Sometimes, we struggle to make what we want to say clear.  And then, somebody comes along and say it for you.  So thank you to Sahil Lavingia (@shl).

Because you don’t need document automation software.

You need more clients.  You need them now.

You need to keep the clients that you do have.  You need to keep them happy.  Or, maybe if they will never be “happy” then just not unhappy with you.

You need to win all of your cases.  You need to close all of your deals.  You need to achieve all of your clients’ objectives.  Every.  Single.  One.  And when you don’t, you need to learn how to forgive yourself.

You need to do more.  You need to do more with less.  You need to do more with nothing.  You need to figure out how to make that last one actually a thing that could happen.

You need to stop saying that you need more hours in the day.  You need to let yourself realize that that’s never going to happen.  You need to also realize that even if somehow it did, you’d just end up filling up those hours with more work and then be back at the beginning saying the same thing anyway.

You need a vacation.  You need to go somewhere.  You need to internalize first that if there is a purpose to the Eiffel Tower, Machu Picchu, the Grand Canyon or even just Grandma’s house that it is not “where’s the best WiFi hotspot?”  You need to just leave your laptop at home.

You need to stop telling the office custodial staff to “have a good night.”  Not because you need to stop being polite.  You need to stop being there, as the only person left in the office late at night when the custodial staff shows up.  You need to go home.

If you have a home office, you need to close the door and step back.  You need to be outside your home office when you do that.

You need to walk the dog.  You need to spend some time with the cat.  The cat likes that, even if they will never let you know it.

You need to see a movie.  Not a movie on your laptop.  Not on an airplane.  Not binge-watched at 2am with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.  In a movie theatre.  With people.  People you know and like.  Like your friends or your family.

You need to remind your friends and family that you exist.  That you care.  You need to talk to your partner/spouse/significant other/whatever to remind them why they decided to be with you in the first place.  You need to remind your kids that they have always come first and always will.  You need to do all this without checking your phone every 3 minutes for that all-important client email or text you are of course expecting.

You need to stop saying that “they don’t pay me enough for this @%&!”  You really need to stop saying that out loud, before they stop paying you for this @%&!

You need to stop doing boring stuff over and over.  You need to stop telling yourself that you didn’t go to law school for this.  You need to stop wondering why you went to law school.

You need to stop reading the endless surveys and studies and reports that tell you just how bad it is for women lawyers, minority lawyers, LGBTQ lawyers, young lawyers, old lawyers, middle-aged lawyers, solos, small firm lawyers, big firm lawyers, corporate counsel, government lawyers, too-busy lawyers, bored lawyers, unemployed lawyers.  For whatever categories of those you fit into, you’ve lived it and you get it all to well.  You need to stop reading about it and do something about it for yourself.  You need to go back to your “to do” list and cross that item out and instead just do something.  Now.  Maybe throw out your “to do” list?

You don’t need document automation software.

You need to make your life as a lawyer, as a person, better.

We need to help you do that.

Need help? Click the button below and try Woodpecker today.