by Gary Mitchell | Jan 24, 2018 | Coaching, Motivation, Re-building your practice, Your career
98.7% of my clients are perfectionists at heart. I am a perfectionist at heart. What’s the problem with being a perfectionist? It holds you back from actually getting things done. Nothing will ever be perfect, including perfectionism.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Striving for, and achieving excellence should be our number one goal as professional service providers. And for that matter, as humans. But if you wait until something is perfect to get it out there, you will never get it out there. It’s an impossible dream.
How many times has procrastination come into play because of your perfectionist tendencies? You fear getting started because you don’t know if it will be perfect. So you hold off. Time passes. More time passes and still nothing is done. If some of the top companies of all time waited until they perfected their product or service, they wouldn’t be in business. They wouldn’t have pushed the innovation envelope.
So the next time you are confronted with your perfectionist tendencies, ask yourself, “Is it excellent?” “Is it good enough for now?” And then remember, it can always be improved upon later. Get it out there. One of my favorite things to suggest to my clients is ‘NIKE’. Just do it!
#businesscoach #lawyercoach
by Gary Mitchell | Jul 25, 2012 | Coaching, Motivation, Your career
In my last post I talked about working out with my trainer. How this relates to my coaching approach is simple. He took an assessment of where I am now. What my goals and nutritional habits are. And then helped me create a plan to get where I want to. I take the same approach coaching lawyers.
So this morning I hit the gym bright and early and used some of what I learned with my trainer. With out a doubt, I had one of the most intense and productive work outs in a long time.
So if you want to flex and build your business development muscle, you should give me a call. I can help.
by Gary Mitchell | Jul 25, 2012 | Coaching
I just finished a work out with my fitness trainer. A great reminder of why I like coaching lawyers so much. I’ve been working out and running for over 20 years, and today was a great reminder that you can never learn too much.
In the beginning it might be more about learning. But then it quickly becomes about discipline and endurance. And then it’s all about accountability.
Are you ready to build your business development muscle?
by Gary Mitchell | Jun 20, 2012 | Coaching, Coaching session notes, Your career
Yes, that’s right. You read the title correctly. Just say no to coaching and watch your career tank. I left the last part out to catch your attention.
I always conduct interviews before taking on new clients. While interviewing one associate recently, it became blatantly obvious he was not an ideal candidate for coaching. He was very negative about his firm, the marketing direction they were taking, and their recent brand launch. (Like he is an expert in marketing?)
I could hardly sit through the interview. I couldn’t believe my ears. His partners had spoken highly of him and his ability. They wanted to provide him some individual support to help bolster his career, and this was his attitude? He actually told his firm he was too busy to engage in business development coaching. What? That’s like telling your firm, “I don’t really care about the direction of my career”. “I am not really sure I want to stay here”. “I don’t have time to develop my skills.” I could go on.
The flip side of this comes from a typical client. In our final coaching session audit of the program, he told me that initially he had been extremely sceptical about coaching, but he was mindful of saying no to his firm. It’s OK to be sceptical. You are lawyers after-all, being sceptical is part of your DNA. He went on to work with us and thrived in our program. Soon after he was asked to join full partnership. He thanked me for helping him achieve partnership so quickly.
Just say no to coaching and watch your career tank. When your firm is committed to your success and willing to invest in it, it’s not wise to say no, unless you are looking for a new career.
by Gary Mitchell | Jun 21, 2011 | Coaching session notes, Internal relationships, Leadership
Just off a call with a client who is coordinating a new sub-practice group. She told me how un-eventful their first meeting was and that no one had yet volunteered to take various roles on. My first bit of advice to her was to look for people to take on tasks based on ability and desire rather than seniority. If others push back, be more than open to receiving input and help from them, but be sure to set hard deadlines.
The other advice was to do some one-to-one advocating ahead of the next meeting to get her ‘soldiers’ in place, other people willing to take on leadership or accountability for some of the tasks at hand. This will give the perception of movement and others will eventually follow. When people start attending meetings that actually get things done, they will want to be a part of that movement.
