1. Time Management Tips for Lawyers
For panel on “Practicing Mindfulness,
Time Management, and Other Practical Tools to De-Stress Your Legal Practice”
by Margaret Spencer Dixon, Esq.

2. Tip #1: Make and honor a daily action plan
Use a to-do list as a tool for making good time-use decisions
Choose a convenient format
Keep it visible or easily accessible
Keep it short (try for no more than 6 items)
Prioritize it
Honor it

3. Honoring your to-do list means sticking to it unless you make a conscious decision that circumstances have changed to justify revising your plan.

4. Tip #2: Engage in periodic brainstorming for goals
Aim to revisit your goals weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly
Set SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Activity-oriented
Reasonable
Time-limited

5. Tip #3: Engage in weekly planning sessions
Best times for weekly planning
Agenda for your weekly planning session
Review your long-term goals
Review last week’s goals
Review your “sources of work”
Review/preview your calendar
Create this week’s to-do plan

6. Tip #4: Maintain a dynamic, prioritized, categorized to-do list
Benefits of including (almost) all of your to-do items in the system
Think of your to-do system as a pyramid:
The Daily To-Do List
The Weekly To-Do Plan
The comprehensive Master To-Do List

7. Tip #5: Process information efficiently
Triaging versus processing
Be strategic re how often to process
Handle each item as few times as possible
The key questions to ask when processing
The two-minute principle (and variations)
The “decide next action” (DNA) option
Dealing with a backlog

8. Tip #6 How to overcome chronic procrastination
“I must ”
“I choose to ”
“I have to finish.”
“When can I start?”
“This project is huge.”
“I’ll do one small task.”
“I have to be perfect.”
“I can be human.”

9. “I won’t have time for
fun, rest, or relaxation
until this is over.”
“I must make time for fun,
rest, and relaxation even
when I’m busy.”

10. Tip #7: How to avoid low-grade procrastination
Start anywhere
Start even if you’re not in the mood
Realize that unpleasant tasks don’t get any easier over time
Schedule catch-up time (weekends may work best)
Think of working in fifteen-minute increments

11. Maxims
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re never going to get there.
It’s never a matter of time, it’s a matter of priorities.
Organization is your servant, not your master.
Do what you can in the time that you have.
It’s no harder to live with good habits than with bad habits.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
“What’s the best use of my time right now?”