Monday Morning Mumbling 9.23.19
I haven’t said it on here in a while, but I do like to say that one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. I like to use that on Mondays, especially when my day could use a nice change for the better. And sometimes I share those positive thoughts in the hope that it might bring someone else’s day a change for the better as well. Here’s the quote:
“Don’t be seduced into thinking that that which does not make profit is without value.”
— Arthur Miller
There you go. A lawyer talking about value above profit. Now you’ve seen everything, right?
This quote is just so important for us in today’s world I think. How do you define value, and how do you achieve it? Is your time better spent working on immediate paying work, or building a system to handle more work, or telling clients about the work you have done for them, or trying to get future clients to notice your work? Is it valuable to work late to free up your weekend, or it is the most valuable thing you can do to enjoy your time away from work, so you can come back refreshed?
I have heard attorneys complain that they cannot relax away from work because they spend the time calculating how much money they could have worked or billed during that time away. I have also seen attorneys who ignored the systems and responsibilities of the job in order to bill a few extra hours. Did those things all create profit? Sure. Were they valuable? That is more questionable.
Recently I read the online profile of a professional whom I respect, and I noticed an interesting line. It says, “Determined to give it all away.” That really resonated with me. Because although I do charge for my firm’s services (gotta pay the rent after all), it is my goal to equip clients, boards, and associations with the tools they need to survive and thrive without me, or after me, in as many circumstances as possible. What does that look like? Set clear and easily understood policies. Set guidelines for enforcement. Have a relationship with a Board where they feel comfortable enough to ask me at the outset of a project, “Are we doing this right?” Because that is me creating value on the front end, even at the expense of profit on the back end. This whole idea of value over profit, of giving it all away, is the reason I try to regularly publish on the blog and teach educational seminars for both clients and local community groups. If you look at the big picture and think about doing things that have value, it’s a pretty safe bet that enough “profit” will come. But if you spend every second poring over every penny, chances are you may nickel and dime yourself right out of a chance to create real value for yourself and others.
You may be amused to learn that the idea of this post started with a sort of “get back on track” mentality, to motivate myself back into a regular publishing schedule after a more “relaxed” one during the summer months. But instead it has morphed into somewhat of a manifesto rejecting that whole mindset – that I should be looking back on spending summer months building the firm and its profile and infrastructure and objectives as a loss. My recent months have been very valuable to me. I hope yours have been to you as well. Maybe I can keep that same mindset even as I dig in for the work week. Maybe I can set out to create value, to build value, and to spend my time doing things that are valuable, and let the value be the true measure of success, rather than profit.
Have a great week everybody.