Vol. 71, No. 18, June 10, 2000
StressBusters: 30 Practical Tips for Reducing Stress and Handling Your Performance in the Day-to-Day Practice of Law
By Reid F. Trautz
1 PLAN YOUR VACATION: Plan your time off from work to ensure that it is really quality time. Sometimes, just vegging-out is exactly what the doctor ordered; however, just vegging-out because of lack of planning can easily feel like a ho-hum or wasted weekend. Also, there is pleasure in the anticipation of planning a vacation. And better planning leads to a more enjoyable vacation. Also, the better the vacation, the better the memories. And the memories are great images for relaxation exercises.
2 DON'T LET YOUR CLIENT MAKE YOU WORK FOR FREE: Don't feel that you have to work for a client who, after being reminded of a past due bill to your firm, promises to pay, but fails to follow through on that promise. Working for clients who won't pay is worse than not working at all. Remember to follow all procedures for withdrawing from the attorney-client relationship.
3 HANDLE MORE BUSINESS WITH "ONE TOUCH": Very busy people remain very effective by handling as much business as possible at the first encounter. Take the phone call, respond to the letter, file the response or delegate the task immediately when the entire matter can be disposed of with just one touch.
4 SET A FAIR FEE AT OR NEAR THE MARKET RATE: Setting your hourly or fixed rate too low attracts bargain hunters. Bargain hunters are looking to pay a low price, but they often still won't pay you. If the litigation becomes costly, the bargain-hunter client often will become angry and frustrated, and will probably take it out on you. Bargain hunters view low prices as desperation; it is a self-admission that your product is not valuable.
5 SLEEP: If you are experiencing any sleep difficulties, there are several strategies which are quite effective. Set a bedtime and a wake-up time and do not vary these, even on weekends. Begin a program of relaxation exercises, meditation or physical exercise.
6 DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN A VIABLE DUAL CALENDAR SYSTEM: If your calendar/docket is lost, stolen or "crashes," you'll have an accurate back-up. Develop a daily process to record new events in both calendars. As an added benefit, review and compare your main calendar day-by-day with the backup calendar at least twice per month. This will help you catch calendaring errors before they cause a problem.
7 LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE: Tell a good joke, remember a good punch-line. Cultivate humor through friends, read the daily comics or enjoy amusing books. Keep an e-mail joke folder and review it periodically.
8 PREVENT THE LOSS OF IMPORTANT CLIENT INFORMATION AND BILLING DATA: Purchase an automatic data backup system for your computer. Then set it to backup your work each evening, and do a full backup each week. Keep the weekly backup disk or tape in a secure location away from the office. The backup system will pay for itself the first time your hard drive crashes.
9 EXERCISE: Exercise is one of the most effective anti-stress and anti-depression tools in behavioral medicine. Try to build reasonable steps to a new lifestyle of increased exercise. Start with short exercise sessions three times per week, then build to longer periods. Do what you enjoy most: aerobics, walking, swimming, tennis, etc. Consult your doctor for further details before beginning.
10 EVALUATE THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF REPRESENTING EACH POTENTIAL NEW CLIENT: During telephone screening and initial consultation, evaluate the costs and benefits of representing this potential new client. This will help you identify problem clients before they become, well, a problem. Do they balk at advanced fee arrangements? Not have their checkbook to pay for initial consultation? Are you the second, third or sixth attorney? Did the client show up with an unorganized duffle bag full of papers? Did he or she endlessly complain about the present lawyer? If the answer is "yes" to any of these, consider saying "NO."
11 IMPOSE A QUITTING TIME: Workaholism is epidemic in the legal profession. Impose a quitting time and whenever possible, stick to it. Nobody on their death bed says: "I wish I'd spent more time at the office," and "you never see a U-haul at a funeral." Additionally, the level of productivity often drops to the level of diminishing returns towards the bitter end of the day.
12 DISPLAY YOUR LAW DEGREE, BAR ADMISSION AND COURT ADMISSION CERTIFICATES: Your clients will gain confidence seeing proof of your legal accomplishments, and it will remind you how hard you have worked to get where you are. Take pride in what you have done as a lawyer.
13 DELEGATE ONE SIGNIFICANT TASK: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat ...... Train your staff to perform more tasks. Good training and monitoring ensures that your staff will do the job as well as you.
14 SET SPECIFIC TIMES TO MAKE YOUR PHONES CALLS: Reduce your stress by curtailing the game of "phone tag." Studies show the best times to reach people in the office are between 9:15 and 11 a.m. and between 3 and 5 p.m. If you are having trouble reaching clients, set aside an hour or two per day for telephone calls during these times.
15 DEVELOP A DISASTER RECOVERY AND CONTINGENCY PLAN: They may seem rare, but "disasters" occur more often than we think: Fire sprinklers malfunction damaging computer and telephone equipment, office fires caused by another company in the same building, high-winds that disrupt telephone (voice and data) communications, floods damaging documents kept in lower level storage. Create a written plan for essential business functions to recover if a disaster occurs. Organize and gather information to get your systems and personnel back up and running as soon as it is safe and possible to work.
16 DON'T GET MAD AT THE THINGS YOU CANNOT CHANGE: Traffic jams, court delays, uncivil opposing counsel, etc. Channel your energy and determination into things you can change. Stop bad habits or foster good ones.
17 JUST SAY "NO": If you are overworked and still take on new tasks, learn to say "No" to colleagues and/or clients and, sometimes, family. Too many commitments can lead to burnout. Reduce your stress by learning to gauge the amount of work and commitments you can handle. When you have reached your limit, decline new clients or tasks until your workload lessens.
18 RECREATE A FAVORITE FAMILY OUTING OR COURTSHIP DATE: Remember all the good times you used to have? Do it again and create more good memories. There is also a real economy to resorting to the "tried and true." This is true for the planning economy and well as for the pleasure principle.
19 AFFIRMATIONS: 1) Identify and focus on positive specific behaviors, thoughts and emotions (e.g. "I really handled this much better"). 2) Identify negative cognitions, feelings and behaviors. Reassess negative reactions more realistically (e.g. look for progress not perfection). 3) Identify strategies for dealing pro-actively with a negative situation (e.g. 'I can take responsibility for this mistake, and make these corrections.")
20 USE NON-ENGAGEMENT AND DISENGAGEMENT LETTERS: Create these two form letters and develop a system to use them in every case. If you decline a prospective new client, send a non-engagement letter so he or she cannot later say you are his or her lawyer. At the end of each case, send a thank you letter to the client, and state that the matter is concluded and you are doing no further work on his or her behalf. (Follow any proper withdrawal procedures if the case is still on-going.)
21 TRY RELAXATION EXERCISES: Breathing and/or imagery techniques are great for short breaks each day. Sit back for a few minutes and remember a favorite vacation or mentally replay a game of golf. Try to use all of your senses (the sound of the surf, the smell of the salt air, the feel of the sun on your skin, the colors of the setting sun) and take poetic license (a golf game can be your favorite 18 holes played all together).
22 USE COLOR CODING OF FILE FORMS AND FILES TO MAKE IT EASIER TO LOCATE FILES AND DOCUMENTS WITHIN FILES: Develop a simple protocol within your office that everyone can use. For example, different types of cases such as personnel, contract or tax issues may have different colored files; this makes it easier for people to locate files in a busy office. Telephone conference notes, and meeting notes can also be written on different colored paper to make them easier to locate in a file.
23 PLAN YOUR DAY: Set a schedule for your activities each day. You may want to include time for uninterrupted work. Assess high versus low productivity times (e.g. first getting into the office, immediately after lunch) and schedule tasks accordingly.
24 THE PERSON WHO HAS THE MOST TOYS WINS: Keep several stress relieving toys in your desk drawer and take them out when the need arises -- five minutes is all it takes. Yo-yos, slinkys and "fast food" meal toys can be lots of fun. Be sure to share them with your colleagues.
25 TAKE A REAL BREAK AT LUNCH: Productivity studies have shown that taking a one-hour lunch break results in sustained quality and quantity of work. Procrastination, decreased quantity, and decreased quality are associated with skipping lunch or eating at one's desk.
26 ENJOY THE PROCESS, NOT JUST THE OUTCOME: Many of us live for certain moments or events. We ignore much of work and life between those special moments, causing us to miss much of life. And by so living, we become hurried and impatient trying to get to another special moment or event. Consciously focus on the process of what you do; learn to enjoy each aspect in the process. Learn to enjoy life.
27 PRACTICE GOOD NUTRITION (AND NOT BECAUSE YOUR MOTHER SAID SO): Improved nutrition is a very important aspect of behavioral medicine. Lighter meals and less excess weight yield increased energy. Increasing fruits and vegetables (even by one serving per day) is effective. Research has shown that small achievable steps toward a lifestyle change are more enduring and thus more effective than large changes.
28 SEND YOUR BILLS TO CLIENTS ON A REGULAR BASIS: Make them clear, informative and easy to read. Call a client before sending a large bill that will surprise or shock him or her.
29 DOCUMENT UNBILLABLE TIME: Evaluate and value this time. Burnout often occurs when individuals do not realize how hard they are working. Additionally, documenting unbillable time may create the opportunity to re-evaluate the efficiency of these hours.
30 ASK FOR HELP: This is true for many issues in life, but it is especially true for mental health issues of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. It is much easier to take care of a problem if it is caught early. And asking for help is not a sign of weakness. For confidential assistance, call the Oklahoma Bar Lawyers Helping Lawyers Program at (800) 364-7886.
The following resources may be consulted for further information:
Stress Management for Lawyers by Amiram Elwork (Vorkel Group, 1997)
"The Lawyer's Guide to Balancing Life and Work: Taking the Stress Out of Success" by George Kaufman (ABA Law Practice Management Section, 1999) Product code: 511-0367
"Life, Law and the Pursuit of Balance: A Lawyer's Guide to Quality of Life" edited by Jeffrey R. Simmons (published by the Maricopa County Bar Association in partnership with the State Bar of Arizona Young Lawyers Division and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division 1996 Product code: 511-0377
"Living with the Law: Strategies to Avoid Burnout and Create Balance" edited by Julie M. Tamminen (ABA Law Practice Management Section, 1996) Product code: 511-0379
"Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping" by Robert M. Sapolsky (June 1998)
[All books published by the ABA may be ordered by calling 1-800-285-2221.]
This article was part of the educational series presented at the Solo and Small Firm Conference June 1-3. A collection of educational presentations and material is available for purchase through the OBA Continuing Legal Education Department. Call CLE at (405) 416-7006 to place your order or for more information.
REID TRAUTZis a lawyer and practice management advisor for a Washington D.C. bar association, where he provides practice management information and consulting services to the bar's members. He is a frequent speaker on important issues facing lawyers in the business of law. He would like to thank Dr. David Schwartz for his contributions and assistance in developing these tips. Reid can be reached via e-mail at rtrautz@earthlink.net. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author.
