What do Luke Skywalker trying to leave Tatooine, companies that roll out big strategic plans every January, and lawyers who swear this is the year they’ll finally lose the weight, delegate, or stop being the bottleneck have in common?
They all want change, they all mean it, and most of them still end up exactly where they started.
I see this every year in law firms. Hell…I’ve lived it myself. Okay, okay…I still live it about some things.
Smart lawyers decide something has to change and then beat themselves up when it doesn’t stick, even though the problem usually isn’t laziness or lack of discipline.
If there’s one thing my weight loss journey from 230 down to 200 lbs taught me, it’s that it’s not just ONE thing. ONE change is not enough to create DRASTIC difference AND make it stick…it’s a series of changes.
As you know I really like books. But what I REALLY like isn’t always learning something new. Sometimes it’s taking what I already know and putting into a new and helpful framework.
That’s what happened when I read Change Anything. The book’s core idea is annoying but freeing. Willpower is wildly overrated. That’s not the interesting framework though…it’s that this book tells us (backed by scientific research) that lasting change only happens when six different forces are lined up in your favor instead of quietly pulling you back like a tractor beam on the Death Star.
Personal Motivation
This is not the Instagram quote version of motivation. This is what wins in the moment when it would be easier to do the old thing. Every lawyer I know says they want to delegate, but when the inbox blows up at night or the JA calls, relief beats freedom and they jump back in. That’s not a character flaw. That’s motivation losing at the exact moment it matters…because if you keep jumping back in, no one else can take ownership enough to allow you to not HAVE to jump back in.
You have to find your why – WHY do you want this change? Why does it REALLY matter? What IS the flight speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Personal Ability
This is where a lot of lawyers confuse grit with skill. Wanting to stop being the bottleneck doesn’t magically teach you how to train someone, document a process, or tolerate imperfect work. So when things get messy, you default to doing it yourself, like Batman swooping in to save Gotham for the hundredth time instead of building a justice league. It feels heroic, but it guarantees you’ll be needed forever.
What do you NEED to do to make sure you CAN make this change? Does someone else need proper training or a checklist? Do you need an accountability buddy or coach? (wink wink, nudge, nudge, say no more)
Social Motivation
This one hides in plain sight. Look at who actually gets praised in your firm. If the heroes are the people who respond fastest, stay latest, and never really disconnect, then that’s the behavior the culture rewards no matter what the handbook says. Lawyers are human, even if we pretend otherwise, and social approval is a powerful drug.
Also – who is pulling FOR you? Sure, we all have colleagues…but they are truly there for you or just ready to stab you in the back? If they are there for you, great! Invest in them. If they are against you, great! Let them go. If they are ambivalent…then you need to decide if you want to try to get them into your corner for a fun cross-over like Blade Knight in Marvel Zombies or not bother like Marvel actually making a Blade movie…
Social Ability
This has nothing to do with cheering from the sidelines. This is about whether other people can practically support the change you say you want. If you’re the only one with access to the bank, the intake rules, the vendors, or the final decisions, then no one can help you step back even if they want to. You didn’t hire the wrong team. You built a system that requires you at the center.
Are other people capable of helping achieve the goals you have set out? Do you need to tell them about it? Be open and honest with them? Ask them for help in the process?
Structural Motivation
This is about what the system actually rewards. If compensation, bonuses, or status are tied to billable hours and constant availability, then that’s what people will optimize for. That’s not people being difficult. That’s people being rational. You don’t fix that with a pep talk any more than you fix the Empire by asking Darth Vader to be nicer and stop force choking people.
Is your life designed to push you towards what you want? Are the snacks hidden in the back of the pantry and the veggies are front and center in the fridge? Are you running shoes ready to go by the door, and the second alarm set to keep you from laying in bed?
Structural Ability
This is the environment you operate in every day. If your calendar has no buffer, your notifications are always on, and your office setup invites constant interruption, your environment will beat your intentions every time. This is why people feel free on vacation and chaotic at work. The setting changed, not their personality.
This is why I love normal breaks. I am good with the time I work (and don’t work) but it’s nicer whenever everyone else is ALSO not working 80 hour weeks.
Real Talk from Jordan
Here’s the part I wish more lawyers understood sooner. If something you want keeps failing, stop asking what’s wrong with you and start asking which of the six is broken. You cannot out hustle a system that’s designed to pull you backward, and you definitely can’t white knuckle your way through incentives and environments that reward the opposite behavior.
Next week we are starting a 6 part series to go deeper into each of these through the lense of my next weight loss plan. Until then, pick one thing you keep trying to change and ask yourself which of the six is quietly working against you.