3 Tools for Building the Law Practice of Your Dreams

Halloween is a good time to ask: is my law life a sweet treat that keeps on giving, or a nasty trick that brings nightmares?

A little of both, you might answer. Depending on the client, the case, the time of day, whatever.

But would you believe the first option – creating a law life you absolutely love – is not only possible, but easy to attain? Way easier than the grit-it-out, nose-to-the-grindstone approach? And that it can be done without breaking a sweat or breaking the bank, perhaps without even paying a cent?

Impossible, you say. A law career is not a stroll in the park. Why do you think they call it work?

OK, fine. But can you believe at least one person – namely yours truly – thinks it’s not only possible, but easy as pie? I know this is true because I’ve seen it done many times.

Building A Law Practice You Love

Here are three ways to make your law life wonderful:

· Notice what you are noticing. Thoughts determine feelings, and feelings drive actions. So right now, what are you thinking? That your law life is a drag? That this article is ridiculous? Then so it will be. But try this little exercise. Throughout the day, pause a moment to see where your attention is focused. On your dwindling bank account? An irritating client? How do these thoughts make you feel? Tense, cranky, bunched-up inside? Now picture something that makes you happy. The rolling surf at Wrightsville Beach, your daughter’s bright smile. Still feeling grumpy? And yet nothing has changed except your thinking – which, miraculously, changes everything.

· How you do anything is how you do everything. Little things matter. Just look at any successful athlete. When they hit a slump – which happens to everyone, even superstars – they don’t go crazy, quit and switch sports, start weeping and pronounce themselves failures. They go back to the basics. They break down the mechanics of their swing. They change their stance ever so subtly. Suddenly, by tending to the little things, the big picture explodes into glorious view.

· Practice extraordinary thinking. Most of the time we are mired in what Thoreau calls “common hour thinking.” There’s nothing I can do about it. This is just the way it is. Everybody knows you can’t do that. But every great leap in every field of endeavor – science, art, the law – began with one person thinking something that nobody else had the courage or audacity to think before.

Spectacular law practices don’t just happen. They’re created. This starts by imagining what yours would look like, then using tools like the three described above to start building it.

Want to create an awesome law life? Then start now, right where you are. It can be sweeter than you ever thought possible.