As goal-setting season approaches, let’s dive in and review why goal setting is important for lawyers’ business development, how to set effective goals, and how to achieve them.
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In his book “7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness,” Jim Rohn tells a story about a breakfast conversation that changed his life.
Just two weeks into working for entrepreneur John Earl Shoaff, Rohn was asked to share his list of goals. He didn’t have one.
Shoaff sighed and said, “Well, young man, looks like this is where we’d better start.” Then he added, “If you don’t have a list of your goals, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred dollars.” He guessed right.
That moment, Rohn said, made him “a student of the art and science of goal setting.”
Goals matter. Without them, we’re adrift. They’re particularly important when it comes to building a law practice, because without a business development goal at the forefront of your mind, it’s easy to default back to spending all your time billing hours.
Why Goals Matter
Lawyers are productive. They get things done. When it comes to their legal work, their productivity is aimed at specific tasks (writing briefs, negotiating the deal, creating the will) that are often subject to rules (page count, rules of civil procedure, laws and regulations) and deadlines. Accordingly, I bet you’re not explicitly setting goals like “finish the brief” — you’re just finishing the brief because that’s your job and there are real consequences if you don’t. Explicit goal setting is unnecessary.
It’s different when it comes to business development. Generally speaking, there are no rules. There are no deadlines, other than those you set for yourself. And there’s often a great deal of angst and uncertainty about how to move forward. As a result, it’s easy to spend 30 minutes mindlessly scrolling through LinkedIn and call it business development.
The point is, many lawyers try to be more productive when it comes to business development, but if that productivity takes you in the wrong direction, then it’s just wasted effort.
This is why goal setting is critical. Goals provide direction and motivation — they help us aim our productivity at the right target.
How to Set Effective Goals: 4 Components
There’s lots of advice out there about how to set effective goals. In the process of writing my book “The Productivity Pivot,” which contains an entire chapter on goal setting, I read and distilled the research and came to the conclusion that there are four key components of effective goal setting.
1. Set SMART Goals
The most well-known and, in my opinion, most effective technique for setting and achieving goals is the SMART goal framework, which is often attributed to the work of management consultant Peter Drucker. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.
Put simply, when setting goals, you need to state specifically what you will do, by when, and have a means to verify whether you’ve achieved your objective. Anything less is too ephemeral.
2. Write Down Your Goals
This advice may seem obvious, and you’ve probably heard it before, but it’s so important that it bears repeating. Research shows the simple act of writing down your goals significantly increases your odds of achieving them.
Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, did a study on goal setting with 267 participants from a wide range of professions and countries. She found that people are 40% more likely to achieve their goals when they write them down.
The act of reducing your goals to writing clarifies your intentions and forces you to get loosely held beliefs out of your head and into the world in the form of a clear written plan.
3. Prioritize Processes vs. Outcomes
Outcome goals are the most common type of goals set by lawyers. These goals focus on the desired result, such as “Bring in 10 new clients this year.” While outcome goals provide a clear target to work toward, they have a couple of limitations.
- First, outcome goals are often influenced by external factors beyond the lawyer’s control, such as market conditions or client preferences.
- Second, focusing solely on outcome goals can lead to a fixation on the result, rather than the steps needed to achieve it.
A better approach is to think in terms of processes. These goals focus on the daily actions and habits that lead to long-term success. Examples of process goals include “Spend 30 minutes each day reaching out to potential clients” or “Dedicate 2 hours per week to creating valuable content for my target audience.”
Process goals are entirely within the lawyer’s control and provide a clear roadmap for consistent progress.
A recent meta-analysis examining the impact of goal setting on performance provides compelling evidence for the superiority of process goals. The study found that process goals had a large effect on performance, while outcome goals had a negligible effect.
4. Have Fewer Goals
Many lawyers set too many goals, which clouds their focus. Here’s author James Clear’s take on this issue:
“What often looks like a problem of goal setting is actually a problem of goal selection. What we really need is not bigger goals, but better focus. You need to choose one thing and ruthlessly eliminate everything else. In the words of Seth Godin, ‘You don’t need more time, you just need to decide.’”
How to Achieve Your Business Development Goals
You’ve probably heard the old saying that “a goal without a plan is just a wish.” I agree with this, but would amend it to say that a plan and subsequent action is what’s required. By setting process goals, you have the foundation for your plan (“Spend 30 minutes each day reaching out to potential clients” or “Dedicate 2 hours per week to creating valuable content for my target audience”). But you also need to allocate the time necessary to take action on the plan.
This is where renowned investor Charlie Munger’s advice to “sell yourself time” every day comes into play. Block time on your calendar for business development every week. Treat these time blocks as meetings with your most important client — yourself. Be focused and productive during this time.
You need to have systems like this in place to achieve your goals. As James Clear advises, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Related Reading for Law Firm Associates
Sell Yourself One Hour of Your Time Every Day
Path to a Successful Legal Career: Learn to Love the Process
17 Things I Wish I Knew as a First-Year Associate
Lawyer Time Management: Four Productivity Building Blocks of Effective Lawyers
Making the Transition from Diligent Law Firm Associate to Rainmaking Partner
How to Set Yourself Up for a Productive Day
One of a Kind: A Proven Path to a Profitable Law Practice
BY JAY HARRINGTON
In today’s legal market, developing a profitable and consistent book of business requires a strategic approach. If you’re open to new ideas and are interested in growing your practice, this book is a great resource to kickstart the next stage in your career.
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