4 Time Management Tips for Legal Practitioners
For many legal practitioners, the job is very demanding. The expectation of 8–12 hours of work is not out of the ordinary. The legal industry is growing rapidly and constant demands from clients and partners can have you working around the clock.
The reality is that good organization and time management skills are not only crucial elements of a successful and satisfying legal career but are also critical skills needed in life.
Disorganization to a practising lawyer is quite expensive in terms of billable hours. However, the jobs of legal advisors and the likes who might not bill hourly can be time-dependent and demanding.
This and many more are reasons why the essence of time management cannot be overemphasized.
Here are Four Time Management tips for Legal Practitioners
1. De-clutter your space: Clear off the mess on your desk, so you can think straight. It’s is widely known that lots of litter all around us adds to feelings of stress. If you have a lot to look at on your Table, your mind will try to work on them simultaneously, making you lose concentration from your work. A clean workspace is also beneficial for your mental health. When your desk and office area is organized, it makes you feel good.
2. Quit Dismissing Technology: Estimating and capturing time on work done can be tedious. There are applications for everything. There are over two million applications available on both IOS and Android. There are several options that you can use to manage your time better and improve your practice. Time Apps like the Timenext app captures activities in real-time and ensures your time entries are recorded automatically.
3. Stop Multi-tasking: Unfortunately, you cannot really “manage” time. The only thing you can control is what you do with your time — in other words, your behaviours. In the Myth of Multitasking, author Dave Crenshaw believes that with multi-tasking you cannot accomplish two things which require you to expend mental energy at once. When you multitask, you are constantly switching back and forth between activities which he calls “switchtasking.” There is a widespread misconception that multitasking is doing two or more tasks simultaneously, this only creates the illusion of being busy rather than being productive.
4. Minimize Distractions: Distractions and procrastination are the number one enemies of productivity. At the end of the day, no matter how many rules observed to increase productivity, if procrastination and distractions are not minimized, there would be no positive results. Important approaches to lessen disturbances as you work on one task at a time are (1) Disregard notifications, (2) Take breaks before your attention Diminishes
Effective time management is very important for the success of any business. However, running a successful legal practice entails knowing how to manage time and that is why developing and encouraging certain habits, including the aid of tools, can help you best manage the limited time you have to work with.
