What Are Your Goals for 2007?
I'm in the process of setting my goals for 2007. But to do that, I need to know overall where I'm going. Here are two quotes I like a lot. From Alice in Wonderland when Alice reaches a fork in the road:
Alice: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
Cheshire Cat: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
Alice: "I don't much care"
Cheshire Cat: "Then it doesn't matter which way you go".
And a Dr. Seuss Quote:
You have brains is your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
-Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)
So what do I want to do? How do I keep on track? I'm writing down the following goals.
• What Kind of Life Do I Want? - When I'm 82 and look back over my life, what would make me say "That was a good life. It was worth living and I'm glad I did it." If I have a long life, full career and good family, what does that look like? What is my definition of that? The more I think about this and clearer I am on this aspect, the more things fall in place and happen, almost automatically.
One exercise that's recommended is to write your obituary. Not as a morbid exercise, but to say at the end of your life, what do you want people saying about you? What do you want as accomplishments? What kind of life do you want to live?
• What Is Your Ideal Law Firm? - As an exercise in thought, what is your Ideal Law Firm? If you could wave a magic wand and your wildest dreams come true and anything you want could happen, what kind of law firm would you want?
You get up in the morning, drive to work and open the door. There in front of you is your Ideal Law Firm. What does it look like? I'm mapping out the practice areas, the kind of cases, the number of cases, the difference between a good client and a bad client, how to differentiate those, how I'm going to get the cases, the operations, the systems I need in place, the type of employees that I want, the traits I'm looking for in an employee and the work that I will do.
Basically, a model business plan not for my current practice, but for my Ideal Law Firm.
• What Are My Goals for 2007? - At the beginning of the year, the papers and the media get carried away with the 'Year in Review'. I sat down and thought "Okay, it's January 1, 2007. Another year has passed. What would I like to see happen in 2007?" What would have to happen for me to look back on December 31, 2007 and say "Man. That was a good year. I had a good 2007 and I'm very pleased with the work that I did, the things I did. That was fantastic and I can't wait for 2008"?
• What Are My Monthly Goals? - Once I have my yearly goals set, then I can sit down and figure out where I have to be halfway through the year to make them happen, then a quarter way through the year and what I need to accomplish every month to make those goals happen. Once I have the monthly goals, I can break those down to weekly goals and communicate those to my staff.
• What Work Do I like Doing? - Of all the parts of being a lawyer, what do I like best? What do I really like to do? What do I dislike doing? What do I procrastinate on? What should I be doing more of, and what Should I be doing less of?
Or in shorter terms, I'm setting short term, medium range and long term goals. By putting them down in writing, I can see how well they are aligned and whether they actually match. Do I need to be doing something different today? Are my short, medium and long range goals at odds with themselves? Am I working towards where I want to be or working against it?
The clearer you are about where you want to go, the easier it is to get there. Brains in the head and feet in the shoes.
