For 2019 and beyond I want to focus all my attention on the things that matter; I mean the things that really matter.
For my business, and for myself personally.
And these things are closely related.
Let me explain.
There is a small number of things that really matter to continue to grow my business, and one thing I need to guard against and fight like hell to defeat. And if I can defeat it I will win by business and personal growth.
Before I set out the things I need to do to grow my solicitor’s practice I need to be crystal clear about my purpose or objective: an obsession to obtain and serve clients.
Clearly I need to grow my client base and acquire new clients but I also need to serve them, and my existing clients, tremendously well.
To do this I need to focus on the work that matters to achieve this goal-I need to do deep work. (Take a look at my Youtube video about this topic and the book, Deep Work, by Cal Newport, a graduate of M.I.T. and a university professor in computer science at Georgetown University, USA).
This work includes:
- continuing to write blog posts for my various websites, and to do so in a way that makes the subject matter easy to understand for the greatest number of people;
- continuing to make videos for my YouTube channel, and to do so in a way that explains the subject matter to a non legally educated audience, and which will address the particular problems facing the viewer at any specific point in time-for example, if he/she is considering taking on a commercial lease explaining what a Deed of Renunciation is for he/she will probably come across this in negotiations for a lease
- using YouTube advertising to promote my videos
- continuing to grow my email subscriber list and provide useful, valuable information to the subscriber (my 3 main subscriber lists in 2 markets-employment law and property-contain approximately 6,000 subscribers)
- doing distraction free focused work in sufficiently large chunks of time to be the best lawyer I can be.
These 3 spheres of promotional or marketing activity are how I have built my business over the last 5 years and I am determined to focus with laser like intention on these areas in 2019.
The battle I must win
And the thing I need to guard against?
I have written about this in the not too distant past and make no apology for touching on the subject again: the problem of the narrowing of my attention span through the use of
- social media
- mobile phone.
This battle is a constant one and needs to be fought with real purpose and intention because if I lose I will lose the ability to do the work that matters to me and my business.
I want to retain, and grow, the ability to do focused, distraction free, concentrated work on the things that matter, having identified the things that really matter for my business above.
The things that don’t matter and which I need to guard against to prevent the stealing of my attention and focus are sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and apps like Facebook messenger.
Anything that is an intrusion or distraction as the potential to wreak havoc on my business and personal growth and ability to do “deep work”.
I want to ensure that my attention span is never degraded by notifications and attention seeking sounds or visuals to the point that I cannot read a good long book such as anything by Dickens or Tolstoy.
If that happens, I am screwed and will have failed abjectly in my fight to do the work that matters to me and my business.
Choosing the right clients
I also need to be far more particular about the work and clients I take on and avoid trying to help everyone who comes my way. If I was to do a close time analysis of certain types of work I routinely do and compare it with other work that’s available to me I believe I should exercise far more discernment and need to refuse a lot of easy money.
2019
In 2019 I hope I come back here again and again and remind myself of the work that matters to me, and not get distracted with time consuming notifications on my phone or in my email inbox.
What about you? Have you identified the critical work to be done for your business or career? Have you noticed the potential ambushes to your attention and your ability to do “deep work”?