The legal profession is a very busy
vocation; this will demand that you develop time management skills that will
enable you to face challenges in your business and handle different tasks. There are tips or strategies as a solicitor that you can inculcate into your daily operations to organise your time while in and out of your chamber. In this article, you will learn some of these strategies.
Never open your inbox or check emails first thing in the morning!
Take at least a half hour to get grounded
and organize your day before you read your emails.
If you check emails before you set up the
goals for your day, you might wander off into cyberspace, glance up at your
clock and discover that it is time for lunch!
Get Organized at the beginning of each week before you see clients or
take calls
Schedule time every (or all day) Monday to
set up your week before you begin taking client calls or attending meetings. If
you have a regularly scheduled Monday morning meeting, come in early before the
meeting time to plan your goals and get organized. Remember, Abe Lincoln's
philosophy "one hour of preparation saves me three hours of
perspiration!"
Take time to organize at the beginning of each day before you begin
reacting
Set aside time every morning to look over
schedule and intentions before you start with meetings, emails, calls etc.
Doing this will provide you with a clear vision of what you wish to accomplish
throughout the day.
Create an email signature that announces your new email availability
For instance, "In order to better
serve my clients, I check emails only twice a day. If this matter is urgent
please call xxx.xxx.xxxx otherwise I will get back with you within 24
hours."
Stop reacting, without thinking, to other people's fires
Do not react quickly to problems that are
not yours. Slow down before you jump into a mess to see what priorities you
will have to set aside to help the person in distress. If you have organized
your week in advance, you will know what you will have to bump on your agenda
to help out.
Decide what scheduling device you will use and use only one
Do not keep multiple calendars, use one for
both business and personal appointments. Commit to either online or offline
scheduling, recording your schedule on computer and paper will lead to chaos.
Set up a proper action file system so your papers will flow in and out of
your office
Store vertically according to the type of
action required.
Action items usually include: calls to
make, bills to pay, current projects, pending, data entry, upcoming events,
etc.
Use hanging files on rails for your paper archives
Piles will not serve you long term.
Manila folders in a drawer have no support
and tumble together, use hanging rails.
Make sure to use the file tabs that attach
to your folders, don't spend minutes trying to search through unmarked files.
Subdivide large files with manila folders.
If you have more than 50 sheets in your folder, consider subdividing to make it
easier to locate the paper you need.
Keep only one project at a time open on your desk
When a client calls, take a moment to put
away your other client folder. This will help avoid confusion and distraction
so you can better focus fully on that client.
Clear off your desk surface at the end of each day and wipe off the dust
Spend time at the end of each workday to
organize all unfinished projects. In the morning, you will be better able to
attack and complete your goals for the day with less distraction.
Protect the million pounds real estate in your office, otherwise known as
your circle of influence
Keep only the essential items you use every
day on your desktop.
Organize your workspace so all tools are
within arms reach including file drawers, printer, etc.
Do not waste time getting up to retrieve
what you use on a daily basis.
Don't Procrastinate At Work
Procrastination is where you put off or
delay a task by distracting yourself with something else. There is usually
another reason why you're not doing the task that should be done. In many
cases, the hardest part about getting a task done is actually starting it. If
you can work out the first step of doing a task, that goes a long way to
getting it done. There's no reason to keep delaying it - it will most likely
have to get done anyway.
Delaying the task because it's not a
priority is something else - you are working but have higher priority work to
do. This is perfectly valid. Procrastination is actually avoiding a task that
needs to be done. It can be a real killer to the time in your day!
Delegate Some Of Your Work To Others
Another suggestion on how to improve your
time management is to delegate some of your work to others. This depends on
your current position and what kind of work you do, but essentially you don't
need to do everything yourself. You may have others under you or partners who
can help you do some of the work that you need to do. Some things to consider
when delegating work to others are:
- If they actually have the skills or
knowledge to do the work
- If it takes less time to explain the task
than for you to do it yourself
- If the other person can get it done
before it needs to be done
Delegating work to others is a good way to
spread the workload and to improve your time management as a solicitor.