticize her.  She is seen as out of control, emotional, incompetent.  When women play into the common female stereotypes — cautious, deferring, careful — it is as if we are announcing we’re not cut out to be leaders.  It is as if we are telling our male evaluators (and still, most law firm evaluators are men) that we don’t have the leadership stuff.

WLN:  Do you have some suggestions for how the legal profession can do a better job supporting women lawyers?

Andie and Al: The legal profession needs to seriously improve opportunities for the inclusiveness of women.  Women need role models to show them how to work around or confront gender stereotypes and biases; confidantes with whom they can share their successes and frustrations; coaches to keep them focused and moving in the right direction; and advocates who will push for their advancement.  Women need “sponsors” but their sponsors do not need to be women.  With the limited number of powerful senior women, it is likely that the sponsors of most women lawyers will be men, as Andie’s sponsors were. The path to the top in the legal profession is rougher and steeper for women than it is for men.  Because it is tougher, women need both different training and more direct, calculated, and focused mentoring.  Senior women and men need to remove the rocks along the path and extend helping hands to those women on their way up.  Women who have made it need to give back, help out, and never forget how fortunate they are.  And, junior women need to reach out to senior women — and men — to ask for the help and sponsorship they need to succeed.

Wow!  I could talk to these two all day, they always have such great advice, so I decided to keep going, and Andie and Al also tackled the following extra questions for the WLN community:

• Can you help with the issue of someone taking credit for our ideas at a meeting?  How should we handle that?  (Here, Andie also covers a very common way that women discount their own ideas.)
• Any new ideas on how women can find a mentor?
• Can you help us with that pesky perfectionist issue?
• What about boosting confidence?
• What about when we get overwhelmed?
• What about when we’re having a rough day and we kind of want to run away?

If you’re part of the WLN email community, you already have these extra insights from Andie and Al in your email.  If you’re not yet part of the WLN email community, I can send you these right now, just click here to request. ~Kate

*Emphasis in interview responses added by WLN.

1. Women in Law Issue of LPT
2. Help Andie & Al Help Other Women
3. 100 Best Firms for Women
4. Woman on the $20 Bill
5. Quick Happiness Habits

 1. Women in Law Issue of Law Practice Today.  The last issue of Law Practice today focused on women lawyers, including interesting commentary from the chair of the ABA Law Practice Division who takes a stab at a few potential issues affecting the advancement of women lawyers (there are more and bigger issues too – what do you think?).  One piece that stands out: “Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, while expecting different results. The legal profession’s approach to gender equity clearly meets that definition.” We are happy to hear that the Division will be working with the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession going forward!

 Also, Rachelle J. Canter discusses the need to focus on your career and have a plan (even  a little one), wisely observing: “I have personally out-placed scores of women who mistakenly assumed that keeping their heads down and working hard would be enough to assure their success and security.” (true, common, and dangerous) and noting “Career management is the individual’s responsibility, and only her priority.”

 2. Help Andie & Al Help Other Women.  We’re glad you liked our interview series with Andie & Al, and they’ve made it easy for us to help them help other women – you can click here to share their information so other women can put their great advice to use.

 3. 100 Best Firms for Women.  ATL covers Law360’s list.

 4. Woman on the $20 Bill.  We may be very close to an announcement that a woman will appear on the $20 bill.

 5. Quick Happiness Habits.  The Muse has a list of 5 daily habits to boost your happiness, including some of our favorites such as expressing gratitude (we make this super easy by using the Five Minute Journal) and quick two-minute meditations (and we make this super easy too by using  the Calm app, and they have site too).

Ok, let’s start tackling feeling stuck!  (If you missed it, we started this conversation here, check that out first.)  We’re going to cover some important stuff right now, so grab your coffee and let’s get going.

Today, we’re going to make big progress in Three Main Steps:

Identify.  Notice.  Plan.

Identify.

You’re more likely to get unstuck if you first build a little awareness of your current situation, so let’s dig in a bit.  It’s really difficult to make progress on your situation when you may not have more than a general sense of dissatisfaction or just that simple “Arrrgh-ugh” feeling.  You’ll have better luck if you can break down what’s going on into pieces that you can look at, analyze and solve.  (Fortunately, you’re already great at that because you’re a lawyer, but we don’t apply that skill to ourselves often enough.)

Start by figuring out how this issue is manifesting itself for you, i.e., what are the signs that you are stuck in some way?  Signs may be more obvious – perhaps you know you’re really dissatisfied with where you work right now, the type of work you’re doing, or you are not hitting certain targets or seeing enough forward movement where you are.  However, these issues can manifest in subtle ways.

For example, are you spending more time on things that help you “hide out,” like browsing social media or a favorite blog?  Maybe you take mini-dream-escapes by looking at job listings that you don’t apply to, reading about alternate legal paths that intimidate you, looking at inspirational articles full of tips that you don’t act on,* researching vacations you probably won’t take, or reading about people who get paid to do something fun and fabulous like travel and wondering if you’re too risk averse to do something similar.  Perhaps you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or stressed at times without a good reason why you should be at that particular moment.  Maybe you are procrastinating some things more than others.  These can be signs that you are stuck and unhappy.

Notice.

Figure out how these issues are manifesting themselves for you.  Know what your signs are, build awareness.  Then, when you see them happening, stop and pay attention.  For example, why did you retreat or feel stressed at that particular moment?  Write it down if you can, (similar to when we talked about making Stress List).  Also notice when you feel happy, excited, or energized (and why). 

Human beings can actually be pretty terrible at knowing what makes us happy and at identifying the real source of our dissatisfaction, so we really need to pay close attention and approach it analytically, like we would a legal or business problem.  For example, one key goal of your efforts-to-notice should be to categorize the problems as you see them manifesting.  For example, think about what is your job or situation and what is instead your reaction to your job/situation.  You wouldn’t want to assume the problem is specific to your current job then make a career change only to find you are no less dissatisfied.  Take some time to pay attention and really get to the root of why you feel unhappy and stuck.

Plan.

Once you have yourself figured out, you’ll be ready to figure out how to move forward or make a change.  Start by taking yourself totally out of your current situation and assumptions before you set goals.  In other words, we tend to think too small and to set parameters around our options that don’t really need to be there.  If you catch yourself thinking “I can’t do that because…,” stop and question if you’re thinking too small.  What if you could wipe the slate totally clean of restrictions – think that way, then ask: What are my goals?  What makes me happy?  What would my life look like if I could build it from scratch right now?

Once you have those goals clarified (again, write it down!), ask yourself how you can move closer to those goals in a reasonable way that feels comfortable for you.  For example, maybe after you clear away all that I-can’t-because clutter, you decide that what would really meet your goals and make you happy is a job change from private practice at a firm to going solo, because you learned in the above Notice step that you actually love working with clients but don’t like the environment you’re in.

Identify what it is going to take to get there and what is standing in your way, including calling back the things on your “I can’t because” list and sorting through them to decide which ones are reasonable, which ones are silly, and which ones can be addressed.  For example, perhaps you toss out “It’s too scary” as silly but decide “I want to have some of my own clients first” is reasonable.  Add get-my-own-clients to a list of things you want to accomplish before you go out on your own (e.g., bigger savings account, more marketing experience).  In other words, what things account for the difference between your current situation and what things need to look like to make the change(s) you identified?

Now, take that list and get specific.  Really, really specific.  Vague goals do not get accomplished.  Break down everything you need into a specific, actionable, measurable step.**  You should know what steps you need to get there.  For example, if you want to have your own clients, what are the steps to get there – break it down into concrete marketing and other steps that you will accomplish on a daily or weekly basis.  In other words, if you can’t estimate, even roughly, how much time a step will take, if it takes a huge chunk of time, or if you can’t measure when it’s completed, break it down into smaller steps.  You should also decide how you’ll tell if you’re there.  For example, is it when you have ten clients, or when you have a $250k book of business?  (Taking a vague, jumbled set of facts and goals and figuring out concrete steps to get to a specific end result…lawyers are really good at that too!)

Make sure you set a detailed timeline.  Decide which items will be done by which dates and have a to-do list for each day or week.  Perhaps you decide to spend two weeks noticing and categorizing like we talked about, that you will set a daily reminder on your phone to remind you to pay attention, that you will keep a pad handy to take notes throughout the day, and that at 7 p.m. every day you will stop what you are doing and reflect on the day.  After that, you will spend two hours at a coffee shop the following weekend to step back and think about what makes you happy and to set goals that you will work toward.  Then, during the next week, you will spend 30 minutes each morning before work breaking those goals down into both action steps and a timeline that starts the following week.  Know exactly when you will accomplish each to-do.  Set the date and time, just like any other appointment.  Keep it, schedule around it, and prioritize it just like any appointment.

Until next time…  
We are going to keep digging into this issue in the coming months.  For example, you may feel excited about taking the above steps to analyze your situation and plan your next steps, but perhaps you are thinking “I know this will take a little time, but what about the fact that I’m unhappy right now?”  Don’t worry, we’re going to dig into how you can be happier and more comfortable where you are until you get to where you decide you are going.  We’ll also cover a few more tips and traps for the unwary, re: getting unstuck.

Be sure to Get Women Lawyers News delivered via email so you don’t miss the rest of this discussion.

* Don’t let this be one of those articles, act on this!
**Hey, doing this could be your new, more productive distraction or mini-dream-escape!

1. Women Lawyers Events at the ABA Annual Meeting
2. Breaking Through Bias Book Released
3. How Millennials Are Changing the Legal Workplace
4. Ideas for Advancing Diversity in Big Law
5. NCWBA GOOD Guys Toolkit Now Available

1. ABA Annual Meeting.  If you’re planning to be at the annual meeting this summer, check out some of the awesome events focused on celebrating and helping women lawyers, such as the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, the inspiring Women’s Caucus held right after, or the amazing National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (NCWBA) Leadership Summit.  I look forward to seeing you there!

2. Breaking Through Bias Book.  Andie and Al‘s book has now been released!  Get your copy here.

3. How Millennials Are Changing the Legal Workplace.  Nicole Abboud digs into what millennials value in the workplace, including a job that fits well into one’s life, mentors, professional development, leadership opportunities, and giving back.

4. Ideas for Advancing Diversity in Big Law.  ATL shares four “concrete tips” for improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession: 1) Focus on how diversity is good for business; 2) Track diversity data; 3) Back it up by tying diversity measures to compensation; and 4) Provide better diversity training, including an effort to correct well-intentioned but harmful behavior.

5. NCWBA GOOD Guys Toolkit Now Available.  NCWBA launched the GOOD Guys (GOOD = Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity) program a little while back and now has a GOOD Guys toolkit to help organizations, such as women’s bar associations and other groups, host their own GOOD Guys events.  The toolkit is available here.  The GOOD Guys program was “designed to appeal to men, honor their efforts, engage them, and provide information about…efforts to advance diversity, education about bias disruptors and diversity initiatives, and examples of the incredible positive impact diversity has on a corporation’s social responsibility and profitability.”

Join our email community so you don’t miss next month’s news!

1. National Association of Women Lawyers 2016 Annual Meeting
2. More Women Lawyer Events This Summer
3. Including Solo and Small Firm Women Lawyers in Tackling Diversity
4. Bar Exam Time is Upon Us
5. Dealing with Doubt

1. NAWL Annual Meeting.  The 2016 NAWL Annual Meeting was held in NYC last week.  Head here for quick Twitter coverage of some great take-aways.

2. More Women Lawyer Events This Summer.  The ABA annual meeting is next month in San Francisco, as is the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (NCWBA) Leadership Summit and the ABA Women’s Caucus (Sunday, August 7th from 2:15 – 4:30 p.m. at the Moscone Center West, rooms 3018/3020).

3. Including Solo and Small Firm Women Lawyers in Tackling Diversity.  Carolyn over at MyShingle makes an argument for including more solo and small firm women lawyers in conversations aimed at addressing diversity and gender equity issues and pointing out the lessons those attorneys could teach other women lawyers to help them advance.

4. Bar Exam Time is Upon Us.  Bar exams are this week – remember to send your best wishes to all those soon-to-be-lawyers who will be coming out of hiding soon!

5. Dealing with Doubt.  Over at Ms. JD, Tristin Brown suggests you remind yourself of 4 things to help deal with doubt, fear, and that pesky Imposter Syndrome issue, including that thing where we sometimes “in an attempt to massage the egos, feelings, and hearts of others reduce our own brilliance.”  Also, don’t forget how amazing you really are.

1. Female Attorney Sues Her Law Firm
2. NCWBA Annual Conference
3. ABA Annual Women’s Caucus
4. Gender Bias Among Millennials
5. Defining Success

1. Female Attorney Sues Her Law Firm.  This woman says she competed with the male lawyers in her firm and achieved one of the biggest books of business but was repeatedly turned down for equity partner promotion, was never told what she needed to do to make partner, was paid much less than male counterparts, and faced a potential pay reduction because she “needed to learn to behave.”  In the article, Breaking Through Bias Author Andie Kramer notes that, in her experience, women “who think they have been treated unfairly find it easier to move to another law firm or leave private practice rather than take the colossal step of suing.”

2. NCWBA Annual Conference.  The National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations held another great annual conference this summer discussing helpful topics such as millennials and innovation and sharing best practices from across bar associations.  Here are three great quotes from the day-long event:

3. ABA Annual Women’s Caucus.  The ABA Annual Women’s Caucus was also held this summer to discuss and present a variety of issues and proposals affecting women, such as women veterans’ issues, the ABA Women of Color Toolkit,

AND a discussion of the now-approved amendment of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to prohibit “conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law”  (you read that right, it wasn’t in there before) that made its way through after much criticism and opposition (yes, you read that right too, people actually admitted to being against this).

Also, Note that we’re also in the middle of a run of three women ABA presidents!

4. Gender Bias Among Millennials.  It’s easy to assume that gender bias will be less of an issue among younger generations and that perhaps things will get better if we just wait.  Many people think this is true.  Sadly, maybe not so much.

5. Defining Success.  Forbes Women shares this article which talks about defining success for yourself (rather than what it appears to be to everyone else).

See Also: Football season is back (apparently), so if you’re looking for a way to keep up with sports without really paying attention to sports, check out Goalposte “a daily newsletter that summarizes the major stories in sports,” created by a woman lawyer!

You know that you’re feeling stuck.  You also know three steps that you can take to start moving forward.

But things aren’t going to magically change all at once – if they could, you wouldn’t feel so stuck in the first place.  Change can take time, even when you’re consistently moving forward toward a goal, so, what do you do in the meantime?  You don’t need to feel trapped and unhappy until you reach your goal.  Instead, there are many things you can do to make that in-between-time better.

Let’s talk about one of those things today to get you started, and we’ll dig into a few more next week.  For now:

Find changes you can make right now to bring yourself closer to the way you ultimately want to live when you’re unstuck.  

For example, if you’re working toward a less stressful job or a work schedule where you have more free time, carve out pieces of free time now.  Go for a quick walk at lunch, go into work a half hour later, or commit to leaving work by a certain time.

Easier said than done, right?  You know these are the things you will skip when you are busy, but keep reminding yourself that they are also the things that will give you back energy and productivity, making up for the seemingly-lost time.  If your goal is something else, like dialing up your marketing efforts to build your book of business, carve out and schedule time (actually put in on your calendar and make sure your assistant knows you are busy) at a time when you know you are less likely to get interrupted and derailed.

The good news is there are things you can do to trick yourself into really doing these things.

For example, when it comes to work and time, we tend to be like goldfish that grow to the size of our containers.  In other words, if you have 3 hours to get something done, it will take you three hours.  Give yourself only 2 1/2 though, and you’ll fit it into that smaller container instead.  So, how can you shrink your container?  Let’s say you really want to start leaving work by 6pm.  Make plans with a friend for 6:15 near your work.  Go for a walk with someone during the day, or set a quick coffee meeting.

Find a way to make yourself accountable, or to reward yourself, so that it’s not so easy to skip.  I have a friend who actually set up a little reward chart (think elementary school) in her office with a colleague, and they each literally give themselves a little gold star whenever they leave on time, and it’s working – their work is still getting done, but they’re leaving on time to spend more time with family and friends.

Another great way to trick yourself is to grab some time in the morning.  As soon as you turn on email or step foot in the office, it feels like stepping into an obstacle course race.  You run as quickly as possible from one task to the next, being pulled in different directions, putting out a fire here, returning an urgent phone call there, sometimes never setting out to accomplish what you thought you would at the beginning of the day.  You blink and the day has gone by.  We talked about shrinking your container by finding a way to leave earlier while still getting the same amount done, but you can also shrink the container from the other side and go in a little later.

Plus, if you make good use of that extra time, you’ll feel even better.  For example, wake up, get ready, and leave the house at the same time you usually would, but instead of turning your email on right away or heading right into the office, head to a coffee shop nearby and spend some time doing something you enjoy or something that brings you closer to your goal.  Work on a hobby or side project, start doing the work we discussed to get yourself unstuck.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish over a short period with a small amount of time, when you make it a regular daily or weekly habit and set clear goals on how you will use that time.  (I did, and now Women Lawyers News exists!)  The small, consistent progress will also make you feel energized and keep you moving forward.  Plus, if you’re a morning person, you’ll be using your freshest, most efficient time for yourself instead of someone else.

(Face time issues at work?  Get up a little earlier so you can do this first, then still get to the office on time, or pick a historically slow time during your day to run out for a half hour or so in the middle of the day.)

If you’re feeling more committed to getting unstuck, a little more optimistic, or excited to keep digging into this topic, take literally one second to CLICK RIGHT HERE so I know that you want to hear more on this topic.

Here’s to the better, more peaceful middle ground ahead as you make your way to where you want to be.  All the best, you got this!

Keep it going – check out our next post in this series for four more things you can do right now.

Last week, we talked about a few things you can do right now, while you’re making steady progress toward getting unstuck.

As promised, today, let’s dig into four more:

1. Create More Time

Yes, this is possible, if you increase your productivity and effectiveness.  You’ve probably read a few thousand articles about productivity, but it’s really tough to implement those tips when you spend your day running that obstacle course race we talked about.  But there really are ways to work faster, better, and smarter so that you create more time and less burnout.  We could spend lots of time talking about exact tips and strategies you can use (and we can if you would like some help with this), but for now just try to find two or three ways that you can work more efficiently, whether that’s scheduling your whole day, delegating more, or something else that works for you.

Now let’s be realistic, the billable hour model is not necessarily on our side when it comes to productivity and saving time.  Keep in mind though that sometimes you can bill just as many hours but spend less time in the office.  (No, really, you can.)  We tend to lose too much time to non-billable hours, whether we just spend too much time on non-billable things, or we lose too much time switching from one billable project to the next.  In addition, some people are more effective with their time and have the ability to change their billable hour rate to reflect their value.

(Are you thinking: that’s nice in theory but can you talk to me about concrete, realistic ways to increase my productivity while living this hectic lawyer life?)

2. Get Some Separation 

And make it long enough that you feel it.  You know those days when you run the race, then leave your office, but your brain is still on the race obstacles and your thumb is still scrolling your work email, then you wake up the next morning and dive back in, feeling like you never really left?  (Are you thinking, yeah, I call that everyday?)

Yep, been there, no good.  One good way to stay stuck is to never give yourself space to think or plan, to get any perspective, or consider what you might want to change.  It’s like obliviously swimming in the ocean, thinking you’re still along the beach, then looking up to realize you’ve been pulled out to sea.  It’s really hard to get back.  Find a way to disconnect for long enough that you feel separated.  Maybe that means setting email limits for yourself, meditating or exercising regularly, disconnecting during vacation or over the weekend, going away for the weekend once a month, working from a different office if that’s an option, or taking a work-free lunch or walk everyday, but it is important to find brain-break that works for you.

3. Take good care of yourself

It goes without saying, but feeling like your best physically can make an enormous difference and ensure you have enough energy and focus to make progress toward your goal.  It’s hard enough to have the willpower to make a plan, stick to it, or even tackle any of the tips in this article.  When you are tired, run down, and stagnant, it’s even worse.  Find ways to exercise, eat well, and get enough sleep.  Seriously.  (Are you thinking, yeah that’s easier said than done, can you give me some concrete tips that don’t take me a ton of time to read and implement?)

4. Float Up to the Big Picture

When you’re running that race, and the days are blending together, and you feel stuck, it is very difficult to have perspective.  It is so easy for you to get lost in that awful day-to-day, can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees place where that phone call you need to return and that email that just came in seem like the most important things in the world, because our attention is drawn to what is on fire, who is yelling loudest, and where you’re feeling the most pressure.  It’s worse when you’re the type who loves to check things off your to-do list, because we live in a world where the list keeps refilling, so you’ll never make it to the bottom.

But it’s important that we do see the forest for the trees, and it’s a great way to exhale and feel a bit better.  So find the time to send down a helicopter rescue basket for yourself, climb in, ride up, and take a look around at the big picture.  Set a reminder if you need to, or put it on that to-do list so you can enjoy checking it off.  It’s also a great use of a lunchtime walk.  Usually, the daily stresses seem smaller (and maybe even a little silly) when you’re that high up, like looking down at tiny cars and houses when you’re on a plane.

I encourage you to pick at least one thing from the above, or last week’s post, and start putting it into action this week!

1. Mindfulness Matters
2. Sexism at Work
3. Having More Time
4. Piling On to Help Other Women
5. WLN’s Stuck Series

1.  Mindfulness Matters.  Discussions about the importance of mindfulness continue, and Levo League discusses the benefits of mindfulness, including clear benefits and some motivating (and scary) facts and figures.  Looking to give meditation a try but not sure where to start?  Try a program like Headspace to make it easy and fun.

2. Sexism at Work.  Lauren Rikleen calls attention to this issue in Fortune, including noting that “Often, the behavior is shrouded in the bigger picture. The executive who regularly made uncomfortable comments or told off-color jokes was also a mentor who offered great career advice.”

3. Having More Time.  Or feeling like it anyway.  Fast Company shares secrets of busy people who don’t feel as stressed about time as the rest of us, including not filling up all of your time and (because they must overhear lots of lawyers) not constantly talking about how busy we are.

4. Piling On to Help Other Women.  Andie & Al remind us how important it is to support other women by “piling on” and reinforcing their comments and ideas.

5. WLN’s Stuck Series.  In case you missed it, here at WLN over the last few months, we’ve been talking about the feeling of being stuck, three steps to get unstuck, and what to do in the meantime (then even more things to do in the meantime).

My fellow checklist-lover, this is for you! If you derive satisfaction from crossing an item off your to-do list and if – when you accomplish something that is not on your list – you put it on just so you can cross it off (I’m with you), the below small change could make a big difference for you.

We checklist-types tend to feel more accomplished when we check more things off our list. However, it’s easy to pay too much attention to how many things we are checking off and not what things we are checking off. Keep an eye out for this.  Perhaps you sometimes start your day by working your way through ten not-so-important but really quick tasks on the theory that you will get a little boost by knocking so many items off of your list. You may do this even if your productive morning hours would be better spent on something more important, more complex, or requiring more focus.

The problem is, a two-minute task that didn’t really need to be done and didn’t move the needle forward on your goals equals one checkmark. Meanwhile, a really important task that takes an hour and makes a huge difference equals…one checkmark.

You can feel appropriately accomplished by not only checking items off but also pausing just for a second to recognize the magnitude of the project you just completed. For example, if you’re a paper to-do list person, draw a great big check mark when you finish an important task. If you’re a to-do list app person, do a little happy dance (Riverdance-style under your desk so no one sees is just fine) or exhale with satisfaction, whatever works for you.

Bonus: Be sure to break larger projects down into accomplishable tasks. When you review your to-do list, do you sometimes see items that you did some work on but didn’t finish so you tend to keep hitting snooze and pushing them from one day to the next until they are done? That’s a good sign that you should break those projects down into their component tasks that you can check off each day (yeessss!) to see your progress.

Now go put “read a WLN article” on your to-do list and check it off…with gusto! (And a great big check mark.)

Billable hours don’t make much sense.*

Now that we have that out of the way, the reality remains, law tends to move at the speed of……molasses, which means – many of us are stuck with the billable hour model for the time being.  But, until we have a model that works better, let’s make sure we’re thriving under the billable hour regime and making it work for us.

To do that, you need control over your time and predictability surrounding your billable hour picture so you can turn your billable hour blues into:

GREEN.  You guessed it: money.  In other words, that control and predictability will help you to secure and increase your income.

WHITE.  Perhaps instead of (or in addition to) more money, you would rather have more time – more white, empty space on your calendar.

Sound good?  Great, so, how do you get there?

First, recognize the signs that you need more control over your billable time, such as:

• You spent lots of time in the office, or logged on, but you don’t have the billable hours to show for it.

• During this past year, you didn’t always know exactly where you were on your billable hour target for the year.  In other words, if someone asked in the middle of the year, would you know exactly how many billable hours you needed to bill every work day until the year to hit your target exactly, after taking vacation days, holidays, conferences, etc. and lost time into account?

• You found yourself just trying to bill as many hours as possible, hoping they added up the way you wanted, with no plan other than “Keep running on the billable treadmill.”  The days felt like they were blending together, and you are now exhausted.

• You sort of knew where you were on your billable target, but you wasted time every week or month doing not-so-fun billable hour number crunching.

Next, start taking steps to take back control.  (I’m here to help, so if this is a conversation you want to see continue, make sure that you click right here so I know there are people like you out there that want to keep it going in 2017!)

In the meantime, here are a few quick tips to get you started on getting more control, more predictability, more money, more time, and a better billable life in 2017:

• Learn how and when to say no.
  It should be so simple, but we know it’s not.  Every time you say yes to something you are taking time away from something else.  Figure out if you have a “yes reflex” and what to do about it.

• Look for billable time in your planning time.
  We planning types love a good organizational moment, am I right?  If you take time daily or weekly to go over your to do list, or to review the status on your open matters, you may not bill for that time.  However, when we go through that process, we are often doing billable work along the way.  For example, when reviewing your to-dos, maybe you discover a quick billable task you can do right now, like sending a quick email, or maybe when you start reviewing a project your mind quickly jumps to thinking through how you’re going to draft that provision of the agreement tomorrow, or you have a great idea on how to structure a deal or an argument you can make.
  
  However, because you’re in organization-mode and not billable-mode, you may not stop to question whether you have just done billable work or to record that time.  Get in the habit of keeping your radar up during your planning time so you’re not missing hours – if you’re a regular planner, those hours can really add up!

• Pay attention to whether your efficiency and effectiveness are hurting you.
  Let’s face it – billable hours do not really reward those qualities.  So if you have found a way to be more efficient and effective with your time, good for you, your firm and your clients are lucky to have you!  Unfortunately, being efficient and effective may not inure to your benefit.  You’re probably getting more done in less billable time.  In other words, perhaps your time is more valuable. Think about whether your billable hour rate should be adjusted to reflect factors like the value you provide or your specialty or high-demand practice area.  Your firm may not realize the additional value you are providing in your practice area or client industries.
  
  So have that conversation if it makes sense for you (the new calendar year is a perfect excuse to have that chat).  If you do increase your rate, or if you already have a higher rate, remember that firms too often look at the number of hours billed, rather than whether one person with a higher rate is more valuable, even with lower billable hours.  You may need to draw attention to your higher value though a self-review or a review meeting.  If you are efficient and a planner, you might also consider whether there is work that should be done on a fixed-fee basis, which can be better for you and your clients.  (Plus then you can help lead the charge away from billable hours!)

• Take a Shortcut.
  Stop the stressful, time-wasting, billable hour number-crunching madness.  I created this easy-to-use Billable Hour Tool to help you instantly get predictability and control over your billable time and to help you thrive in this billable hour world for as long as we’re stuck with it.
  
  This tool alone can free up hours of time, not to mention giving you more control and peace of mind – watch what it can do.

Here’s to a better billable life in the new year!

* If you’re curious about why and how we got to the billable hour model in the first place, check out the October 17th, 2016 episode of the Gen Why Lawyer Podcast.

Let’s recap five big news items from 2016:

1. New Model Rule
2. Three Women Presidents
3. Breaking Through Bias
4. Good Guys
5. Best Firms for Women

1. New Model Rule.  An amendment to the  Model Rules of Professional Conduct  prohibits “conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law”  (you read that right, it wasn’t in there before) that made its way through after much criticism and opposition (yes, you read that right too, people actually admitted to being against this).

2. Three Women Presidents.  We’re in the middle of a run of three women ABA presidents!

3. Breaking Through Bias.  The must-read book Breaking Through Bias was released.

4. Good Guys.  NCWBA launched the GOOD Guys (GOOD = Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity) program and now has a GOOD Guys toolkit to help organizations, such as women’s bar associations and other groups, host their own GOOD Guys events.  The toolkit is available here.  The GOOD Guys program was “designed to appeal to men, honor their efforts, engage them, and provide information about…efforts to advance diversity, education about bias disruptors and diversity initiatives, and examples of the incredible positive impact diversity has on a corporation’s social responsibility and profitability.”

5. Best Firms for Women.  ATL covers Law360’s list of the 100 Best Firms for Women.

In case you missed it, here are six awesome things we tackled on WLN in 2016:

1. We reminded you How Amazing You Really Are
2. We discussed Six Things to Do to Get More from Your Marketing Time
3. We did a two-part interview with Andie and Al, authors of Breaking Through Bias
4. We talked about about the feeling of being stuck, three steps to get unstuck, and what to do in the meantime (then even more things to do in the meantime).
5. We encouraged The Big Check Mark
6. Finally, just the other day, we talked about how to Turn Billable Hour Blues into Green and White

See Also:  Six Awesome Things from WLN in 2015.   

The start of a new year is a great time to experiment with ways to get more from your time.  Try picking one of these to try out this month, and see how it works for you.  (Try only one.  It’s more difficult to put several new habits into place at once, so just experiment with one and see how it works for you.)

1. Put down your coffee.  (Just for a little bit, calm down.)  So many of us reach for coffee first thing in the morning, but we may be sacrificing the best caffeine boost by reaching for it too early.  Learn why here.  Bonus: You can walk into the office, get something done, then take a mid-morning break to grab your coffee.  If you have trouble waiting, maybe enjoy that first sip or two, then set it aside as a reward for later in the morning when you finish something on your to-do list.  
2. Put down your smartphone.  Ah, the other first thing we reach for in the morning.  How many times have you started your day by opening your email, resulting in your morning disappearing before your eyes as you jump from one email and matter to the next, or wasting your best, most productive, no-coffee-needed-yet morning hours clearing out spam or dealing with simple tasks that do not require much attention or brainpower.
   
   It takes some work to pry yourself away from your email’s clutch, so start simple – just take a few minutes, before you open that inbox to either schedule your whole day or to write down the 1-3 things you want to get done that day.  Having that plan in front of you will keep you from getting distracted by your email and help hustle you along even if you do.  (You may reach for your email like a reflex, so log out or turn off your email app to remind yourself to stay away.)  
3. Put down your work.  Yes, you ready that correctly.  We know that we should take breaks.  We know that we do better, more efficient, more effective work when we take breaks.  We know that we are more focused when we take breaks.  We know that we are less likely to fall prey to distractions when we know a break is coming.  We know that the time we save on distractions and lack of productivity more than makes up for the time we lose to taking quick breaks.
   
   Yet…we do not take breaks.  Give it a try, but remember that it will be easy to skip them so set a reminder or schedule it into your day.  Even five minutes for a walk around the office or the block, a quick stretch, or a few deep breaths can make a big difference.  Just remember, the break should be for your brain, not just your body (i.e., checking your email while you walk around the block doesn’t count.)

Today, let’s dive into a short thought that practices what it preaches!

As you harness the energy of heading into a new year, try filtering the way you spend your time by thinking about whether you are being effective, or just efficient. We all love productivity tips and learning how to work better and faster, but remember – the most efficiently-done task should still be worth doing, should make a difference, should be something that needs to get done, should further a goal that you set for yourself.  A longer day in the office doesn’t make sense if that extra time doesn’t need to be spent.   Be effective, not just efficient.

Want more on this theme?   Try re-reading The Big Check Mark.

1. Gaslighting (People Making You Think You’re Imagining Gender Bias)
2. NAWL Book Club
3. How to Say No to Extra Tasks
4. 2017 Women Lawyers Events
5. Declines in Diversity

1.  Gaslighting (People Making You Think You’re Imagining Gender Bias).  Breaking Through Bias authors discuss “gaslighting” as applied to gender bias, i.e., when others (sometimes unconsciously) make you think that you’re imagining gender bias – and perhaps overreacting to it or exaggerating an issue.  The article includes examples of language that clue you in to this problem, such as “You’re being too sensitive,” “You can’t take a joke,” or “We always promote the best candidate.”  Even better, the authors share what to do in those situations (like pause for a reality check), what not to do (like second-guess yourself), and even offer a downloadable tip sheet.

2. NAWL Book Club.  Did you know that the National Association of Women Lawyers hosts periodic “book club” calls featuring the authors of books that are of interest to women lawyers?  Check out this NAWL Book Club, HAPPENING TODAY, featuring the unique Terminal Ambition by Kate McGuinness, an exciting legal thriller novel that highlights gender bias issues.

3. Ways to Say No To Extra Tasks.  We all know we need to say “no” more, and we’ve talk about the “yes reflex” issue on WLN before, as well as ways to say no, but figuring out how to actually say “no” can be really (really, really) difficult.  Fortunately, FastCompany also shared these five ways to say no to help you build this skill and protect your time, including making a “stop doing” list – awesome!   (If saying “no” is a challenge that you struggle with, take literally one second to click right here so I know that you want to hear more on this topic.)

4. 2017 Women Lawyers Events.  Mark your calendar for a few key 2017 women lawyers events:

• NCWBA Mid-year – February 3rd – Miami
• NAWL Mid-year Meeting – March 10th – Chicago
• NAWL Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon – July 20th – NYC
• NCWBA Summit – August 11th – NYC
• Women’s Caucus During ABA Annual Meeting – August 8th – 15th (Date TBD) – NYC

5. Declines in Diversity.  ATL Diversity Columnist Renwei Chung discusses NALP’s 2016 Report on Diversity, including some frightening decreases in diversity in the profession.