According to the American Bar Association (ABA), there are well over one million lawyers in the United States today. While not all of these attorneys are personal injury lawyers, a sizable number choose to focus their practices in this area of the law.
Not all of them will experience the same levels of success, however. It is those who are the most productive who will experience the greatest results.
Productive personal injury lawyers make the most of their resources to achieve the greatest quality and quantity of output. Any lawyer can become more productive by adopting helpful tips and habits. To boost your productivity, consider implementing these five key tips in your firm:
1. Be Deliberate With Your Choices
The most productive individuals are not the ones who do the most activity within a given time span. Just because you are busy does not mean you are being productive.
Instead, productivity is about taking deliberate actions that bring you closer to achieving your goals. Therefore, to be productive, you must know what your goals are and what actions are likely to bring you closer to them.
Begin by laying out your goals for yourself and your firm. Whether those goals include generating a certain amount of revenue or having a specific number of clients, writing down your goals and keeping them in front of you will help you focus your daily activities. You can better spend your energy and time on activities that further those objectives.
To be most effective, your goals should be specific, realistic, and measurable. A general goal of “becoming a millionaire” is not as useful as one like “increase revenue by 2% over the next twelve months.”
2. Practice Block Planning
If you find yourself scrambling each day from one activity to the next based on what seems to be the most pressing activity of the moment, block planning can be a useful tool to help you get control of your schedule.
With block planning, you block out a specific amount of time each day or every week to devote to a particular task. Then, during that time, you focus all your efforts on that task and do not allow yourself to become distracted except for true emergencies.
For example, instead of stopping what you are doing and responding to emails as they come in, you can block out an hour each day to respond to emails you have received. During this period, you can devote your energy to meaningfully responding to as many emails as possible.
3. Purchase Software and Tools That Add Value
As law practices become increasingly digital, the number of programs, apps, and software available that are targeted toward lawyers continues to increase.
Do not make the mistake of believing that the more apps and software you have, the more productive you will be. After a certain point, all the apps and software you purchased to help you save time actually take more of your time.
A better approach is to consider your firm’s electronic needs carefully and then purchase as few programs as necessary to meet those needs. Look for all-in-one solutions or programs that are compatible with other programs to reduce the amount of software you need to buy, learn, and implement.
4. Take Time To Evaluate Your Firm’s Practices
Becoming more productive as a lawyer is a never-ending quest to improve and fine-tune your operations. Not all of your efforts to become more productive will allow you to accomplish more with less. Some practices and products may actually create new obstacles and challenges for you that slow you down and take you further away from your goals.
Therefore, the most productive individuals not only set realistic productivity goals but also regularly check in to see how they are doing in meeting those goals. If you are constantly missing your targets, that can mean that either your goals are unrealistic or the habits you are using to achieve them are not helpful.
In either case, changes are made in the continuing quest to achieve greater productivity.
5. Rest To Prevent Burnout
Keep in mind that greater amounts of activity do not always lead to greater productivity. Even when you are pursuing specific and meaningful objectives, you must take time to rest and refresh. Burnout is common among lawyers, with as many as three out of every four lawyers experiencing it in their careers.
When you are exhausted or feeling burned out, your productivity suffers because you cannot focus your best energy on what you are doing. Your thoughts and actions are slower and require more deliberation before committing to them. This results in a situation where you get less done despite taking more time and using more resources to do it.
Therefore, it is critical that you make time in your day to take breaks so that you can step away from your work and refocus yourself before diving back in. Additionally, you should take regular vacations where you step away from your firm for a few days so that you can unwind. You will also want to make sure that you get plenty of sleep every night.
A More Productive Firm Is Possible With the Right Approach
Productivity can seem like an elusive concept, especially in a busy law firm where a myriad of tasks may constantly demand your attention. However, by taking deliberate steps to make the most of your time, set specific goals, and keep proper rest a high priority, you can see substantial improvements in your productivity both as a lawyer and for your firm as a whole.
You have a limited amount of time in a day, a finite amount of money and resources, and a fixed amount of stamina. As you eliminate practices and behaviors that slow you down and keep you from your goals, you will find yourself naturally becoming a more productive lawyer.