Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is for those of you who build time
Speaker 1: for a living. There is a big debate about whether
Speaker 1: this is the right approach to serving clients, but if
Speaker 1: you do it, certain practices can help make sure that
Speaker 1: you are more efficient and focused during the time you
Speaker 1: plan to work. Whenever I tell people to track their time,
Speaker 1: I suggest they think of themselves as lawyers billing their
Speaker 1: time to different projects. Intriguingly, many actual lawyers with billable
Speaker 1: hour quotas refuse to do this exercise. They get so
Speaker 1: accustomed to thinking of their work days in billable chunks
Speaker 1: that the idea of doing it for all their time,
Speaker 1: even for just a week, seems awful. Some do it,
Speaker 1: but very grudgingly. I find this fascinating because on some level,
Speaker 1: many jobs have an expectation of a certain number of
Speaker 1: working hours, yet putting a billable hour quota on it
Speaker 1: somehow makes life feel like a race against the clock.
Speaker 1: In any case, having an expectation of billable hours can
Speaker 1: make life stressful during times when it is hard to
Speaker 1: build ours. I was reminded of this when I got
Speaker 1: a note recently from someone whose law firm, like so
Speaker 1: many companies, had gone virtual during the pandemic. Many of
Speaker 1: the firm's lawyers were supervising virtual learning or had kids
Speaker 1: who are around a lot more than in the past,
Speaker 1: and the net result was a reasonable amount of household distraction,
Speaker 1: same as everywhere right, but the firm could see it
Speaker 1: in their billable hour totals. People either didn't bill as
Speaker 1: much as they would have been, possibly leaving clients short staffed,
Speaker 1: or they worked a lot of nights and weekends, which
Speaker 1: can over time lead to burnout. So what could be done?
Speaker 1: As with all people working at home and dealing with
Speaker 1: caregiving issues during the pandemic, the key is figuring out
Speaker 1: when you can focus and when it isn't possible to
Speaker 1: do long periods of focused work. Ensuring focus means designating
Speaker 1: someone else to cover the kid front. Usually that means
Speaker 1: switching off with a partner who may also be working
Speaker 1: from home, though of course you can switch off with
Speaker 1: a neighbor or other relative who is in your bubble too.
Speaker 1: High earning lawyers might also be able to hire childcare
Speaker 1: to get some focused hours. In any case, map out
Speaker 1: a coverage schedule, and then this is key. Map the
Speaker 1: work to the time. Weeks and days need to be
Speaker 1: planned very strategically. Figure out what work requires focus, figure
Speaker 1: out what work requires less focus. Then as soon as
Speaker 1: focused hours are available, start the billable work. This seems
Speaker 1: straightforward enough, but in my work with many lawyers over
Speaker 1: the years, and other folks too, I'd see that some
Speaker 1: would clear the decks before starting the billable stuff, hoping
Speaker 1: to get all their emails answered and administrative stuff done.
Speaker 1: Then they'd dive in. But that stuff can consume more
Speaker 1: time than you might imagine, and that stuff can also
Speaker 1: be done while you are in charge of the kids,
Speaker 1: and maybe they're playing independently for a few minutes or
Speaker 1: doing a school assignment. So plan the focused time to
Speaker 1: bill as much as possible. On my website a few
Speaker 1: months ago, I mapped out a schedule where each of
Speaker 1: two parties could get thirty hours per week of generally
Speaker 1: focused work by trading off the morning shift that is
Speaker 1: eight to one and the afternoon shift that is one
Speaker 1: to six, with a double booking of nap or early
Speaker 1: afternoon screen time hours that's one to three p m.
Speaker 1: For those who are curious, if you could bill most
Speaker 1: of that thirty hours. We are talking twenty seven twenty
Speaker 1: eight hours right there, all during the hours of eight
Speaker 1: to six and all pretty focused time then, and this
Speaker 1: is also key, make a list of small billable tasks.
Speaker 1: Professionals who build time often build their time in tenths
Speaker 1: of an hour, that's six minutes. It might be possible
Speaker 1: to get a handful of six minute tasks done during
Speaker 1: the hours you are covering, or later in the day
Speaker 1: at night, early morning, as long as you know what
Speaker 1: these tasks are so you don't waste available time deciding.
Speaker 1: And maybe you can't do a ton of these tasks,
Speaker 1: but five to ten per day, sure, that's thirty to
Speaker 1: sixty minutes of extra billable time, or another two and
Speaker 1: a half to five hours per week. Doing that gets
Speaker 1: us to about thirty two hours or so of billable time. Now,
Speaker 1: I'd say this is not bad given the remote learning
Speaker 1: situation going on. If you are a professional services firm
Speaker 1: hoping to keep people through this situation, accepting thirty two
Speaker 1: billable hours a week is probably a wise idea. If
Speaker 1: people can't build forty, and many people can't, it's much
Speaker 1: better to build thirty two than to just give up
Speaker 1: or to quit, because sadly, that is what a lot
Speaker 1: of people facing down caregiving responsibilities are doing, which is
Speaker 1: a loss for everyone. Times are definitely rough now, but
Speaker 1: I'd say that this is not a bad mindset to
Speaker 1: keep in the future when schools and daycares are open
Speaker 1: and time seems a bit more expansive. Don't answer the
Speaker 1: administrative emails. First, dive right into the billable stuff when
Speaker 1: time is available, and then you will maximize the billable stuff.
Speaker 1: Figure out small tasks, those six to twelve minute type
Speaker 1: tasks that are still billable, and make a list of
Speaker 1: them so you can tackle those when your energy is
Speaker 1: a bit more off. By doing this, you'll make sure
Speaker 1: you're getting credit for all your work and doing client
Speaker 1: work that counts when you're best able to handle it.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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