You're not busy, you're just unproductive: Tips to be productive and not busy!

"Sorry, I'm too busy."

"Hey, I know you're busy, but I was just hoping to..."

"If you want something done, give it to a busy person."

I feel like the word "busy" has become so commonplace. There were those 4-6 weeks of covid when we needed help figuring out what to do. Then, we freaked out and/or pivoted and/or took a breather and/or something else, and now...so many of the lawyers I talk to are just constantly busy.

And in response to those statements, I used to say, "that's better than the alternative." But you know what...it's not; I was wrong.

The OED defines busy as: 

• Having a great deal to do.
• "He had been too busy to enjoy himself."

Being consistently busy is the WORST thing you and your law firm can experience. So yes - I would rather you have too LITTLE work and not be terribly busy.

Here's why (and then we will get to what to do about it):

• Being busy = being stressed, and for the 80s year of research we have on that issue...it's not good (the first study on the effects of consistent stress)
• The CDC has found that hazard risk increased by 25% for 60-hour weeks and almost 40% for 70-hour weeks - and sure, I doubt that you will have a forklift accident at your law firm...but what if your hazard is blowing a calendaring deadline and missing an SOL on a forklift accident.
• Hell, even in the only study I found on the positive impact of busyness - there are still a ton of caveats. Namely, if you think stress is bad, busyness can kill you sooner. It makes you more distracted and could perform poorly in other aspects of your life. It might ruin your memory...but you know...stay busy.

I had a conversation with someone years ago who, when he heard someone was busy, would say, "I'm sorry. Hopefully, one day, you'll be successful." It is a REALLY shitty thing to speak to a person, but he was onto something.

Because let's be honest, if you're busy, you can't be successful. Or at least you can't be MORE successful.

You don't have the time to try new things, change the way things are done, pivot, hire new people, create better systems, stay up on the latest cases or research, or, God-forbid take a few quiet moments to actually stop and think about some problem you or your firm is facing.

So what can we do about it?

1) The Pareto principle - Vilfredo Pareto first uncovered this theory when looking at his peas. (side note, between this and Gregor Mendel with genetics...maybe we should all grow peas if we want to change the world). In essence, 20% of his plants created 80% of his peas.

• 20% of the world, holds 80% of the wealth (at least in his day)
• You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time
• 20% of clients create 80% of your profits
• And (hopefully) a different 20% of clients create 80% of your problems.

So what can you do? First, cut out the crummy parts.

Step 1 - cut the 20% of clients who create the most problems

Step 2 - cut the 80% of clients who create the least profit

But also - apply this to your week - 20% of your efforts create 80% of your results, so focus on that part. Drop the stuff that isn't working, isn't impactful, doesn't bring you joy, and then heck, you can most than double the 20% of the stuff that does work and STILL work half the time for twice the results.

2) Delegate - a great way to do this is to delegate.

Jim Hacking said something once that has stuck with me "if someone else can do it 80% as well, have them do it, and then you can still fix it 20% of the time." (oh look...another 80/20 thing...) That second part blew my mind...it wasn't just about being okay with something that is not as good. It was about maximizing the time it takes to make it better.

But let's be honest - you can also find someone who can do it 120% as well as you can. Or who can do it 80% of the time? THAT'S an A+ delegation.

3) Systematize

Peter Drucker once said, "'Darwin, Marx, and Freud form the trinity often cited as the 'makers of the modern world.' Marx would be removed and replaced by Taylor if there were any justice in the world."

And I know what you're saying...who the fuck is Frederick Winslow Taylor? That's the point. Because he's basically the founder of our modern society's focus on efficiency. Before his work in the steel industry, people made stuff all willy-nilly. He set out standards for the work (down to using a stopwatch to time things). Also created a new shovel that picked up the right amount of coal - not too much to be too heavy, not too little to not keep the oven going correctly. But JUUUUUUST right. Yes - he was basically the baby bear to modern business.

So systematize your work, which will help you ensure people are doing it correctly and efficiently. Here's how:

1. record yourself doing it
2. walk someone through the recording and how to do it
3. have them do it a few times
4. talk to them about any feedback or ways to do it better
5. have them record themselves doing it
6. have them write out how it's done (or have it transcribed)
7. keep that in an SOP Manual/Employee Handbook/Tettra/etc for everyone else
8. every so often, go back to tasks and see how they can be made better

Start with the 20% of tasks that happen the most. Aim for 80% of what you do to be systematized. (yes, it's like the numbers in Lost...they just keep coming up)

4) Automate - similar to #3, just with a computer doing it over and over again instead of people doing it efficiently

5) Work Less

I have been trying to teach my 4.5-year-old some entrepreneurial stuff. So clearly, I need to make it fun (Cialdini's study about fewer chocolate chip cookies = you think they taste better...very fun to try!) But, unfortunately, other things aren't as easily fun.

Like Parkinson's law, which says, "work expands to fill the time allotted."  

For my kid, I explained this as a fart filling a room. The smaller the room, the stinkier the fart. But seriously, if you set a deadline that's too far out...you procrastinate until the crunch...and then you get it done, right? If you set yourself an hour to write a newsletter, it takes you an hour (who would do such a thing, he asked at the 50-minute mark?).

So give yourself less time to do things (and then work in some catch-up time just in case), and you'll be amazed at how much more you get done.

The easiest way to do this (I think) is to take a day off a week. That's what Atticus and Strategic Coach, and other programs push for. This is SUPER weird because if you normally work 5 days a week, and now you cut back to 4, that's...(FURIOUSLY DOING THE MATH) 80% of the original time...WHOA.

The other benefit of working less is that you work less and have more time to have fun and focus on yourself.

But the OTHER benefit of working less is that it empowers your team to solve problems because you're not always there to jump in and solve them.

And heck...if you only do 4/5 of these things...guess what...that's still 80% (okay, okay, THAT one I just made it at this point, the rest, I swear, are real things I've always said).

Next week I will give you 365 things you can do to grow your firm in 2023! That's one for every day of the year. (or do you want me to push that one to 2 weeks out and write another topic sooner?)

And bonus points, if you save up 7,000,000 of these newsletters and turn them in for Pepsi points, you can win a Harrier Jet! Or can you?

Until next week. May you NOT save 7,000,000 of these newsletters because I am 

JUST KIDDING!!!!  

      Disclaimer...this was a joke.  

      Do not actually do this...

      This is not a real offer...blah blah blah

But you should watch Pepsi, Where's my Jet on Netflix if you have 2 hours to kill, it was crazy (and involves one of Trump's least favorite lawyers ever).

Until Next Friday,

Jordan Ostroff

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