BusinessLawGuy's Blog

Winners know this. What do I mean?  Being able to adjust on the fly is important.  In my world it can mean abandoning the entire oral argument you spent hours preparing because of a question or statement by the judge.  Or a position taken by my opposing counsel or a client question.  The ability to shift gears on the fly allows you to be focused on the prize, whatever it may be.

Many times the change or adjustment does not need to be a split second decision.  What if you plan a new business initiative, spend hundreds of hours on it and then learn something has changed or you missed a piece of information that makes it more challenging to succeed?  Change is needed. Is it to scrap everything in the face of adversity?  Is it to rethink and tweak your plan?  Of course the true answer is that it depends on the situation.  But once you acknowledge change is needed you have taken the first step.

And this matters in your professional life.  Don’t become stagnant.  To be on the top of your game you have to know when to adjust.  Stay up to date on what you need to know to do what you do.  Information is power.  Information lets you know when you have to change or adjust.

Life is both a gift and a challenge in which we all can do a better job of doing our best for our customers and clients, as well as ourselves.  So pay attention!  And look for when you have to make adjustments and be open to change.

What do people remember?  Think of a favorite song.  What about it makes you listen?  Probably a distinctive element like a catchy riff or lyric.  It sticks in your head.

Making your case to a judge or jury, a pitch to a potential client or that short time you have when making your elevator speech is the same except the distinctive riff is an easy to remember sentence or phrase that sums up what you want people to remember.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Depends on the situation and the audience, but you can always come up with one.

Some are easier to come up with than others.  What if what you are trying to convey is more complex?  You can still do it.  Break down the concepts or message like you have to spoon feed them to a two year old.  That’s right!  Simplifying the important parts of your message helps you educate your audience.  Even if your conversation, presentation or even oral argument are longer, you tie it together by starting and finishing with your catch-phrase or one sentence summary you want remembered.

One way too come up with the sentence or catch-phrase is to really think about the message you want to convey, your audience, how much time you have.  If you do, odds are you will get your message across.  The simpler the better, which is easier for your audience remember.  And that’s the point.

Its mid-January 2014.  Hopefully you have had a good start to your year.  And maybe, if you made any, you are sticking to your resolutions.  Either way, you should now resolve to do at least one thing new or different.  The cliché “If things stay the same, they stay the same” exists because it is true.

For example, starting this blog was one of the ‘different’ things I did last year.  And there are many reasons why I have enjoyed doing it and continue to do it.  That doesn’t mean if you try something new or different you have to keep doing it.  If it isn’t enjoyable or doesn’t move you towards one of your goals for the year, stop (Yes, you should have goals, and write them down; This is a topic for another post…).  Then think of something else and set it in motion.

It is better if you come up with the ideas for something new or different because odds are it will be something you are interested in doing.  But, for instance, no matter your business or profession, we all benefit from meeting new people or exposure.  Does this mean joining a group, attending events, marketing activities or advertising?  Depends on you, your profession, business or company.  Or it may mean a combination of some of these ideas, and others.

It is easier to do nothing.  It saves you time and allows you to stay with what you know and like.  But in most cases it causes you to become stagnant and not progress how you would like to.  So if staying exactly the same works for you, you can do nothing.  Otherwise, start out 2014 right by trying some new and different things in your professional life.  And this works in your personal life too.

If you do try something new or different and have success or not, I am interested to hear about it and your experience.  If you are looking for ideas and want to bounce around ideas about new or different things you can try, please feel free to email or call me.