Lawsagna

Career advice from Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina is writing a series of articles on career development that you may want to check out.  Below are just a few excerpts, but please take time to read the articles in full, they will make you think.

From How to Create a Fulfilling Career:

When you succeed in creating a fulfilling career, it will be uniquely you.  Your career will absolutely ooze with your own creative self-expression.  It may take the external form of a job, a business, a web site, volunteer work, or some other entity, but it will never be generic because you are not a generic person.  The right career will be so ridiculously you that if you thought about replacing yourself with someone else, it just wouldn’t make sense.

From Do You Have a Deeply Fulfilling Career?

A fulfilling career is an effective outlet for your creative self-expression that satisfies the following criteria:

1. You are sustainably meeting your needs and increasing your ability to meet those needs with greater ease and abundance.
2. You are working from your strengths and further developing those strengths into major talents.
3. You are doing work you enjoy, and the overall enjoyment you derive from your work is increasing.
4. You are making a meaningful positive contribution to others, and that contribution is increasing over time.

From Career Planning:

Just because you can do something and get paid well for it doesn’t mean you should.

From Career and Commitment:

For most people, myself included, enjoying a good career is one of the most important goals in life.  But very rarely do people just fall into the career of their dreams.  It takes a combination of proactive thought and action.  While the steps to get there may require a lot of effort, they’re rarely unknowable or shrouded in mystery.  It’s usually just a matter of putting in the time and persisting.  If it takes years, it takes years, but delay won’t get you there any sooner.

From Exploring Career Choices:

Exploring is an integral part of any fulfilling career, not merely something you do before making the choice.  No career choice is final.

From 2 Mental Blocks to Making Money:

The notion that you generate income by trading value is a simple concept, but it’s amazing how many people still don’t get it.

From Discover Your Strengths:

I suggest you take at least one assessment test to gain clarity about your in-born strengths.  Working from your strengths will help you (1) be far more productive, (2) get better results, (3) contribute more value, (4) attract higher compensation, (5) enjoy your work, and (6) experience greater fulfillment.

From The Challenge of Choosing the Right Career:

Once you recognize your mistake, cut your losses and get out as soon as possible.  A wrong decision doesn’t become a right decision by pretending.  Forgive yourself and move on.

From Career Apathy:

A bad career choice can serve up some major emotional consequences.  First comes discontent and dissatisfaction.  Next comes frustration and overwhelm.  Then comes depression and learned helplessness.  And finally you get numbness and apathy.

From You Are Self-Employed:

Even if you seemingly work for someone else, you still work primarily for yourself.  You have your own company with one employee — you — and you’re in the business of selling your employee’s labor for profit.

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Step 16:  Memorizing

Even in this day and age when a lot of information is at your fingertips, memorization is still an essential component of learning.  We just have to remember certain things, there is no way around it.  The memory acts like a glue allowing us to put various pieces of information together and transform them into usable knowledge.  So it is only appropriate to review various techniques that may help us remember things better.   Some of them are well-known, others are more unique and often overlooked. 

1. Mnemonics are easy-to-remember combinations of letters or images that can help you memorize concepts and lists.  For example, the letters of a catchy word, phrase, or rhyme can represent the items in the list you need to memorize.  If you remember the mnemonic, you can then reconstruct the list.    
2. An effective way to aid your memory is to look for associations and metaphors that help you peg the new information to something you already know.  For example, you can create memorable hypotheticals by associating a concept you are trying to learn with a scenario from a well-known book or movie.  Here’s how – with the story of the Crow.
3. Use the “Memory Palace” visualization technique when you need to memorize a sequence of items.  First, you choose your “memory palace”, which can be any place or route that you remember well.  Next, you place your thoughts or images that you want to remember next to the distinctive points in the rooms of your palace or along your route. Those points serve as memory hooks.  When you need to recall the material, you mentally walk through the palace and “collect” the pieces of information that you left at each distinctive point. 
4. Create crossword puzzles for the subject matter you study. Crossword puzzles help memory by presenting the material in both visual and verbal formats.  You can use a crossword to connect related items that you need to remember together.  It is a good way to brush up on terminology.  And it is a fun activity for a study group.  Best of all, with a variety of free crossword puzzle making software available, it is really easy, just search for a “crossword maker.”  All you need is to come up with the words and their clues, and the software will generate a crossword puzzle for you.
5. PQ4R is a popular method of working with text to remember it better.  PQ4R stands for Preview, Question, and four R's: Read, Reflect, Recite, Review.  You begin with a preview of the text to get an idea of how the material is organized and what it is about.  Next, you come up with questions about the text. Then, you read the text with your questions in mind and reflect on it, looking to connect the new material with what you already know.  Later, you put away the text and recite the main points out loud in your own words.  The final step is to review.  Summarize the main points and test your comprehension with more questions.
6. If you need to memorize a complex concept, try creating a memory collage.  Pick the key elements and relationships that describe the concept.  Then, find images that you associate with those elements and arrange them in a collage trying to reflect the relationships among the underlying elements.  A memory collage allows you to see the concept as a whole while the verbal description can only be sequential.
7. Use the smell-coding technique to evoke associative learning – a process by which you link one item, in this case the subject matter you are studying, to another item – a particular aroma.  For example, as you study, you can use certain performance-enhancing essential oils, such as citrus smells (orange or lemon oil), which promote mental awareness and concentration, or peppermint, which improves the performance of clerical tasks by increasing attention.  Later, when you need to recall the material you were studying, you help your memory by smelling the aroma associated with that subject matter. 
8. Study in multiple sessions with longer breaks.   If you space out your review sessions a month apart, you may find that you will remember the material longer, according to a study done by Doug Rohrer and Harold Paschler that measured how well the participating students remembered the material tested at different times depending on their studying patterns (reported by Wray Herbert at We’re Only Human…). 
9. Manage your stress because it affects your memory.  Short-term, acute stress can help you concentrate and remember things better.  The adrenal glands respond to the initial dose of stress by immediately releasing adrenalin, which can help your performance.  Long-term stress, however, has the opposite effect.  If the stress is severe or persistent, the adrenals release cortisol, which damages the neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is central to memory and learning.
10. Last but not least, take afternoon naps as they help to absorb large quantities of information and improve memory.

Orientation Series:  21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner:
Step 1:  Setting your learning objectives
Step 2:  Taking an inventory of your skills
Step 3:  Taking an Inventory of Your Learning Tools
Step 4:  Finding opportunities for cognitive apprenticeship
Step 5:   Determining the "IIQ" of what you read
Step 6:  Choosing helpful books for law students
Step 7:  “The Three 'P's of Performance” in Action
Step 8:  Tapping into your social networks
Step 9:  Identifying your learning barriers
Step 10:  Finding your sources of motivation
Step 11:  Managing your energy
Step 12:  Focusing on how you think
Step 13:  Mastering informal learning and professional development
Step 14:  Asking Good Questions
Step 15:  Condensing your knowledge

Gearing up for work after holidays

As I am emerging from my turkey-induced coma, I think about the ways to ease the transition back into the world of work and productivity.  Here are a few things that seem to help me:

• Schedule some thinking and planning time before you start the work.  Thinking about the work can serve as a bridge to actually doing it.
• Get organized.  You need a routine that will keep you focused and moving forward.  As part of your planning, break down the task at hand into small steps.  It is easier to complete smaller parts of the project one by one than to tackle the whole project at once.  If you plan your exam preparation, check out my earlier post “Strategies and tools to plan your exam preparation.”
• Make yourself commit to your plan by writing down a few goals for the day.
• Boost your mood.  Before you start your work, read or listen to something that motivates you.  Start your work day off right!
• Enlist a buddy to keep you on track with your plan.  Your buddy can help you stay accountable for your progress and cheer you up when you need support.  Positive social interactions have an added benefit of boosting your immune system.
• Have something to look forward to.  Think of little rewards you can give yourself when you complete each part of the longer project. 
• Accessorize. That’s right, add some flare to your surroundings.  Office supplies are not just about function.  Appearances matter when it comes to work motivation.  Visit Office Playground for fun office ideas.

What eases your transition to work?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many thanks to all my readers! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Healthy Thanksgiving

I like to cook and eat during the holidays.  I don’t concern myself too much with low fat cooking on Thanksgiving, it is a celebration after all.  On the other hand, I don’t want to pack on extra pounds either.  (By the way, you may have heard that people typically gain 5 to 10 pounds during the holidays.  This claim may be a bit exaggerated.  Studies show that most people gain about a pound, only 10 percent of people gain more than 5 pounds. Not that it is an excuse to overindulge.  The bad news is that those extra pounds are hard to lose and they add up over the years.)  I don’t pour spoonfuls of melted butter over food if I can help it, so I was receptive to the idea of checking out healthy Thanksgiving recipes from EatingWell.  I think I will give their Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie a try.  You can’t go wrong with the pumpkin and ice-cream combination.

For tips on how to avoid packing on extra pounds, check out this article from NIH News in Health.

150 Resources to Help You Write Better from OEDb

Online Education Database has a list of  “150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively.”  The list is organized according to the following categories:  Almanacs, Business and Legal Matters, Citation Styles, Dictionaries, English Language Skills, Genres, News Digests, New Media Resources, Organization, Professional Organizations, Rhetoric, Toolboxes, Writing Services, Writing Skills, Writing Software. You will want to bookmark it. 

Do you have a dreamboard?

Last weekend, my family was busy creating dreamboards.  It turned out to be a very enjoyable exercise.  It is something you may consider doing with your family around the holidays.  A dreamboard is a collection of images that represent something you want to attain in your life.  You can clip inspirational pictures from magazines, add text or anything else you like and then attach everything to a poster board.  You want to choose a spot for your dreamboard where you can see it often.  The idea is to look at it, internalize it, and start manifesting your desires.  Here are my observations so far:

I am not very crafty, so I was surprised to see how engaging it was to search for images, clip and arrange them on the board.  I felt a bit like a kid at play.  Not something we do often as adults.    

It was easier to evoke emotions with images than with thoughts alone.  The exercise created a nice union of reasoning and feeling, which left me more inspired and determined to pursue my dreams.

Finding the right pictures took longer in the beginning, but as time progressed, good images began jumping out at me.  I think this was the result of letting my imagination run free. 

Occasionally, an image would catch my eye, but I wasn’t sure why I wanted it on my dreamboard.  The reason usually revealed itself if I looked at the image long enough.  To me, this just shows that we are not always conscious of what we really want, but we can get at it by noticing our emotions and listening to our intuition.  The process of creating a dreamboard increases self-awareness. 

I am not sure if I should ascribe any meaning to the actual positioning of the elements on my board.  It is something I still ponder. 

We actually talked about our dreamboards and the images we chose.  There was power in voicing and sharing our dreams.

I like looking at my dreamboard every day.  It definitely gives me more motivation to act on the things that matter to me.  I also like the fact that I can see all my dreams at the same time in one place, while I can only think of one or maybe two at a time. 

Dreaming doesn’t stop.  I will continue to add more images to my dreamboard. 

Do you have a dreamboard?  What does it do for you?

Free download of EverNote at Giveaway of the Day

For all note-takers out there, Giveaway of the Day offers a free download of EverNote:

EverNote allows you to easily capture any information you like, and find it whenever you want. Create text or handwritten notes, import mobile phone snapshots, clip web pages, and grab content from any application directly into EverNote - so everything is kept in a single place.

Once your data is in EverNote, find it quickly using our advanced search, automatic and custom categories, and intuitive interface.

EverNote innovates by storing content on an endless, virtual roll of paper. You can quickly scroll chronologically through your notes similar to scanning through handwritten notes in a notebook.

The free download is only available today, so hurry up if you want it. 

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Step 15:  Condensing your knowledge

One of the important steps of information processing is to condense what you have learned into a manageable and memorable format.  The goal is to produce your own knowledge concentrate that you can later use to create new, fresh combinations of ideas and applications.  Try the following approaches to knowledge synthesis:

Outlining.  Outlining is a way to synthesize the material by showing relationships among various concepts.  For example, law students create outlines for each subject they study on the basis of their class notes, casebooks and any additional resources they use. Their outlines are summaries of the material that list main categories, legal standards and rules, cases, illustrations, and anything else that students may find useful. The process of outlining enables students to review the material and solidify their knowledge. Outlines help students to see the big picture.  Consider how certain notions applicable to advertising can be used to make the content of your outline more memorable.   

Mind-mapping.   Mind mapping is a powerful technique that allows you to capture the natural flow of your ideas in their relation to one another.  The goal of learning is to connect the new information to what you already know.  A mind map is a non-linear way of representing information.  You start with a word or image that symbolizes the subject of your attention in the center of a blank page.  You record the main themes by branching outward from the central image.  As ideas emerge, you place key words, images, symbols on branches and sub-branches connected to the "triggers." 

Wikis.  Wikipedia, one of the best known examples of wikis, gives the following definition:  “A wiki is a type of computer software that allows users to easily create, edit and link web pages.”  A great feature of wikis is that a group of people can work on a project collaboratively, making changes, adding information, linking to other resources as needed.  If you have a study group or a mastermind group, a wiki can be a great tool for brainstorming and knowledge synthesis. 

Note-taking.  We are all familiar with traditional note-taking.  The issue is how to use it effectively as a tool of knowledge synthesis.  Here are a few ideas:

• Get into a habit of taking notes as you read.  Then, use the notes to summarize what you have read.
• Add an organizational structure to your notes by highlighting keywords, using meaningful subheadings, bullet points or numbers to list items.
• Be selective and concise.
• Develop a system of abbreviations and symbols for frequently used words and concepts.
• Use visuals, such as pictures, tables, time lines, concept trees whenever you can.
• Review your notes on a regular basis and incorporate them into more highly organized systems, such as outlines, mind-maps or wikis.

Q&As.   Putting what you have learned into the Q&A format can help you prepare for exams and presentations by forcing you to think about the questions that can test your understanding and contexts in which the new information may appear.  For example, you can create hypotheticals and then write out your answers to test yourself.  For this technique to work, you should start with valid, genuine questions about the subject matter.  Don’t just turn a piece of information you already know into a question.   

Learning boards.  Similar to a dream board, a learning board is a collection of images that represent something you want to learn.  You list your learning goals, create mind maps, clip relevant pictures and articles from magazines, do your own sketches and attach them to a poster board.  Try to position the elements on your learning board to reflect the relationships among concepts and ideas.  Make your learning board visually stimulating to boost your creativity and aid your memory.

Presentations.  Creating a presentation on the subject that you are learning can be a great way to bring various pieces of information together in an easily digestible form.  You have probably heard the saying: “If you want to learn something, teach it.”  When you need to explain something to others, you have to look for the most straightforward way to present the information.  This brings clarity and precision to your own thoughts.  You should also be prepared to explain the same idea differently to accommodate a variety of learners.  Repeating the information will cause you to remember it better.  If you belong to a study group, you can make presentations a component of your group meetings.

What methods do you use to synthesize information?

Orientation Series:  21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner:
Step 1:  Setting your learning objectives
Step 2:  Taking an inventory of your skills
Step 3:  Taking an Inventory of Your Learning Tools
Step 4:  Finding opportunities for cognitive apprenticeship
Step 5:   Determining the "IIQ" of what you read
Step 6:  Choosing helpful books for law students
Step 7:  “The Three 'P's of Performance” in Action
Step 8:  Tapping into your social networks
Step 9:  Identifying your learning barriers
Step 10:  Finding your sources of motivation
Step 11:  Managing your energy
Step 12:  Focusing on how you think
Step 13:  Mastering informal learning and professional development
Step 14:  Asking Good Questions

   

Exam tips

It is this time of the year again when many students feel that exams are appoaching with the speed of light.  And there is still so much to do.   Here is a round-up of my earlier exam tips to help you study:

To choose or not to choose:  multiple choice tests
Get your pens ready: it’s time to scribble
Put on your detective hat:  we are going issue-spotting
5 studying myths dispelled
Strategies and tools to plan your exam preparation
How to take exams with the champion’s mindset
The mosaic of legal analysis
Best diet before a test

"Let's Say Thanks" website

As we remember and honor our veterans today, we may also want to extend our appreciation to soldiers serving overseas this holiday season.  "Let's Say Thanks" website, sponsored by Xerox, allows you to choose a free personalized postcard that will be then printed and sent to U.S. military personnel stationed overseas.  The postcards are designed by children across the country.  (Hat tip to Build A Solo Practice, LLC).

Fortune Cookie

A Brand You World - Global TeleSummit

Today I am listening in on “A Brand You World - Global TeleSummit.”  Here are just a few presentations I want to hear:

10am ET: Evangelizing Evangelists to Build a Business and Build Your Brand a panel facilitated by Guy Kawasaki with Krishna De, John Jantsch, Andy Sernovitz, Tim Demello.

11am ET: How To Write A Great Business Blog with Debbie Weil.

12pm ET:  How Coaching For Performance Can Help Your Employees Develop Their Personal Brand and Realise Their Potential with Carol Wilson.

4pm ET: Promoting Brand You with Viral Marketing on the Web with David Meerman Scott.

6pm ET: Identity You: Creating a Personal 5x5 Branding Strategy with Phil Gerbyshak.

If you can’t listen to this event today, the recordings will be available as a free podcast on Monday.  You need to register to get the instructions for accessing the podcast.

Should professors prepare law students for disappointing exam results?

Grant Morris raises this interesting question in the research paper entitled "Preparing Law Students for Disappointing Exam Results: Lessons from Casey at the Bat."   The article highlights the emotional toll of the first-year finals and offers a strategy to prepare law students for the realities of the exam results.  Here’s the abstract:

It is a statistical fact of life that two-thirds of the law students who enter law school will not graduate in the upper one-third of their law school class. Typically, those students are disappointed in their examination grade results and in their class standing. Nowhere does this disappointment manifest itself more than in their attitude toward their classes. In the fall semester of their first year, students are eager, excited, and willing to participate in class discussion. But after they receive their first semester grade results, many students withdraw from the learning process - they are depressed and disengaged. They suffer a significant loss of self-esteem. This article considers whether law professors should prepare their students for the disappointing results - the poor grades - that many are certain to receive. I assert that professors do indeed have a role to play - in fact, a duty to their students - to confront this problem. I offer a strategy by which professors can acknowledge students' pre-examination anxiety and deal constructively with their impending disappointment. There are lessons to be learned from Casey at the Bat, Ernest Lawrence Thayer's immortal poem about failure.

Hat tip to Law School Innovation.

Blogging at the age of 95

When Maria Amelia Lopez of Spain turned 95, she received an unusual birthday present from her grandson – a blog.  The introduction to her blog reads:

My friends in Internet, today I am 95 years old. My name is Amelia and I was born in Muxía (A Coruña - Spain) on December the 23rd of 1911. Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog. 

Maria Amelia Lopez is a true inspiration for life-long learners everywhere.  Her blog now has 60,000 regular readers from all over the world.  She found a way to connect to younger generations.  People tell her their life stories and ask for advice.  She writes in Spanish, so refresh your language skills. 

And here is the link to The New York Times article about her, "Spain's Blogging Gran A Hit With Surfers."

How to maintain a positive outlook when you are stressed

Is the stress of approaching finals getting to you?  If so, Law School Academic Support Blog has some advice on how to maintain a positive outlook in this challenging time and help others do the same. 

Are you too busy to even consider any positive changes?  In his article “Let Your Subconscious Mind Go to Work for You,” David J. Pollay describes an exercise you can do every morning to harness the power of your subconscious.  It won’t take a lot of time, and the results may be well worth it.

What do you do to manage your stress?

Big Law Rankings on Diversity

If you want to know how big law firms rank when it comes to diversity, check out www.betterlegalprofession.org.  Their statistics cover six major markets:  New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, Northern California, and Southern California-LA.  The firms are ranked in five categories:  female, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, and openly gay.  The numbers come from the public, online directory of law firm employment statistics maintained by the National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP). 

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Step 14:  Asking Good Questions

Questions are the power tool of learning.  They drill through the surface into deeper layers of meaning and understanding.  They shape and guide our thinking.  Asking good questions of yourself and others is an important skill of life-long learners.  It is even more valuable than knowing the answers because answers frequently change in our fast-paced world.   How do you make your questions more powerful?   

• Anticipate.  Use questions to propel yourself forward.  Look into the future and play with “What if” scenarios.   
  Example:  What if we did the impossible?  What would happen then? 
• Ask open-endedly.  Open-ended questions are more engaging.  They expand rather than limit your thinking.  Get comfortable with WH-questions:  Who, What, When, Where, How, Why.
  Example:  How can I do it differently?
• Change Assumptions. Ask questions to make a leap into the unknown and push yourself to the edges of your comfort zone.   Rebel against your own linear thinking.  Connect the opposites, flip the assumptions, mock the established theories.   
  Example:  How can we do the impossible?
• Seek relevancy.  Ask questions that are relevant to your life and your unique situation.  You want the knowledge gained from your questions to have a direct impact on you.
  Example:  What is the most important thing we should be addressing right now?
• Be authentic.  Ask authentic questions that reflect your values and aspirations.   When we connect to the subject matter on the emotional level, we feel more engaged, and as a result, we learn and remember better.   
  Example:  Why does it matter?
• Practice empathy.  Step into the shoes of someone affected by the question.  What are their fears and hopes?  Use questions to bridge the gap between the opposing points of view by revealing common interests, values, goals.  Questions promote collaboration while assertions may lead to unproductive conflicts. 
  Example:    How do you feel about...?

What are your favorite powerful questions?

Orientation Series:  21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner:
Step 1:  Setting your learning objectives
Step 2:  Taking an inventory of your skills
Step 3:  Taking an Inventory of Your Learning Tools
Step 4:  Finding opportunities for cognitive apprenticeship
Step 5:   Determining the "IIQ" of what you read
Step 6:  Choosing helpful books for law students
Step 7:  “The Three 'P's of Performance” in Action
Step 8:  Tapping into your social networks
Step 9:  Identifying your learning barriers
Step 10:  Finding your sources of motivation
Step 11:  Managing your energy
Step 12:  Focusing on how you think
Step 13:  Mastering informal learning and professional development