Lawsagna

How To Think Clearly Under Pressure

About a week ago, I was at a seminar conducted by David Rock, the author of the recently published book "Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long."  It was an engaging and thought-provoking presentation that challenged many of our typical work habits that we think serve us well.  One of the insights had to do with thinking clearly under pressure.  We've all been there:  when we need to come up with a solution fast in stressful circumstances, and our mind "freezes."  There's an explanation for that. 

The prefrontal cortex, the brain region implicated in planning complex cognitive tasks, decision making, and moderating correct social behavior, is easily overwhelmed.  We can process just about seven pieces of information in our conscious mind at any given moment.  The more data we have to deal with, the harder it becomes to think clearly. 

In addition, our frontal lobes consume lots of energy.  When we experience strong negative emotions, as when we are angry or under stress, the glucose goes to the amygdala in the limbic system of the brain, triggering the "fight or flight" mode.  The prefrontal cortex doesn't have enough energy to think clearly anymore.  That's how our mind "freezes." 

On top of that, our brain is more attuned to negative information and tends to perceive anything unfamiliar as a threat.  Uncertainty is a threat.  Change is a threat.  Loss of face is a threat.  This response has good evolutionary reasons, it helped our predecessors survive.  Most of the threats in our daily life, however, are not "life or death" scenarios, but the brain is wired to react to them as if they were that serious.  With all that negativity bias of the brain and the limited capacity of the prefrontal cortex, how can we think better under pressure?  The following three steps may help.

1. Become aware of the strong negative emotions and how they affect your thinking.  Self-awareness is the most important brain optimization tool.  Without it, you are prone to repeat the same patterns over and over again because the brain likes to conserve energy, predict your typical responses, and activate them automatically.
2. Label the negative emotion you are experiencing.  Studies have shown that labeling emotions with just a word or two reduces their effect.  Say the label out loud if you can.
3. If your emotions are triggered by a specific situation, try to reframe it in a less threatening way for the brain.  Your interpretation needs to make sense, and it must be believable to you.  One more thing.  You have just a few seconds to reframe before the prefrontal cortex experiences the energy drain.  Not a lot time, I know, but it's worth practicing if you want to learn how to think clearly under pressure.  Remember: things are rarely as good or as bad as they seem.   

Since your brain is most creative when it's well rested and not over-stimulated with data and distractions, for example, in the morning or during a walk in nature, it is a good idea to think about how you would deal with common stressors in your life while the waters are still calm.  It doesn't matter to the brain whether you see something with your eyeballs or in your mind's eye, so rehearse your reactions in advance.  Reframe your triggers and picture yourself handling a difficult situation with ease and grace.

How to deal with difficult people, rejections, and negative opinions of others

How do you deal with difficult people?  Are you bothered by conflicts, rejections, or negative opinions of others?  Most of us are.  Somehow, it's hard to stay detached and let go.  Some of us spend much time reflecting on past conversations, thinking of what was said, and how it was said, and what it meant.  

I notice how my 4-year-old daughter is learning her social skills.  When she comes back from her playschool, she now likes to talk about who her friend is and who isn't, and who is "mad" at whom.  Their friendships and preferences come and go, and their little disagreements and disappointments with one another are easily forgotten.  It's all light-hearted at this point.  Interestingly, it is in this tender age, before our cognition is fully developed, when we form many of our subconscious brain maps and beliefs.  And as we grow, these subconscious beliefs may make it more difficult for us to forget, forgive, and move on.

The good news is that we can change our reactive patterns.  We cannot control other people's behavior, so the best approach is to learn to manage our own responses.  It becomes easier if we understand how our brain responds to perceived threats.  Because so many of our beliefs are subconscious, as adults, we may not even be aware of what pushes our buttons and why.  We may just notice that we become defensive, stressed, or self-critical.  If the brain recognizes something as a threat, it activates the amygdala, which is part of the limbic system of the brain, responsible for the emotional control and memory of our emotional reactions.  The limbic system can process something as a threat even before the stimulus reaches conscious awareness, triggering the "fight or flight" response. Our body is then flooded with cortisol, and the decision-making and rational parts of the brain shut down to mobilize our resourced for the attack or retreat.   

In addition, the brain evolved to be sensitive to status and authority, i.e. how we look relative to someone else.  As a result, we tend to worry about what others think of us.

Sometimes, just understanding these "quirks" of the brain and becoming aware of what's happening to us in the moments when our buttons are pushed can be helpful. Reframing the situation to lessen the threat is also helpful. We can change the brain's processing of our usual triggers if we consciously choose a behavior different from what we tend to do.  In other words, we can create new neural pathways in the brain with better responses.  So, once we become aware of what's happening, it helps to switch our mind to something that produces positive emotions fast and can reward the brain with the "feel good" molecules, like dopamine. The quicker we can replace the negative reaction with a positive one and the longer we can sustain the positive, the easier it will be for the brain to rewire itself. 

Next time you have to deal with negative reactions, difficult people, or explosive situations, start practicing this "reframe-switch-sustain" approach.  A similar process was used by psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and described in his book "Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior."   The consistent application of his neuroplasticity-based technique helped the patients improve their OCD symptoms and caused the corresponding physical changes in the brain, which were confirmed by brain scans.  This practice can also help us with our everyday worries and anxieties.

Finally, it's good to remember that our brains are social and mirror emotional responses.  We have the power to manage our own reactions and help others step out of their trigger points if we engage with love, kindness, fairness, and support.

If you want to improve focus, ask these two questions

"What we call thinking is also a process whereby psychic energy gets ordered.  Emotions focus attention by mobilizing the entire organism in an approach or an avoidance mode.  Goals do it by providing images of desired outcomes.  Thoughts order attention by producing sequences of images that are related to each other in some meaningful way."
~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "Finding Flow"

Back in the fall of 1997, I was getting ready to apply to law school.  As part of the application process, I had to take the LSAT exam.  All I remember about the day of the exam now is that it was beautiful and sunny, and I didn't look forward to spending most of it in a classroom full of agonizing law school applicants, like myself, trying to figure out logical patterns and compose essays.  The rest is murky in my memory right now.  What I also remember is that a couple of months later, I got a big yellow envelope in the mail, and I was very anxious to open it because I expected to see the results of my test.  To my surprise, the envelope didn't have my LSAT score.  Instead, it had a letter stating that I had an option of retaking the exam if I wished because something had happened during the test.  Apparently, a car alarm went off nearby while the exam was in progress, and the noise lasted for a while and distracted a number of test-takers.  They complained to the organization that administered the LSAT, which resulted in the option to retake the whole exam.  Interestingly, I didn't remember hearing any car alarm during the exam.  I wasn't distracted by it - it simply didn't register in my mind.  Nevertheless, I had a decision to make whether to take the LSAT again, in which case it would override the score of the earlier exam, and of course, I had no idea how I did on the first test.  I didn't want to take it again, so I opted out.  Fortunately, I did all right the first time around, so I didn't come to regret my decision. 

You may be wondering by now why I am telling you this story, and I promise, it is relevant to what I am about to share with you.  The reason I was able to tune out the noise during that exam is not because I can focus so well or because I have hearing difficulties.  More likely, it was because I incidentally tapped into the secret ingredient of focus power.  If this ingredient is present, your ability to focus increases significantly.  When it's absent, your mind may be looking for a distraction or preoccupied with worry, doubt, or anxiety.

So, would you like to know how to turn your mind into a laser beam?  Getting the secret ingredient right is not always easy but well-worth a try.  It was discovered by psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi and described in his book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" :

The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile….Such experiences are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur.  The swimmer's muscles might have ached during his most memorable race, his lungs might have felt like exploding, and he might have been dizzy with fatigue – yet these could have been the best moments of his life. 

Csikszentmihalyi calls this state of engagement "the flow."  If you want to have a better chance to be absorbed in an activity, ask yourself the following two questions:

•    Is this too easy for me? 
If it is, you will likely become bored quickly and lose focus.  Your brain will look for something else to attend to.
•    Is this too difficult for me? 
If the activity is too hard, your brain will view it as a threat, triggering strong emotions.  In this case, you lose concentration because you feel anxious, stressed or full of doubt.      

The magic happens when you get it right, when you are challenged and stretched by what you are doing, but your mind perceives it as doable.   

That's what probably happened during my LSAT test.  I had practiced and believed I could do it, so it was a challenge that matched my skills, which helped me stay focused. 

As you go about your days, ask yourself the two questions above and remember that your power to focus lies somewhere in the middle between "too easy" and "too hard."

TED Talk: Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

Daniel Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind" and the upcoming book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" gave a thought-provoking talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at TED conference.  Current research indicates that extrinsic rewards may help us perform better in a narrow range of tasks that have a well-defined objective and a clear set of rules.  According to Pink, extrinsic rewards "narrow focus and restrict possibilities."  That's why they are not effective in situations that require us to think "outside the box."  If we want to boost engagement and creativity at work, we need intrinsic motivation, which includes three main components:

Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives.
Mastery: The desire to get better at something that matters.
Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Yawn, smile, and simplify

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
~ Leonardo da Vinci

I was reading my Sunday paper last weekend and saw a cartoon depicting two birds sitting on a wire.  They were watching the third bird that was about to fall down and was struggling to hold on to the wire.  The caption read "You're overthinking this, Phil."  

Do you sometimes complicate things excessively?  I am guilty of it, I'll admit.  Here's a related belief that comes up in coaching:  we distrust simple solutions.  If something is too easy, it can't be the answer.  Are you familiar with that kind of thinking? Yet, simple practices can be very effective in producing remarkable results. 

Take an example of recent neuroscience discoveries in the area of brain health.   A few weeks ago, I was at a workshop conducted by Mark Robert Waldman, co-author of "How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist."   The topic was "Imagination, Reality, and Maintaining a Healthy Brain."  When it comes to maintaining a healthy brain, the strategies are simple and effective when done consistently.  The authors list eight ways to exercise your brain to enhance your physical, mental and spiritual health.  The easiest two may surprise you. 

Do you know, for example, that a simple act of yawning improves alertness and concentration, optimizes brain metabolism, lowers stress, and increases memory recall among other things?  Now, that's what I call brain efficiency.  So, yawn on purpose.  In fact, do it right now.  Take a deep breath and get yourself into the yawning mood.  If you have people around, that's even better because yawning is contagious. It can even improve group cohesiveness because it helps people synchronize their behavior with others. 

If you are tired of yawning, smile.  Smiling stimulates brain circuits that strengthen empathy and a positive outlook on life.  Even if you don't feel like smiling, try it anyway.  You'll give a signal to your subconscious that you are happy, and it can improve your mood.  

Yawn, smile, and simplify! That's today's lesson.

Life Metaphors: An Exercise in Creative Thinking

Life can feel like a roller coaster - the highs and the lows, the fear and the exhilaration - all coming in rapid succession.  Life can also be like an airplane - always self-correcting to stay on course.  To Albert Einstein, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

What would be a good metaphor for you to describe the way you experience life right now?

When we think in metaphors, we directly compare unrelated or dissimilar objects and situations.  Metaphorical thinking has benefits beyond the poetic and aesthetic value of metaphors.  Metaphors can improve our understanding and help us solve problems.

Metaphors expand meaning by transcending the literal and structural interpretation.  The whole meaning is greater than, and often different from, the sum of its parts.  According to research led by V. S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, a region of the brain known as the angular gyrus is at least partly responsible for the human ability to understand metaphors.  The angular gyrus is strategically located at the crossroads of areas specialized for processing touch, hearing and vision. 

Metaphors reveal subtle patterns that can otherwise fall beyond our perceptive powers.  But beware:  because of their ambiguous, emotive and nonlinear nature, metaphors can confuse as well as illuminate.  Be patient with yourself and the process.  The idea is to probe and peel the layers and be open to what you may find.

To experience the creative power of metaphors, do the following exercise, adapted from the book "Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques" by Michael Michalko:

1.    Think of a challenge or a choice you are facing.

2.    Instead of describing it in words, browse some old magazines, newspapers or catalogs and cut out images that symbolize your challenge or choice.

3.    Move your pictures around, exploring different patterns and associations.  Continue until they form a collage.  

4.    Look at your collage and search for clues, insights and new ideas related to your challenge or choice.  Ask yourself the following questions:

    a.    What is my challenge/choice like?  
    b.    What does it remind me of?
    c.    What aspects of my challenge/choice are revealed through the collage?
    d.    What can I learn from this?

Hear Frank Felberbaum On Memory Development And Brain-Power Performance

[UPDATE] Yesterday, I had the pleasure of  interviewing Frank Felberbaum, the memory expert and author of "The Business of Memory: How to Maximize Your Brain Power and Fast Track Your Career," with Rachel Kranz. 

Frank Felberbaum is president of Memory Training Systems, a division of The Felberbaum Consulting Group, Inc., a global company specializing in memory development and brain-power performance strategies.  Formerly founder and director of The Memory Training Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, he has implemented his unique memory systems at more than 175 major corporations.

In 1995, Frank Felberbaum represented the United States at the World Memory Olympics in London and was awarded a special medal.  From 1997 to the present, he has trained and coached many of the mental athletes who compete at the U.S. Memory Championship held in New York City.

Now, you can listen to his interview and learn how to tap your full memory potential and put your career on the fast track to success.

Most of us forget 85 percent of what we learn within 72 hours.  Frank Felberbaum has taught thousands of business people throughout the world, including employees and executives at dozens of Fortune 500® companies how to become more efficient, effective, and powerful on the job by mastering the three basic mental functions behind memory:

•    Paying attention:  How to be a better observer and stay focused in the era of multitasking.

•    Visualizing:  How to create mental movies that help retain information by telling stories.

•    Associating:  How to link newly acquired information to familiar experiences, which are easily recalled. 

You can listen to the interview via web at:

http://www.selfhelpbookmuse.com/memory-expert.html

To download the audio recording of the interview:

Download the audio recording of the interview [mp3, 8.12MB]

Mind illusions and portion control

"Habits are basic and foundational aspects of our mental lives.  Without habit, there is no calculation, no speech, no thought, no recognition, no game playing.  Only a creature with habits like ours could have anything like a mind like ours.  But habits, at least many of them, are situational or environmental.  A habit is like a trail laid down by our own repetitive action.  A habit is not merely a disposition to act or an automatic or unthinking tendency; it is a responsiveness to the environment in which we find ourselves.  If the trail is paved over or if familiar landmarks are removed, our habits can frequently be extinguished."

~ Alva Noë, "Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness"

How much of what you do is in response to things that are happening around you, your immediate environment?  A couple of days ago, I was putting together a collage of colorful images of fruits, vegetables, and herbs for my Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover coaching class.  One of the images was a picture of mint plants forming a bright green carpet.  Later, when I went to get some tea for myself, guess what kind of tea I chose…  That's right, I chose mint tea.   So, how does our environment influence our daily actions and decisions? 

Studies on habit formation reveal that as much as 45 percent of what we do every day is habitual, that is, we act almost without thinking usually because of subtle cues in our environment, such as "a specific location or time of day, a certain series of actions, particular moods, or the company of specific people."  For example, you may experience the urge to check your e-mail if you feel stuck in your current task.  Similarly, you may want to grab a cookie if you feel upset or bored.

On occasion, those cues in our environment can trick our minds into behaving in a way that is inconsistent with our goals and we may not even realize it.  Here are a few examples of mind illusions related to the issue of portion control.

You may have heard that it is helpful to use smaller plates if you want to eat less.  The following experiment illustrates this point.  If you cut a sandwich into two same-size portions and you put one half of the sandwich on a small plate and the other half on a large plate, you will create an optical illusion.  People will perceive the half-sandwich on the small plate as bigger than the half-sandwich on the large plate.  Moreover, if they eat the half-sandwich on the small plate, they will feel fuller compared to eating the sandwich on the large plate.  Thus, physical objects around you can affect your appetite. 

The second example explains why all-you-can-eat buffets cause people to eat more.  Researchers investigated how variety influenced consumers' quantity perceptions. "Does a bowl with both red and blue candies seem to have more or less than a bowl with only one color candy?" they asked.  It turns out that we tend to underestimate portions if there is greater variety.  People poured larger portions when there was variety of food without realizing it.

You don't even need to go to a magic show to experience the power of mind illusions in your daily life.  

What triggers hide in your immediate environment?  How can you eliminate or minimize those that sabotage your goals?

Barbara Fredrickson and Sharon Salzberg on "Positivity"

Last Sunday, I attended the discussion between neuro-psychologist Barbara Fredrickson and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg as part of the Brainwave series at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.  The topic was how positive thinking influenced the mind.  Specifically, they talked about the effects of lovingkindness meditation practice on positive emotions and about the results of Dr. Fredrickson's research, described in her new book "Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive."  

The conversation began with the question about the roles of positive and negative emotions.  Psychologists have known for a long time that negative emotions are so salient and effective in seizing our attention because our survival has depended on them.  The fear of a tiger, the disgust at the sight of rotten food - those negative emotions have been there to protect us.  But why do we need positive emotions and how can we experience them more often?  This is the inquiry of the positive psychology. 

Dr. Fredrickson's research points out that positive emotions tend to broaden our focus, enabling us to discover more tools and solutions to life's challenges and ultimately making us more resourceful.  When we experience negative emotions, our focus is narrow.  This tunnel vision precludes us from switching perspectives and seeing creative solutions.  Positive emotions let our minds open, or "bloom."  In Dr. Fredrickson's study, the lovingkindness meditation practice has been shown to increase the frequency of positive emotions.  In the lovingkindness mediation, you gather your attention around words and phrases of love and peace that you repeat rhythmically and direct to yourself and others.   Those participants who saw a bigger increase in positivity from the start of the program also showed more benefits after three months of practice.  In the long term, positive emotions result in more resilience and life satisfaction.

All emotions are transient.  The point is not to try to be positive all the time, but rather to increase the frequency of positive emotions.  Dr. Fredrickson discovered that experiencing positive emotions in a 3-to-1 ratio with negative ones makes people more resilient and creative in meeting life’s challenges and achieving their goals.  You can find out your ratio and get other online tools at Dr. Fredrickson's website http://www.positivityratio.com.  As Sharon Salzberg beautifully said, what counts is the willingness "to begin again," to redirect the mind towards more positive alternatives.       

An interesting question was raised during the Q&A about the cross-cultural variance with regard to positivity.  Culture influences what we consider a positive experience.  For example, in cultures where individualism is praised, people feel positive when they stand out and accomplish something on their own.  In collective cultures, feeling connected to a group, fitting in, may be more important to increase positive emotions.  Reflecting on my own cross-cultural experiences, I wonder if the broad focus also facilitates cultural adjustment.  It would be interesting to see studies on this.

Learning to learn from Joshua Waitzkin, a champion in chess and martial arts

SharpBrains offers a thought-provoking interview with Joshua Waitzkin, a champion in chess and martial arts and the author of  "The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance."   A passionate learner, Waitzkin fuses philosophy, psychology, meditation with his personal experiences in mastering chess and tai chi to create a unique blend of principles for learning, self-improvement, and mastery:

I am able to compete at the highest levels because I have cultivated an approach to learning and performance that maximizes my strengths, tackles my weaknesses through the prism of my strengths, dissolves crippling false constructs and divisive mental barriers, and allows me to express myself through my art in as unhindered a manner as possible.
…
Growth only really comes at the point of resistance, but that is the moment that we tend to stop. Because it hurts. Whether we are confronting our psychological foibles or our physiological limits, it is much easier to turn back from the challenge than to push through the discomfort. I think digging deeply into ourselves, pushing our limits, is a muscle that can be cultivated like any other -- incrementally. If we embrace these outer limits of our ability as something malleable that can expand with training, and if we embrace the discomfort of these moments of growth, then we start to love the richness of the self-discovery. The discomfort becomes exquisite. Learning becomes life.
…
I have learned that in those rare moments of truth in our lives, we have to be willing to let go of the comfort of our knowledge, our preparation, our sense of control, and we have to flow with an improvisational spirit that embraces chaos, turns adversity to our advantage, and digs into our deepest reservoirs of energy and creativity. Our relationship to the learning process, in my opinion, should be one that prepares us for that freedom under pressure - or more truly, that liberates us to live every moment with that openness to unexpected beauty. Learning and peak performance aren't about control or memorization or perfection - they are about something much deeper, something more essentially human.

Click to read the full interview with Joshua Waitzkin at SharpBrains.

Learn a language in 2009 and improve your brain

As a linguist by training, I have always liked learning new languages.  In fact, English is not my native language, Russian is.  I started truly learning English when I was in high school and added a few more languages later while studying linguistics.  After reading "The Bilingual Brain" in the Society for Neuroscience Brain Briefings,  I am considering adding a new language to my 2009 resolutions: 

"Parlez vous francais? Sprechen Sie Deutsches? Hablas español? If so, and you also speak English (or any other language), your brain may have developed some distinct advantages over your monolingual peers. New research into the neurobiology of bilingualism has found that being fluent in two languages, particularly from early childhood, not only enhances a person’s ability to concentrate, but might also protect against the onset of dementia and other age-related cognitive decline."

Those who start learning languages at an early age benefit the most.

"In fact, being bilingual may give children an advantage at school. Bilingual preschoolers have been found to be better able than their monolingual peers at focusing on a task while tuning out distractions. A similar enhanced ability to concentrate—a sign of a well-functioning working memory—has been found in bilingual adults, particularly those who became fluent in two languages at an early age. It may be that managing two languages helps the brain sharpen—and retain—its ability to focus while ignoring irrelevant information."

I am glad I am raising my daughter bilingual (English and Russian), and we'll be adding Spanish soon.

Adults benefit from learning languages as well.  There are many misconceptions surrounding adult language learning, especially about the "critical period" hypothesis that argues that the brain is too rigid to learn after puberty, making second language acquisition more difficult for adults.  Current neuroscience research into the competitive nature of brain plasticity offers a different explanation.  The skills we practice compete for our brain map space.  In his book "The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science," Norman Doidge writes:

"As we age, the more we use our native language, the more it comes to dominate our linguistic map space. Thus it is also because our brain is plastic—and because plasticity is competitive—that it is so hard to learn a new language and end the tyranny of the mother tongue.

But why, if this is true, is it easier to learn a second language when we are young? Is there not competition then too? Not really. If two languages are learned at the same time, during the critical period, both get a foothold. Brain scans, says Merzenich, show that in a bilingual child all the sounds of its two languages share a single large map, a library of sounds from both languages."

This can also explain why learning a language as an adult is quite possible and much easier if you immerse yourself in the environment where that language is spoken, or if you otherwise have a strong need or desire to learn it, for example, when your close friends, your spouse, or your co-workers speak a different language.  If you put enough attention into it, it will happen.   It is, to a large extent,  an issue of priorities, time, and motivation. 

What language are you learning this year?

Interview with Cheryl Stephens, the author of “Plain Language Legal Writing”

I wonder sometimes how much time and energy we waste on creating and reading legal texts that are hard to understand.  It is a sad situation that many people expect legal documents to be incomprehensible.  Cheryl Stephens is set to change that with her new book  Plain Language Legal Writing.  I am happy to offer you my interview with Cheryl.

Cheryl Stephens, of Building Rapport, the plain language blog, is a leader in the field of plain language communication, and provides training and workshops to clients all over North America. She is making a guest appearance today promoting her new book, Plain Language Legal Writing.

Lawsagna:  Your work is in the area of plain language. Can you tell us about that? What’s plain language all about?

Cheryl Stephens:  Plain language is writing, or any language, that is clear and understandable, so that it’s easy for people to get — and use — information that is important to a person's life.

Lawsagna:  What kind of information?

Cheryl Stephens:  Well, think of anyplace you’ve seen legalese in your own life: contracts, regulations, waiver forms and releases, even the agreement you have to sign whenever you install software or sign up for something online.

Lawsagna:  And you’re saying those things don’t have to be written in legalese? Isn’t the law inherently complex?

Cheryl Stephens:  There is no reason that legal language — language regulating legal rights and duties — has to be incomprehensible. It can be made plain enough for its intended audience.

Plain legal language is being written every day. Those who defend out-dated, poorly-written gibberish on the grounds of its complexity should be embarrassed.

Lawsagna:  What other common arguments against plain language do you hear?

Cheryl Stephens:  People say it is "talking down" to people or "dumbing down." I have learned that real experts have internalized and integrated their special knowledge to the point where they can talk of it in simple language—without any mystery. Anyone who can't do that, and complains about being asked to "dumb it down," is a pompous ass.

Lawsagna:  If few lawyers and few clients like to read legalese, why do you think we continue to see it?  What is the biggest barrier to the wide use of plain language?

Cheryl Stephens:  Lawyers need to develop new writing habits. That is all. Once you have learned to write legalese and you have done it for years, it is ingrained in your thinking patterns.

I have been working at plain language for 19 years, and still, my first drafts often follow traditional legal phrasing and sentence structure, and I have to think twice about word choices.

So make that two things: develop new writing habits, and allow yourself enough time for each writing project to do it right.

Lawsagna:  Are there any risks of using plain language?

Cheryl Stephens:  Depends who does it. A person who is not well-versed in the law, in general, should not write contracts. But many organizations think they can write their own plain language contracts. I do not advise it because there have been lawsuits resulting when an amateur's rewrite changes the substantive content. Lawyers better do it.

Lawsagna:  In our fast-paced world, people look for easier and faster ways to process information. Internet and social networks have changed the way we read, aggregate information, and collaborate on projects.  What is the relationship between plain language and Web 2.0?

Cheryl Stephens:

1. Plain English is the language of the Internet, and W3.
2. Plain Language favors the use of standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I am not sure those standards are respected by Web 2.0 (btw, can you define that in plain English?).

[Lawsagna:   It looks like people are still debating the meaning of Web 2.0.  According to Wikipedia, which is an example of Web 2.0, “Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”  So, can we say in plain language that Web 2.0 refers to the use of web technology and web design to promote creativity, information exchange and collaboration among users?]

Lawsagna: Do certain practice areas use plain language more than others?

Cheryl Stephens:  Family law, juvenile law, criminal law, immigration -- for individual practitioners.
Banking and consumer law for institutions (but not by their choice).

Lawsagna:  Do you have any suggestions for someone who wants to find a lawyer that uses plain language?

Cheryl Stephens: No, my suggestion is to lawyers: advertise that you provide service in plain language—if it's true.

People are always asking me for a referral to a plain language lawyer in a particular practice area in a specific geographic area. I send out an email asking my contacts if they know of someone. This is always anecdotal. To my knowledge, only major Australian law firms have pushed their plain language skills in their marketing.

Lawsagna:  In your book, you talk about visual aids.  Could you explain their function in legal writing?

Cheryl Stephens:  Charts, graphs, maps. These are increasingly being used as schedules to laws, by-laws, and contracts. For any legal matter that a firm handles regularly, the firm should (have an expert) develop some graphical resources for client use. These reinforce the message in your text.

Also, you have written on your blog about the different learning styles of students. People have different information-processing styles, too. So the more variety you use in correspondence, the more likely you are to get the information across.

For example, if clients are missing important appointments, consider using three tactics in future:
 1. Send a clear, simple letter that ONLY confirms the appointment (and has no substantive material).
 2. Include with that letter a page, or appointment card, showing:
    * the calendar month with the date checked,
    * a clock face with the hands set to the appointment time.
 3. Have your receptionist call the day before to confirm the appointment.

It may seem like a big hassle, but it will work.

Lawsagna:  What do you need to know to write in plain English?

Cheryl Stephens:  We have a process which takes into account the reader's interest, reading skill, and need for the information. It is an elaboration of the classical approach to writing effectively.

By the way, we now talk about plain language instead of plain English, because the ideas apply to communication in any language. Whatever the language, the aim is clarity and usefulness of the information.

In English, a number of shortcuts and guidelines have been developed to help the person who is not a writer by profession. Most of the US state laws requiring plain English set out some of these as requirements or measurements of plainness. In Canada, the laws tend to demand qualities like "clear" or "readable" and so on.

Lawsagna:  You’re having a contest, aren’t you? What’s that all about?

Cheryl Stephens:  It’s a contest to rewrite a section of the U.S. Copyright Act — both to rewrite it as the law would look in plain English, and to write a clear explanation for the general public.

Lawsagna:  What are you trying to accomplish with this contest?

Cheryl Stephens:  I want to show the difference between legal drafting and legal writing. One task is to redraft the legislation in plain language, and that’s a specialized skill. Not every lawyer needs to know how to do that. But the other task, to explain the law in plain language — that’s a skill every lawyer does need.

Lawsagna:  And that’s what your new book is about?

Cheryl Stephens:  Yes. I wanted to write a simple but complete guide for lawyers who want to make their writing clearer.

Lawsagna:  Well, I think you’ve done a great job. Can you tell us where we can learn more about the book, and about the contest?

Cheryl Stephens:  Yes, there’s a web page for the book. PlainLanguageLegalWriting.com, and there’s a link to the contest on that page as well.

"The Opposable Mind" by Roger L. Martin

If you like to think about how you think, you may want to read Tim Milburn’s review of "The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking" by Roger L. Martin.  The book discusses the concept of integrative thinking:

The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each.

For lawyers who are used to fighting out the opposing ideas, this book may offer a refreshingly new perspective.  I imagine, mediators may find it useful too.  I've just added the book to my Amazon wishlist.

“Innovate Like Edison” Podcast from Theater of the Mind

If you are interested in creative thinking, you may want to check out the podcast “Innovate Like Edison” from Theater of the Mind.  In this podcast, Kelly Howell, founder of Brain Sync, interviews Michael Gelb, the author of “How to Think like Leonardo DaVinci:  Seven Steps to Genius Every Day,” about his latest book "Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor" co-authored with Sarah Miller Caldicott, the great grand niece of Thomas Edison:

"This show discusses how you can use the creative principles of Thomas Edison to bring your ideas into reality."

How attitudes towards intelligence affect the ability to learn

How we think about our intelligence influences our success as learners.  In her article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” in the current issue of Scientific American Mind, Carol S. Dweck, Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the author of “Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success,” describes two kinds of attitude towards intelligence that affect kids’ performance in school:  the “growth mind-set” and the “fixed mind-set.”  People with the “growth mind-set” believe that their intelligence can be developed through learning and hard work, while those with the “fixed mind-set” believe that their intelligence is static and cannot be improved.  A recent study has found that children with the “growth mind-set” perform better in school, show greater persistence when they face challenges, and are more enthusiastic about learning.  In contrast, kids with the “fixed mind-set” are more concerned about “looking smart” than learning, get discouraged with they encounter a problem, and avoid challenges.  These differences are also reflected in the workplace where people with the “growth mind-set” are more likely to mentor others and to welcome feedback because they see it as a tool for improvement.  Those who believe that their intelligence is fixed are likely to ignore their own shortfalls and shun criticism. 

How do you develop the “growth mind-set”?  The article suggests praising kids for their effort and hard work instead of their intelligence.  Students also benefit from learning about the brain and its ability to change and grow new connections.

Optimists in Law School

Dave Shearon, whose work focuses on the application of positive psychology to law and education, wrote an interesting article about optimists in law school for Positive Psychology News Daily.  The article discusses Breaking Murphy’s Law by Susan Segerstrom, who examined the research on optimism and its effects on immune system.  Shearon writes:

Segerstrom studies future-oriented optimism. Such optimists hold more strongly to expectations of future good events than to expectations of future bad events. In general, optimists have stronger immune system functions than pessimists. However, Dr. Segerstrom found in her research, beginning with that for her doctoral studies, that this relationship was not nearly as strong for law students as in most other studies. On further investigation, she found that the optimists split into two groups, one that had the expected strong immune system, and one where the immune system was somewhat suppressed.

Read the article to find out more about the two groups of optimists.  One important lesson from the book is that it is not just your thoughts that count, but rather how your thinking causes you to act.

Orientation Series: 21 Steps to Becoming a Better Learner

Step 6:  Choosing helpful books for law students.

What books helped you in law school or law practice?  I want to start a list of useful books for law students.  I am searching the web for recommendations.  Please consider sharing your favorites in the comments.

To start, Law School Academic Support Blog recommends the following books:

• “Whose Monet? An Introduction to the American Legal System” by John A. Humbach.
• “Hidden Sources of Law School Stress” and “A Deeper Understanding of Your Career Choices” by Lawrence S. Krieger.
• “Five Types of Legal Arguments” by Wilson Ray Huhn.
• “Succeeding in Law School” by Herbert N. Ramy.
• “1000 Days to the Bar - But the Practice of Law Begins Now: How to achieve your personal best in Law School” by Dennis J. Tonsing.
• “Pass the Bar!” by Denise Riebe and Michael Hunter Schwartz.

Stephanie West Allen recommends

• “Should You Really Be A Lawyer?: The Guide To Smart Career Choices Before, During & After Law School” by Deborah Schneider and Gary Belsky.

Top Law Student recommends:

• “Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students”by Robert H. Miller.
• “Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams” by Richard Michael Fischl and Jeremy Paul.
• “Guerrilla Tactics For Getting The Legal Job Of Your Dreams: Regardless of Your Grades, Your School, or Your Work Experience!” by Kimm Alayne Walton.

Here are a few books on legal writing I want to add to the list: 

• “Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text With Exercises” by Bryan A. Garner. 
• “Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review” by Eugene Volokh.  (Professor Volokh is a co-author of The Volokh Conspiracy blog).

What books do you like?

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

Legal English Makeover

What images does your mind conjure up when you hear different languages?  Even if we don’t speak the language, we often have an opinion about it.  We may like how it sounds, we may even have our favorite words in that language.  Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about her love for Italian in her book Eat, Pray Love:  “Every word was a singing sparrow, a magic trick, a truffle for me.” 

We may not share the same excitement about professional languages – a jargon rarely invokes fuzzy feelings – although the wine lingo, for example, is not bad at all:  “reserve,” “vintage,” “bouquet,” “tannins,” “earthy,” “oaky,” “jammy.” 

What comes to mind when you hear “legal English”?  Boring?  Stuffy?  Confusing?  Fine print?   I think legal English has an image problem.  If you were hired as an image consultant for legal English, what changes would you propose?  Maybe, the new legal English style should be precise, crisp, logical, structured, fluid, self-explanatory, direct, balanced, respectful, truthful.  What do you think?

"The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love"

If you are interested in the works of your brain, listen to this podcast in which Deborah Harper interviews Dr. Richard Restak, MD, author of The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love.    The focus of the book and the interview is social neuroscience.  Should employers screen job candidates with MRIs?  Can neuromarketers really manipulate us into buying more?  How can one create false memories?  Dr. Restak explains how new research can help us understand our own behavior.

Are you in a maze or a labyrinth?

Daniel Pink in his book “A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” explains the difference between a maze and a labyrinth:

“Mazes and labyrinths are often lumped together in the popular imagination, but they differ in important ways.  A maze is a series of compartmentalized and confusing paths, most of which lead to dead ends.  When you enter, your objective is to escape – as quickly as you can.  A labyrinth is a spiral walking course.  When you enter, your goal is to follow the path to the center, stop, turn around, and walk back out – all at whatever pace you choose.  Mazes are analytical puzzles to be solved; labyrinths are a form of moving meditation.  Mazes can be disorienting; labyrinths can centering.  You can get lost in a maze; you can lose yourself in a labyrinth.  Mazes engage the left brain; labyrinths free the right brain.” 

It strikes me as a good metaphor for the learning process.  When it comes to your learning, do you feel like you are in a maze, disoriented and trying to find your way out as soon as possible?  Or are you in a labyrinth, focused, enjoying the process and making progress at your own pace?

How to figure out your clients’ needs and motives

How do you know what you clients really need or want?  ABA Inside Practice offers “Keys to Understanding the Needs of Clients and Prospects” in an excerpt from The Lawyer’s Field Guide to Effective Business Development by William J. Flannery.  The author talks about seven categories of needs and the ways to discern them in a conversation with your client:  active needs, visionary needs, latent needs, ego needs, organization or company added-value needs, job needs and implied needs. 

What do you do if one day your client decides to question your motives?  What if a client accuses your firm of running up the billable hours?  How do you respond?  David Maister addresses such incidents in his article “Integrity Impugned.”   (Hat tip to International Lawyer Coach Blog).  There is a lot of good advice in the article from how to figure out the reasons behind the client’s actions to what to say in response.  For example, if you need to buy more time to analyze what was just said, you can reply:  “That’s interesting. Could you say a little more about that?”  I like this recommendation because it can be used in a variety of situations. 

How do you go about figuring out your clients’ needs?  How do you respond if somebody questions your motives?

Learn copyright law basics with the help of a comic book

Who says that learning the law has to be boring?  Just take a look at Tales from the Public Domain:  Bound By Law?  by Keith Aoki , James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins.  The authors, who are law professors, introduce the subject of copyright through the adventures of filmmaker Akiko as she is filming her documentary capturing a day in the life of New York and learning about the line between fair use and copyright infringement.  Not your usual law review material. 

The book is a project of Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.  You can read or downloaded it for free here.

Tip Bit #25: Make a list of 5 things that you are excited about

If you need inspiration in your life, check out Pursue the Passion.  Here’s what the creators of the project say about it:

“Pursue the Passion started as a group of three recent college grads who embarked on cross country roadtrips to interview passionate professionals about their career paths. We created this site because we felt that others could benefit from these interviews, and use them to determine a direction to take their careers.”

In addition to great stories, I really like their series “5 Things I’m Excited About on a Friday.”   I think it’s a great way to fuel your passion and remind yourself how exciting you life is.  We all need it from time to time, and Friday just seems like a perfect day for this type of exercise.  The weekend is almost here, so dream a little, let your curiosity run free and find excitement in your life.  What are the 5 things you are excited about this Friday?   I’ll start:

1. I am so excited that I am close to launching my online training course.  It’s going to happen very soon (more on it later).
2. I am excited that the weather is promising to be wonderful this weekend, which means I get to spend more time outdoors, and I like that.
3. I am excited to start reading “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki that I just got from the library. 
4. I am excited my daughter learned how to stack building blocks.  She was really good at smashing my creations before, but now she can build tall towers on her own.  Silly things can make Mommy happy. 
5. I am excited about my exercise and meditation routine.  I hope I can stick to it.  I want to be able to meditate properly for at least 20 minutes.  Right now, my mind is still dashing from thought to thought and my back starts aching after sitting still for about 10 minutes.  It will get better, right?  Practice, practice, practice.   

Who is next? 

“Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table” by Cameron Stracher

How can a busy lawyer reconnect with his family?  A shared meal was the answer for Cameron Stracher, who described his experience of having dinner at home five nights a week for a full year in his new book “Dinner with Dad.”   You can listen to the interview with the author in this episode of The Leonard Lopate Show or check out Cameron Stracher’s blog Dinner With Dad.

I grew up in a family with regular sit-down dinners, and I would love to continue the same tradition with my own family although we bump into the same problem that many families face:  my husband’s work hours make it difficult to have a family dinner at a reasonable hour.  But we don’t want to give up easily.  Dinner time is about meals that fuel your body and conversations that nourish your soul, and it’s worth a try.  What do you think?  What’s your favorite family activity that brings everybody together?    

Generation gap in the workplace

Recently, the legal blogosphere has been actively discussing the work-life issues in the legal profession.  The Dreams of a Solo blog offers insights on how baby boomers and Gen X and Y differ in their approaches to work-life balance.  Natasha Sarkisian writes about the “new legal lifestyle” and “the attitudes of a generation that isn’t willing to sacrifice itself on the altar of work” in the article “Who says being a lawyer has to suck?” for San Francisco magazine.  What would baby boomers say of “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss?  Visit his site to find out your LQ (Lifestyle Quotient).

In light of this debate, you may want to listen to the podcast “Engaging the Generations” Pt 1 and Pt 2 from The Engaging Brand. This podcast contains a two-part interview with Tamara Erickson, the co-author of “Workforce Crisis.”  She talks about the characteristics of various generations of workers and the challenges that the management faces in attracting talented employees who want different things from their work environment.  Younger people, for example, are more comfortable with project-based engagements similar to the Hollywood model where actors, writers, directors come together to create a movie for a limited period of time and then move on to new projects with a new team.  This model offers a variety of experiences and a greater degree of flexibility. 

As a lawyer, I would ponder the following questions:  What types of clients will I have in 3, 5, 10 years?  How their lifestyle design will affect mine?  How can I be better positioned to serve their unique needs?  Clients are the puppeteers of lawyers’ work habits.  Who will be writing your scripts?

Is your learning significant?

How do you know if your learning experience is significant?  What factors will make it better?  Dee Fink  addresses these questions in his book “Creating Significant Learning Experiences.”  While the books is primarily for the instructors who are involved in designing college courses, students can benefit from its concepts as well in evaluating their learning and devising their own unique ways to make it better if the formal instruction falls short.  Fink writes:

“For learning to occur, there has to be some kind of change in the learner.  No change, no learning.  And significant learning requires that there be some kind of lasting change that is important in terms of the learner’s life.” 

Fink offers the “Taxonomy of Significant Learning” based on the following six kinds of significant learning:

Foundational Knowledge.  Learners must have the basic understanding of main concepts and ideas of the subject matter.

Application.  Application makes the learning useful.  It includes the ability to engage in various kinds of thinking, such as critical, creative and practical, and the development of skills needed to apply the knowledge and manage complex projects.

Integration.   Learners must be able to make connections between ideas, people and different realms of life.

Human Dimension.  Learning must lead to self-improvement and enable learners to function better in the world.

Caring.  Significant learning will make learners care about something more than they did before. 

Learning How to Learn.   Learners must be able to improve their studying skills and develop the characteristics of a self-directed learner.

How does you learning measure against this taxonomy? 

To find out more about Fink’s book and the design of significant learning experiences, visit www.significantlearning.org.

Letter to a Young Lawyer

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters To A Young Poet,” Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg invited her readers to post on their blogs their “Letter to a Young Lawyer.”  Since I receive correspondence from the ABA Young Lawyers Division, I am among the audience, still trying to figure things out.  But I decided I’d give it a shot and write about a few paradoxes that I observed in law school and the beginning of my law practice.  So, here we go.

Dear Young Lawyer:

You have chosen a profession and a career that is full of contradictions.  By now, you should be comfortable with contradictions as they are abundant in the pages of law books that you are reading.  They are just another problem to solve.  Isn’t it what we do – solve problems?  This brings me to the first contradiction:

1. Lawyers are very good at solving other people’s problems, but they often disregard their own needs, hence the sad statistics on the dissatisfaction and burnout among lawyers.  Wouldn’t we take better care of our clients if we took better care of ourselves? 
2. If you entered law school because you were not sure what you should do with your life, be aware that you can graduate from law school, pass the bar and begin practicing, and still not know what you should do with your life.  The upside is that you can pay your bills as you are trying to figure out your life’s purpose. 
3. Some people love law school and hate the practice of law, others hate law school and love the practice of law. 
4. Everybody wants to be in top 10 percent in law school, everybody can’t be in top 10 percent in law school.  According to the ABA Legal Education Statistics, in 2006-2007, 43, 920 students were awarded J.D. or LL.B. degrees.  10 percent of that is 4,392.  There is a future for you in the legal profession even if you are not in top 10 percent, and (gasp!) you haven’t done the law review or moot court. 
5. Contrary to what your classmates, career services and other stakeholders want you to believe, you don’t have to go into BIGLAW if you are in the top 10 percent.  What will make you feel the blood rushing in your veins every morning?  (“Coffee” is not the right answer here.)
6. You may like a certain subject matter in law school but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will enjoy that area of practice.  Stay flexible, get a taste of various areas of practice, rotate through different departments in your summer programs.  Give yourself time to decide.
7. In law school you are led to believe that the practice of law is about unique knowledge, expertise, and problem-solving skills.  Once you begin practicing, it becomes more about people and relationships, just like in any business. 
8. There is no “one day” and you won’t have free time, so find a way to do what you want to do right now.  If you are “paying your dues,” make sure you know what you are getting in return.   
9. The practice of law is local in nature, but you are likely to feel the global currents more and more these days.  Stay informed of what is going on in the world and how it affects the profession.   
10. The world is changing faster than you can say “mutatis mutandis,” be prepared to change with it.  Gerald Weinberg wrote in “The Secrets of Consulting”:  “When change is inevitable, we struggle most to keep what we value most.”  If you find yourself struggling, it’s a good time to ask what is important to you and how you can get it.

“Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student” by Martha Kimes

Do you want to take a “modern-day peek behind the curtains of an Ivy League law school”?   Martha Kimes' new memoir “Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student” comes out on May 15.  Read Scott Butki’s interview with the author for Blogcritics Magazine.   Here’s how he introduces the book:

“Take a little bit of The Paper Chase but without those awful sideburns. Take a little bit of Legally Blonde but with a bit less irony and fewer gadgets. Take a bit of Scott Turow's memoir, One L, but change the gender of the main character. Mix.”

It sounds like a fun summer read. 

On logical fallacies and metaphorical thinking

Do you want to know how to avoid fallacious reasoning and evaluate arguments? Check out Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies created by Stephen Downes.  It is an impressive collection of fallacies with the names, definitions, examples and ways to prove that the fallacy is committed. 

What are the mechanisms of abstract reasoning?  Those of you who are fans of linguistics, cognitive science or neuroscience may enjoy the interview that George Lakoff gave to Edge.  The interview starts off with the following observations from his new book “Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought” co-authored with Mark Johnson:

"The mind is inherently embodied. Thought is mostly unconscious. Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical."

He goes on to explore the role of the body and brain in human reasoning:

“Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical, based on metaphors that make use of our sensory-motor capacities to perform abstract inferences. Thus, abstract reason, on a large scale, appears to arise from the body.”

On job search and networking

Are you looking for a job?  Do you want to learn the skill of business development and networking?   Today’s round-up is for you:

Law Career Blog offers job hunting advice for 3Ls and recent grads.  I like the suggestion of being proactive, flexible and creative in your job search.  Some students buy into others’ vision of how things should be and adopt the victim’s mentality when things don’t turn out that way.  How do you make the best with what you have?  It takes courage, creativity and consistent work.  You begin by valuing what you have to offer because if you don’t value yourself, you can’t show your worth to others.  Take the challenge and write your own life story, don’t let others write it for you.  The upside is that you can learn so much more about yourself and your true aspirations in the process.   I suggest you sit down and make a list titled "Here's why I am so awesome!"  Place this list where you can see and read it often.  Strive to add new things to it each day as you go about your search for business.   

Do you want to know nine essential characteristics for making partner?  Inside Practice offers an excerpt from "Making Partner: A Guide for Law Firm Associates" by John R. Sapp.  Among those characteristics are “Maturity: You are in control of your life” and “Entrepreneurial attitude: You think like an owner rather than an employee.”  Now is the time to start working on those skills.  And if you already possess them, maybe you don’t need an employer.  Build A Solo Practice, LLC will help your to plan your own business venture. 

Here are a few nuts and bolts of networking.  Business Writing teaches you How to Ask a Stranger for a Favor and offers Great Tips for Email.  If you want advice on phone networking, listen to Escape from Cubicle Nation podcast Networking tip:  Use the phone! Finally, is your body language congruent with the words you speak?  Read about 18 ways to improve your body language from The Positivity Blog.

Happy hunting and gathering!

“Holistic Learning” E-book by Scott H. Young

If any of you took interest in the holistic learning concept, Scott Young has released a free e-book titled “Holistic Learning.”  You can download it here.  To describe the holistic learning process, he uses an analogy of constructing a brick building.  In class, professors often hand out bricks, but it is up to the students to construct a building out of them.  How do you approach your construction project?  This short, easy-to-follow book details the process.  Interestingly, Scott seems to think that law may not be a good subject matter to study holistically because of the arbitrariness of the rule-based system.  I am not so sure.  What do you think?   

The book made me ponder the question of how I link whatever I am learning to my existing knowledge base and what connections have more impact.  I believe you can generate some positive energy and empower yourself when you establish a link that truly resonates with you.  Without that link, the information is just a dead weight.  I learned that when I decided to develop healthier eating habits.  I read many articles, I knew what was good for my body and what was not, but all that information did not make much difference until I found the right connection.  Weight loss goals and abstract health-talk didn’t do it for me.  What prompted me to start looking at food as fuel was the notion that whenever I consumed sugar, trans-fats or other bad stuff, my body’s efforts were diverted from generating energy, building immunity, fighting viruses to absorbing and getting rid of the “junk.”  I just had this image of my body getting “anxious” and “tired” after I ate candies or processed food and feeling “light” and “active” after I ate fruits and vegetables. That sensation made me think twice before grabbing a bad snack.

How do you integrate new knowledge into your way of life?         

Willful thinking: the “Gotta’ Get Goals” project

I was tagged by Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg to participate in Alex Shalman's "Gotta' Get Goals" project:

In a new blog post, list and write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you gotta’ get so that you can truly say you have achieved your wildest dreams in life. These have to be your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you can pick off your goals list.

Stephanie’s email created a chain of serendipity as the night before I was reviewing my list of 100 goals that I made after reading The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Leslie Hewitt.  The review, in turn, was prompted by the talk by Dax Moy on the Anatomy of a goal that I recently listened to.   He reminded me of the importance of identifying why I wanted to achieve my goals and the price I was willing to pay for it because goals come with a price tag.   

I like the idea of letting my goals “age” like Champaign concealed from the world in dark cellars so that when the time is right, they can come to life with a celebratory pop and a splash of energy.  That’s why I have taken liberty to cloak my goals in the quotations I like, instead of revealing them outright.  Being indicative of my goals, these quotations inspire me and remind me why I do what I do.  They are part of my vision board.  I had fun selecting them and I hope you enjoy reading them.

1. “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
   - Peter Drucker
2. “There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”
   - Christopher Morley
3. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
   - Frederick Buechner
4. “Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.”
   - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea
5. "The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love." - Anne Morriss
6. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
   - Anaïs Nin
7. “Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons.”
   - Ruth Ann Schabacker
8. “You have been given 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’"
   - William A. Ward
9. “If we want to simplify and deepen our lives, we must simplify and deepen our minds. When we become more centered, clear, spacious, caring, and open, there is suddenly much more room in our frenetic lives for both others and ourselves.”
   - Lama Surya Das
10. The Law of Least Effort..."Today, accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. Take responsibility for your situation and for all those events seen as problems. Relinquish the need to defend your point of view."
    - Deepak Chopra, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

If you want to share your goals with us, consider yourself tagged!

On books, papers and citations

Do you know what book holds the record of being the longest book ever written in the world?  It is Yongle Dadian - "The Encyclopedia of Yongle Emperor's Reign in Ming Dynasty.”  It took 4 years for 3,000 scholars to finish the compilation of 11,095 volumes and 22,877 chapters in 1408.  The encyclopedia has an estimated 370 million Chinese characters. 

As to much shorter but surely no less important Bluebook, check out "Introduction to Basic Legal Citation" by Peter W. Martin.  It has good information on legal citation, which you may want to read if your goal is to join a law review or write for one.

If you want to streamline your legal research and writing, CiteIt! may be the right choice for you.   It is a software that automatically formats legal citations according to The Bluebook or The ALWD Citation Manual, inserts properly-formatted citations into your word-processing document, creates a table of authorities and makes it easy for you to store, search and organize your legal research.  You can download a free trial version.
   
If you must write a research paper for any course or journal that uses MLA, APA or Chicago style, Slate Citation Machine is a free simple-to-use online citation tool to reformat a citation to the style you need.

Finally, here is a good compilation of resources for writing a research paper from St. Ambrose University Library.  This is how I found the Thinking Page, which offers information on improving organizational and individual thinking. 

How to develop your emotional intelligence

Learning has the potential to change people.   As people change, so do their relationships with others.  Sometimes these relationships change for the better and sometimes for the worse.  Today’s round-up is about the emotional intelligence and people skills that we all need to master our relationships. 

The first people to notice the changes in you are the people closest to you:  your spouse, significant other, your kids, your close friends.  Even if they want to be supportive, the change can be hard for them to accept.  Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation offers great insights about relationship transitions in the article When you change, all your relationships change.   One of her tips is to “communicate clearly and frequently with those around you about the changes that are going on in your life.” 

Maybe, you sense that something is amiss in your relationship, but you can’t quite figure out what is going on with the other person.  Would you like to learn how to read people?  Life Training – Online offers the series on How to Read People.  It will show you how to develop the mental mindset of the “effective people reader,” how to master the techniques and how to determine if somebody is lying to you. 

You can’t read people unless you listen actively to what they are saying.  Inside Practice offers the excerpt on how to “Connect with Your Client through Active Listening” from The Successful Lawyer: Powerful Strategies for Transforming Your Practice by Gerald A. Riskin.  You must be able to hear not only the facts, but the emotions as well.

What if you hear anger? Can you deal with it?  Here’s a piece of advice from a Buddhist monk at ProBlogger. 

What do you do if somebody tries to put up barriers to your progress?  Listen to John H. Johnson’s lesson of success:  “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even.”   Belief in yourself and perseverance are the best answers to those who doubt you. 

There comes a time in our career and personal life when we need to apologize to others.  It may not be an easy thing to do for a lawyer.  We are trained to assign blame, not to accept it.  Cheryl Stephens of Building Rapport shares the results of her research on the subject of apology in Apology – the Unknown Universe.  Brad Shorr of Word Sell offers tips About Writing Letters of Apology.   

Finally, Dr. Tammy Lenski talks about a neat mood-visualization tool – MoodJam.  It is a free service provided by the MoodJam Research Group in the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.  It allows you to visualize your moods in color strips.  You can then share your moods with those around you to let them know when you are safe to approach and when they should stay away.

The information world according to Tufte

If you want to ace presentations, you need to get familiar with the work of Edward Tufte, Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design.  The New York Times called him “The Leonardo da Vinci of data.”  He has written numerous books on information design, including his new book Beautiful Evidence.  I just received a brochure about his upcoming one-day courses "Presenting Data and Information."   It may be a good investment in the development of my spatial intelligence.   Edward Tufte’s website  also has a moderated forum, Ask E.T., where he answers questions and leads discussions dealing with information design.  Check out the Grand truths about human behavior or Advice for effective analytical reasoning for some thought-provoking commentary.      

Think before you think

Neuroscience tells us now that the human brain can change and new neurons can be created.  I've just finished listening to an interview with science writer Sharon Begley in which she talks about her new book, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain.  (Thanks to SharpBrains for featuring this interview.)  Brain neuroplasticity hints at exciting possibilities as neuroscientists discover the factors that affect the brain development.  One of these factors is exercise, which promotes the growth of neurons and the strength of their connection, according to the article "Buff and Brainy" by Christen Brownlee.  Meditation is another practice that builds awareness and attention, which appear to be a prerequisite for the shift in brain patterns.  Even lawyers are willing to dedicate some of their precious time to meditation.   

If you want to know how law practice can benefit from brain research, read Idealawg by Stephanie West Allen.  Stephanie and Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz co-authored the article "Brain Management: Law Firm Leadership on the Neuro Frontier" which appeared in the February, 2007 edition of Of Counsel: The Legal Practice and Management Report (Not available online, but Idealawg has the beginning of the article.) 

Another great resource for brain-based business advice is the Brain Based Business blog by Dr. Ellen Weber who teaches businesses how to capitalize on the brain power for maximum results.

Are you taking a good care of your brain? 

Take a nap

Continuous self-improvement requires discipline and sacrifice.  At least, that’s what performance gurus and self-help books tell us.  Is there a lazy way to perfection?  The answer may be a surprising “yes,” according to Dr. Sara Mednick.  Dr. Mednick studies how napping can improve human performance.  In our busy, sleep-deprived world, taking a nap in the middle of the day sounds like a luxury we don’t have time for.   But Dr. Mednick says that in reality, it is wasteful not to nap because we rob ourselves of such essential elements of productivity as endurance, alertness, attention, energy, creativity.  I first heard an interview with Dr. Mednick through The Theater of the Mind podcast, in which she described her research and her recent book Take a Nap! Change you life.  Her studies show that you can target different aspects of performance by varying the time and duration of your naps.  Morning naps can boost creativity, while afternoon naps help to absorb large quantities of information and improve memory.  You can learn more about the power of napping and read sample chapters at Dr. Mednick’s website.  A Nap Wheel on the website will help you design your customized nap schedule for optimum results.  Mine is showing that it’s time for my nap.  Efficient napping requires practice, so I better go.  Wouldn’t you like to be good at napping?   

Think like a lawyer with "The Secrets of Consulting" by Gerald M. Weinberg

I love The Secrets of Consulting:  A Guide to Giving & Getting Advice Successfully by Gerald M. Weinberg.  This book is witty and wise.  I like to go back to it to and re-read its memorable laws. Here are some of my favorites.  I think they can teach us a few things about thinking like a lawyer:

The Law of the Hammer:
“The child who receives a hammer for Christmas will discover that everything needs pounding.”

The following is my version for legal professionals: 
"A student who learns to think like a lawyer will discover that anything can be turned into an argument."  On a more serious note, this law reminds me that specialists sometimes suffer from the tunnel vision that prevents them from seeing out-of-the-box solutions. 

“If you can’t think of three things that might go wrong with your plans, then there’s something wrong with your thinking.”

When you think like a lawyer, you look for anything that can go wrong. 

Prescott’s Pickle Principle:
“Cucumbers get more pickled than brine gets cucumbered.”

This principle is about ethics and autonomy.  It tells us that it can be challenging to preserve independent thinking when you deal with a large and important client.  Recent corporate scandals show that even legal counsels can get “pickled” in the corporate "brine."   

“What you don’t know may not hurt you, but what you don’t remember always does.”

This principle highlights the importance of setting reminders, or triggers, for yourself and your clients of all things that you need to remember.  Do you have a system for that?

Music to your brain

How does music affect you?  Do you have a favorite CD that lifts your mood whenever you play it?  Do you have special tunes that energize you or help you sleep?  When I was an expecting mom, I read all sorts of articles on the effect of music on the baby’s development and we played music a lot in our house, but I still was amazed to discover how enthusiastically my child responded to music early on.  She started swaying and ‘dancing’ when she heard her favorite songs even before she could walk.  And she exhibited preferences for upbeat tunes.
 
So why are so many of us deeply touched by music?  Daniel Levitin, a professional musician and neuroscientist sheds some light on the mystery of music in his book This Is Your Brain on Music:  The Science of a Human Obsession.   Brain imaging done on people as they listened to music showed that music activated various parts of the brain related to planning, expectation, language, motivation, pleasure.  Music elevates dopamine levels, much like narcotics and antidepressants do.  Levitin also believes that music promotes cognitive development. 

Do you want to explore what is music to your brain?  You don’t have to go far these days.  Pandora  of the Music Genome Project will create a personal radio station for you, playing tunes that you are likely to enjoy, when you indicate your favorite artists or songs.  You can also get free classical music recordings via podcast.  Interested in meditation music or brain wave therapy?  Brain Sync has a collection of CDs and audio programs for you.  It also offers a free 10-minute guided meditation if you want to take a little break from your computer. 

Anticipation: getting ahead of the curve

"Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is."  This famous saying by Wayne  Gretzky, “the greatest player of all time” according to The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, nicely sums up the skill of anticipation.  The ability to predict where things are going is very important not only for ice hockey players, but for lawyers as well.  Think of all the time lawyers spend anticipating the outcomes of the cases, the moves by the opposing party, witnesses’ responses,  negotiating tactics, and everything that can go wrong.   But what is anticipation?  Can we learn to anticipate better?  It certainly seems that experience has a lot to do with this ability.  Anticipation appears to be a complex skill, so I’ve decided to break it down to some more basic components.  Perhaps, if we work on those, we can get better at anticipation.  Here is my list:

• Asking the right questions.  When we anticipate something, aren’t we looking for an answer to some important question or problem that is on our mind?  If that’s the case, the practice of asking questions about future events should help us to get better at predicting the outcomes of those events.  Next time, before you read a case for your class, ask yourself some questions about it.  What do you think it is going to be about?  Was there anything in the last case you read that was left unanswered?  Why is it in the textbook?  What is it going to add to the legal doctrine you are studying?  When you try to answer those questions, look at the material you have covered so far, consult the table of contents and the syllabus for your class.  Get a bird’s view of the task, and you may see better what is to come.  After you read the case, try to predict the questions your professor is going to ask in class.   
• Recognizing patterns.  Patterns are predictable.  If you are good at recognizing patterns, you are good at anticipation.  Look for recurrent behaviors.  If you don’t review your notes or outline, you don’t do well on the test – that’s a pattern.   
• Prioritizing.  We are constantly bombareded with all sorts of information.  When we make a decision about something that may occur in the future, we need to determine what to take into consideration and what to ignore.  Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink is about learning what’s important and making snap judgments based on “thin slices” of information.  When you enter a law firm’s office, what can you tell about its culture?  What clues do you use to make that determination? 
• Mindfulness.  In order to anticipate, you need to be aware of what is going on around you.  You want to notice things, words, behaviors. Sometimes, anticipation is about paying enough attention to the present. 
• Empathy.  I think there is a connection between empathy and the ability to anticipate.  If you can share in someone’s feelings and emotions, you can understand that person better, and as a result, you are better at predicting behavior.   

Is there anything else I should add to the list?  Let me know. 

What a ‘jailhouse lawyer’ can teach Harvard law students

What can a ‘jailhouse lawyer’ teach Harvard law students?  Gigi Stone and Mary Harris set to explore this question in their article 'Jailhouse Lawyer' Lectures Harvard Law Students.  It is a story about an inmate who received life in prison without a possibility of parole due to what he believed was ineffective assistance of counsel.  He taught himself law and now uses his legal skills to help fellow inmates to prepare their appeals.  His article was published in the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Review, and he is a guest lecturer in one of Harvard’s law classes.  The authors write that his “presence at Harvard has transformed the career goals of many students.” 

As I was reading the article, I began wondering why his lectures had such an impact.  What made this learning experience so effective?   As I was thinking about it, the six principles of stickiness came to mind from the book Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die…Made to Stick by Cheap Heath and Dan Heath.  The six principles are simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories. (Brain Based Business has a nice review of the book.)  It’s not really surprising because learning is about ideas that we hope are going to stick.  The 'jailhouse lawyer’s' message is so effective because:

1. It is simple.  His position is clear and easily understood.
2. It is unexpected.  We don’t expect that a public defender’s mistake is going to render a person in jail for life.  It is unexpected for an inmate to become a lawyer in prison and teach Harvard law students.
3. It is concrete.  His story makes abstract legal principles come to life.  Students see the consequences of a bad decision.
4. It is credible.  Unlike the “Law & Order” series, it is a real person talking to the students by speakerphone from prison.  It’s one thing to read about a victim of the legal process, it’s another to talk to him. 
5. It is emotional.  The message is about people’s lives, justice, and the lawyers’ role in the process.  It touches students in a way that a textbook cannot.
6. It is a story.  It is about a crime and the unfair punishment, the obstacles and the newly found purpose in life.  Stories are the oldest way to communicate and a powerful way to learn.  We remember lessons better when they are embedded in a story.    

Do we need more of such learning experiences in law school?  What do you think?  What makes learning effective for you?  As always, comments are welcome. 

Find out your networking quotient

If you have ten minutes to spare and want to find out how savvy you are about networking, take a free 30-question quiz called Networking Quotient.  This assessment tool was developed by Thom Singer, who is the author of Some Assembly Required:  How to Make, Grow and Keep Your Business Relationships.  He also writes a business development and networking blog.

While it’s neat to see how you score compared to others in your demographic group, I think, you can learn more from the questions themselves because they indicate what you should be thinking about and doing.  Once you complete the quiz, you are given an option of retaking it.  You can click on that link to go back to the questions and use them to evaluate your own networking plan, if you have one.  If you don’t, it may be useful to ponder those questions a little longer and create one.   

Related posts:
How to find a mentor
5 questions to ask when you evaluate job options

Take your learning hat wherever you go: "Cappuccino U" by Jerome Martin

The last exam is over.  You head out of the classroom door with a  sight of deep relief.  Done!  No more learning for at least a few weeks.  Well…not so fast…  Welcome to Cappuccino U!  “What?” I hear. “Is that some caffeine-induced state of delirium? Or are you implying it’s time for me to apply to Starbucks? I haven’t seen my grades yet.”  No, no, no.  Cappucino U is a metaphor for some Third Place – not your home and not the office or school – where informal learning occurs.   Jerome Martin has written an e-book entitled "Cappucino U" that is available in the PDF format through Spotted Cow Press.  It will only take you about fifteen minutes to read, and once you do, you’ll get a glimpse into your future as a knowledge worker.   

A coffee shop is an example of such Third Place.  I remember, I loved studying in a coffee shop.  The library was too quiet for me.  The local coffee shop offered just the right blend of aroma, light, noise, good discussions, focused reading, and occasional interruptions in the shape of a friend or a classmate.  (They didn’t have a wireless internet in the coffee shop back in those days.)  I still love reading and working in coffee shops.

Cappuccino U presents a new approach to learning where you decide what to learn, how to learn and where to learn it.  It is about learning communities and networks enabled by smart technology.  It’s about staying current in your field and taking responsibility for your knowledge.  It’s a neat concept to explore while you are on your break. 

What’s your favorite place for informal learning?

Related post:
Studying is your business

Lessons from the crib

Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog is running the group writing project “What did you learn this year?”  I thought his question was very appropriate for my learning blog, so here are my reflections on year 2006.    

2006 was a year of new beginnings and new learning opportunities for my family.  On December 13, 2005, we welcomed our baby girl into the world and began to learn about the joys and challenges of parenting (our two four-legged furry kids didn’t prepare us enough).  Five months later, we relocated to a different state, my husband started a new job, I left mine and embarked on the balancing act of caring for my daughter and working to launch my own business.  I picked up blogging along the way, which turned out to be a nice outlet for the frenzy of thoughts and ideas in my head.  My blog is about learning, and who is a faster and better learner than a baby? She has taught me a few things about this subject, and I am happy to share our lessons from the crib.

• "Practice" is the name of the game.  We’ve all heard:  “Practice makes perfect.”  Babies are wise, they somehow know it from the day they are born.  My daughter started with practicing her communication skills and making her intent loud and clear, a bit too loud for my ears.  With each new skill she learned, she exhibited the same effortless persistence, indicating that failure was not an option.  Such attitude encourages learning. George Leonard in his book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment writes about the value of practice:  “Mastery is staying on the path.”  Next time you need to learn a new discipline or a set of skills, remember this and rest assured that you already possess everything you need to succeed.
• Learning is a laughing matter.  At which juncture on our way to adulthood did learning become serious and boring?  That’s certainly not the way my baby views it.  Learning is a fun and joyful activity for her.  She learns through play.  It turns out that positive emotions improve adult learning as well.   A good learning game that makes participants engaged and relaxed can accelerate learning.  It’s good to be a kid once in a while.
• There is more ways to learn than through words.  Babies learn through observation, touch, smell, taste, interaction.  My daughter loves music and dances every time she hears her favorite songs.  She is learning coordination and rhythm.  Adults also relate to information in multiple ways according to Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University who wrote the book Intelligence Reframed:  Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century.  Every day, I am reminded that multisensory learning is the best. 
• Curiosity drives learning.  I am amazed at how curious and observant my baby is.  I can read it in her face.  “Where did the noise come from?”  “What happens if I push this cup over the edge of the table?”  “What does this stuff taste like?”  I think adults are often too busy to be curious.  When was the last time you put “oblige my sense of curiosity” in your to-do list?  Maybe, we should give in to our curiosity more often even if it means that an hour disappears in pursuit of a random thought.   William Wirt once said; “Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.”
• “Do, or do not. There is no try,” said Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars.  This lesson is about the mindset. Babies don’t try to do things, they do them.  Even when it appears to me that my daughter is trying to walk, in her mind, she is walking.  She is not thinking: “I am going to try to put that leg forward and see what happens.” She just does it.  What happens if we eliminate “try” from our vocabulary and just do things to our best ability?  Some good learning experience.
• Falls and bumps are just that:  falls and bumps.  They don’t mean we are failures.  They are not evidence of a faulty character.  They are part of life.  Just get up and keep going, like babies do.
• Learning needs support.  There are times when my baby wants me to hold her and comfort her.  She needs my support, and she knows I am there for her.  It gives her confidence and a sense of security.  While our adult education system encourages competition, I think, we can all benefit from cooperative and supportive environment when we learn.
• When you don’t quite understand something, smile.  My baby must think I am silly.  She rewards me with her smile more often than I deserve it.  Her smile is hard to resist.  I believe, a sincere smile is the first step to true understanding:  “I am not sure what you are saying, but I like you.”  Thanks to my baby, I smile more these days.

What have your kids taught you about learning?

Related posts:
8 ways to learn
Baby steps
Lessons learned

 

Easy way to declutter your home and your head

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to maintain an organized home and office.  I believe there is a correlation between the clutter in my physical surroundings and the clutter in my head.  Another pressing reason is that my one-year-old daughter is about to start walking on her own, and she likes to throw everything she can grab onto the floor.  As a result, I am embarking on the GTD, or “Getting Things Done," which is a productivity system developed by David Allen and described in his book Getting Things Done:  the Art of Stress-Free Productivity.  Recently, I’ve come across a lot of GTD-related information on the internet, so I figured the Universe was telling me something.  For example, Legal Andrew wonders why law firms don’t teach GTD to their associates, he thinks it may have something to do with the billable hours.  This may change though as corporate clients become more sophisticated about cutting their costs. In addition, the legal outsourcing and unbundled legal services may speed up the process.

On a more personal level, I started applying the “two minute rule.”  The idea is to do any task that takes less than two minutes right then and there.  I use it with things like sorting out the junk mail, cleaning my coffee maker, filing papers, putting dirty plates into the sink or, better yet, the dishwasher, replying to emails. Speaking of emails, Eric Mack offered a unique interpretation of the two minute rule that may just help you to keep your inbox empty.   I find that if I put away those small pesky tasks, they accumulate to the point that they become distractions.  I spend more time thinking about doing them than it would actually take to finish those tasks.  Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project uses her version of the “one-minute rule” and thinks that consistent decluttering may make you happier.  I agree.

Have you had any experience with GTD?  How did it work for you?  I’d love to hear any advice you can give to the newbie GTD-adherent.    

Happy hour for lawyers: interview with Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer

Alexander Kjerulf is a happiness consultant, speaker and author.  He has just released his new book “Happy Hour Is 9 to 5”.  Alexander has kindly agreed to an interview here at Lawsagna.

Lawsagna: Congratulations on your new book “Happy Hour Is 9 to 5”.  Have you met many happy lawyers?

Alexander Kjerulf:  I've actually worked with lawyers to make them happier at work - and I have to say they often don't seem very happy. Law professionals face some tough challenges including rigid, old school management, a demanding, stressful work ethic and what I call "The Cult of Overwork" - the irrational belief that the more you work the better.

L:  Law firms in the US are notorious for the somber and often stressful work environment.  What are the downsides of the work unhappiness?

AK:  Studies show that people who are unhappy at work are:
Less productive
Less creative
More prone to workplace stress and to various diseases
Less motivated
Less happy outside of work also
But the most important reason to be happy is this: As a working professional you'll be spending more time on your job than on your family, friends and hobbies combined. Do you really want to spend that much of your life on something that doesn't make you happy?

L:  Why do you think lawyers should read your book?

AK:  Lawyers should read the book in order to become insanely happy at work. To wake up every Monday morning saying "YES! It's Monday! I get to go to work." Not only will that make them enjoy work more and life more - studies also show that happy people are more successful.

Lawyers should also read the book in order to create law firms that are fun, inspiring, meaningful and energizing. In my experience, many law firms exhibit a complete disregard for how people feel at work. They care only about productivity and billable hours. This is a huge mistake for one simple reason: Happy companies make more money! Lawyers who read the book will come away with the knowledge that happiness at work is the way to a more fulfilling work life AND to higher profits.

L:  Is it possible to stay happy while dealing with the unhappy aspects of life?

AK:  It is possible - and it's also difficult. And remember: You can't be happy every single day. No matter how much you love your job, there's still going to be bad days once in a while. That's as it should be.

L:  Is the work unhappiness a personal or an institutional problem?

AK:  Both! Companies must provide a mood where it's easy for employees to be happy at work, and today many companies fail miserably at this.

On the other hand, it's also up to each of us to take responsibility for our own work situation. If you're not happy at work, you can't just sit on your butt and wait for your manager, your co-workers or the company to fix it. You must take charge and do something.

L:  What is the best approach to instilling the value of happiness at work:  top-down or bottom-up?

AK:  Both at the same time is by far the best. When management and employees work together to create a happier work environment the sky is the limit.

If I can only pick one, it's top-down, because one unhappy top executive can ruin the good mood in an entire organization, whereas one determinedly happy person in the top ranks can positively affect the whole company.

L:  What are your secret ingredients for happy hours at work?

AK:  The secret is this: Happiness at work starts with a choice. You must choose to be happy at work and to do what it takes to get there. If you don't make that choice, nothing is likely to happen.
What can an individual worker start doing now to become happier at work?
Happiness at work is something you and I create here and now. It's about doing something every day to make yourself and others happier at work. Here are some simple ideas:
1: Perform a random act of workplace kindness. Bring a co-worker a cup of coffee without them asking. Pay someone a compliment. Pass out candy at a meeting.
2: Praise someone. Praise is a great way to make others happier at work
3: Write a log. Every day, before you leave work, make a list of 5 things that made you happy at work today.

L:  What’s your favorite happy hour drink?

AK:  I usually go with a good Danish beer from a small, local brewery.

Alexander, thank you very much for you time.

What experts suggest you should read

Some of you may be already heading to your winter break.  Perhaps, you are wondering what to read.  If that’s the case, check out Suggestica that offers recommendations of books, audio and video from the leading experts in various fields. You can browse the lists of experts and their suggestions by subject matter categories.

I found out about this service through Keith Ferrazzi’s blog. I’ve recently read his book Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success One Relationship at a Time and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It’s a great read, full of tips, personal stories and anecdotes from the lives of the famous “connectors.”  It’s not just another book about networking.  It’s about an approach to building your personal and business relationships for life.  It’s about spreading an authentic and consistent message about your brand, who you are and what you stand for.  If you are interested in the ways to manage the “know-who” of your personal knowledge management system, you will probably find this book useful. This is my non-expert recommendation.   

8 pitfalls of listening

Students learn many useful skills in law school, including reasoning, legal interpretation, legal writing, public speaking.   One skill that does not seem to get enough attention is listening.  Attorneys need good listening skills to be able to understand the needs of their clients, build trust, negotiate effectively, develop business relationships.  One of the first things you will need to learn as a young associate in a law firm is to listen carefully to the partners’ instructions and check your understanding.  People want to be heard, but they don’t get enough opportunity in our fast-speed bottom-line oriented world.  Next time you talk to someone, watch for 8 listening pitfalls that hurt good conversations:

1. Coming to the conversation with predetermined attitude and assumptions about the other person or the subject matter to be discussed.  Good conversations have the power to create new meaning and understanding, but it is only possible if we are open enough to consider those new possibilities.  So many people use conversations just to reiterate their position on an issue.  Little is gained with such approach.  Instead, join a conversation with an open mind and desire to learn something new.  Listen without bias.
2. Developing your own response while listening.  Sometimes we are so preoccupied with our own thoughts that we are unable to listen attentively to what’s being said.  We either speak or prepare our response, but we don’t really listen.  That produces two monologues, not a conversation. 
3. Completing others’ thoughts. How often do we hear something and say to ourselves:  “Oh, I know where she is going with it.”  We attribute ideas, motivation, intent to others that they may not have.  Patience pays off in conversations.  Let the others finish their thoughts and don’t assume you already know what they are going to say.
4. Jumping to conclusions.  That happens when we choose to act on limited information instead of searching for more.  It helps to suspend your judgment, listen with curiosity and ask open-ended questions.  We’ll learn more this way. 
5. Selective listening.  It occurs when we listen only to what we want to hear.  We like to be right, and our minds like consistency.  We don’t feel comfortable when something upsets our belief system.  It’s easier to ignore that information. The downside is that we don’t learn and we don’t develop.
6. Disengaging from the conversation and using disrespectful body language. For conversations to work, the parties need to show respect to each other.  It’s a basic premise, and it’s surprising how often legal professionals ignore it.  Don’t be a conversation bully.  Listen with respect.
7. Not paying enough attention to supersegmentals, such as intonation, rate of speech, emphasis, tone.  You can listen not only to what’s being said, but also to what’s not being said.  The supersegmentals give away clues about people’s emotions, feelings, stress level that can be important to conversation. 
8. Disregarding feelings and emotions.  Strong feelings and emotions affect our listening, reasoning and judgment.  If the parties feel overwhelmed, it may be beneficial to take a break from the conversation.

Additional resources:

Dialogue: The Art Of Thinking Together by William Isaacs

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen

What is your motivation direction?

Here’s a test for you.   Picture yourself standing between two doors. The sign on door # 1 reads:  

Peace of mind:

• Studying is no longer stressful and you don’t feel swamped with all the reading, briefing, outlining, moot court, and other law school activities.
• You look forward to the Socratic method questioning in class.
• You never leave the classroom confused and discouraged.
• You don’t have to spend more money on yet another study aid only to discover that there is no time to read it.
• You receive regular supportive feedback on your progress.
• You feel calm and confident before an exam.

The sign on door #2 reads:

Excitement:

• Learning is fun.
• You are in control of your studies and even have time to relax and catch up with your friends.
• You finally know what it means to think like a lawyer.
• You are able to spot the issues and recall relevant information easily under the pressure.
• You can learn better and ignite your creativity by collaborating and playing games with your classmates.
• You are motivated to do your best and succeed every day.

Where do you go?  Do you find that one sign resonates more with you than the other? Are you drawn towards “peace of mind” or “excitement”? 

According to the authors of NLP: The New Technology of Achievement, we can be motivated either “toward” what we want or “away from” what we don’t want. People use both motivation directions but they can prefer one over the other.  Some people are more motivated by images of accomplishments, success, pleasure, while others are more motivated by avoidance of loss, pain, fear, failure.  Both types of motivation can be effective.  The “toward” motivation tends to be more goal-oriented while the “away” motivation is more about identifying and solving problems.  It is useful to know your motivation direction if you want to motivate yourself deliberately, and you may have more success motivation others if you can figure out how their motivation works.  Since lawyers are good at identifying problems, I wonder if a larger percentage of them prefers the “away from” motivation.  Understandably, the language people use can sometimes tell us about their preferred motivation direction.  Next time you talk to somebody about why they want to do something, listen in.