TRP 190: The Impact of Time with Scott Love

[00:00:00] Your listening to The Rainmaking Podcast.

[00:00:30] I'm going to be doing a few what are called solo casts on my podcast.

[00:00:34] I haven't done many of those, but there's a few topics things that I've been talking

[00:00:38] about with different business groups related to client development and other areas that

[00:00:42] I wanted to share with you.

[00:00:43] By the way, I've been speaking at a lot of recruiting conferences.

[00:00:47] I'll be attending the National Association of Law Placement in April.

[00:00:50] I actually have a special project that I've been working on with now and that's the trade

[00:00:54] association for my law firm clients.

[00:00:56] But if you're in the recruiting industry, I'm going to be speaking at the National Association

[00:01:00] of Personnel Services annual conference this fall.

[00:01:03] I'm going to be speaking at top echelons, conference in May in Florida and other groups.

[00:01:08] If your company is ever looking for someone to speak at a retreat, especially if it's

[00:01:11] in a nice place like Florida or Las Vegas, and my son just moved to Los Angeles so you've

[00:01:16] got opportunities in Southern California.

[00:01:18] Let me know.

[00:01:19] Anyways, enough of that.

[00:01:20] Let's get on to it.

[00:01:21] The topic for today is the impact of time.

[00:01:25] I've done some programs on time management to recruiting groups.

[00:01:30] And I'm not pursuing a lot of professional speaking gigs because doing placements as my

[00:01:35] core focus, but things that I've learned over the years in making successful placements

[00:01:41] are things that I'm sharing with people and there's certain concepts related to how we

[00:01:45] value time that I want to share with you.

[00:01:47] There's three different core aspects of that.

[00:01:50] One of them is clarity.

[00:01:52] I think it's important to have real direction on what you want to do, not just overarching

[00:01:58] annual goals or what do you want your life to look like in the next three to five years.

[00:02:03] But what are you doing today?

[00:02:05] I think if we look at the most important area of how we view time, it's right now.

[00:02:13] What's happening at this moment?

[00:02:14] Actually let's just bring it down to 60 minutes.

[00:02:17] There are four components that affect this.

[00:02:19] Number one is intention, which is what this is.

[00:02:21] What is your intention?

[00:02:22] Number two is your ability to focus, which when we look at time on an hour by hour basis

[00:02:29] or focusing just on the now, not tomorrow, that's just a promise, not yesterday, that's

[00:02:35] a memory.

[00:02:36] It doesn't exist anymore.

[00:02:37] It's gone.

[00:02:38] The only thing you have right now is now and that's where you put your focus.

[00:02:45] The third aspect is intensity.

[00:02:47] How much energy do you apply to the task at hand and then finally execution?

[00:02:53] How well do you do what you're supposed to do right now?

[00:02:57] But when we look at time as being finite and limited, and we bring our focus to the

[00:03:03] now, I think you'll find that you're going to get a lot more done.

[00:03:07] When you switch from one activity to another, there is a moment that occurs in that transition

[00:03:13] that is extremely stressful.

[00:03:16] For example, imagine that you're doing your online banking and your little girl walks

[00:03:19] into your home office, the idea that had my doll fell off, well, can you do online banking

[00:03:24] and take care of your kid at the same time?

[00:03:26] No, you can't.

[00:03:27] Like Peter Drucker said, every process has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

[00:03:33] We started at the beginning of our work doing online banking.

[00:03:37] We're in the middle of it now.

[00:03:38] We have to abruptly end it and start a whole new task.

[00:03:42] The beginning, I've got to see my kid.

[00:03:44] Give her a hug, wipe the tears away.

[00:03:46] The middle, I'm in the process.

[00:03:47] Let me see the head of that doll.

[00:03:48] Let me screw it back on.

[00:03:49] There you go.

[00:03:50] Give me a kiss.

[00:03:51] You're on your way and the end.

[00:03:53] Then we have to come back to our original task.

[00:03:55] And what that is when you switch from one activity to another.

[00:03:58] You know what it is?

[00:03:59] It's an interruption.

[00:04:01] And that is what causes stress.

[00:04:03] So of course, you want to batch your similar activities with similar activities as

[00:04:08] you schedule your day.

[00:04:10] But what we do in our focus, we're looking at today.

[00:04:14] What is it that we want to accomplish today?

[00:04:16] What are two or three outcomes that if you only accomplish two or three things today?

[00:04:22] It's a win.

[00:04:23] I think having a monthly goal and then weekly targets Sunday night, right?

[00:04:29] Should targets down for the week before you go to bed.

[00:04:32] If you do with them Monday morning, it's too late.

[00:04:34] You're not going to feel as prepared.

[00:04:36] And anytime you're not prepared, you're going to feel stressed.

[00:04:39] One of the things I do before I go to bed Sunday night, I email myself what are the two

[00:04:42] or three outcomes?

[00:04:43] Two or three targets for the week.

[00:04:45] I spend maybe three minutes thinking about that.

[00:04:47] Okay, I want to do this, this and this.

[00:04:49] I email it to myself.

[00:04:50] Boom, I can go to bed when I get to my office.

[00:04:53] I take that email.

[00:04:54] I look it up.

[00:04:55] I write it down on my dry race board.

[00:04:56] Yes, I actually use a super, a super stupid dry race board.

[00:05:00] Old school low tech that it works to track my metrics each week on two or three things.

[00:05:06] And then before you go to bed looking at tomorrow.

[00:05:08] What are you going to accomplish tomorrow?

[00:05:09] What are two or three outcomes?

[00:05:11] So that's number one about time is our intention.

[00:05:15] Number two, I think having a sense of urgency.

[00:05:19] There are two questions that I found that I asked myself throughout the day that helped

[00:05:25] me to make better decisions in terms of where I focus my energy.

[00:05:28] And I want to share these with you.

[00:05:30] One of them I heard from a sales trainer years ago.

[00:05:33] Now if you're not in sales, that's okay.

[00:05:35] I can't get freaked out.

[00:05:36] Don't hang up on the podcast.

[00:05:37] Keep listening.

[00:05:38] I promise it'll be worth it.

[00:05:39] But Brian Tracy said this, that successful, well-managed people always manage themselves

[00:05:46] throughout the day on an hour by hour basis.

[00:05:49] And he said, the question they asked themselves is this, what's the best use of my time right

[00:05:54] now?

[00:05:56] What would happen to your effectiveness if you asked yourself that question throughout the

[00:05:59] day?

[00:06:00] What's the best use of my time right now?

[00:06:03] The question I've learned to ask which helps to direct my focus in an appropriate way that

[00:06:09] takes me closer to my goals is this.

[00:06:12] Well this activity take me closer to or further away from my goals.

[00:06:17] Wow, talk about a focusing question.

[00:06:20] Talk about an easy way to get rid of all the things that don't make any contribution

[00:06:23] to your life.

[00:06:24] I mean, I got to tell you, it feels really good to be busy doing busy things that have

[00:06:31] no result.

[00:06:32] And I think a lot of people look for busyness just to feel like they're moving forward,

[00:06:36] but they're not.

[00:06:37] Well, this activity take me closer to or further away from my goals.

[00:06:43] And the final concept I'm going to tell you which is going to be mind blowing is this.

[00:06:50] I do not think that we truly appreciate the value of inappropriate uses of our time.

[00:06:58] As you look at how you're spending your time thinking of it like this one hour blocks

[00:07:01] of time, one unit of value.

[00:07:05] Whenever I spend time in an area, I'm trying to triple down if I spend time in an area

[00:07:11] and my primary goal is not achieved while I still have something to show for it.

[00:07:15] I spend a lot of time strategically whenever I take on a new search, whenever I spend

[00:07:19] time at a speaking conference, that's why I don't do a lot of one offs anymore.

[00:07:24] I spoke at the American Pyrotechnics Association.

[00:07:27] I got a good fee.

[00:07:28] I spoke in Vegas, and that was about it because I'm not going to market.

[00:07:32] I'm not doing coaching.

[00:07:33] I'm not doing consulting.

[00:07:34] I'm doing head on it for law firms.

[00:07:36] I'm working with search firms that want to grow.

[00:07:38] That's it.

[00:07:40] So if you spend time in an area and you can't triple the return, it's just a one off.

[00:07:46] You want to think more strategically.

[00:07:49] The question you ask yourself is this, not just what's the best use of my time right

[00:07:53] now, but can I get a triple return for this time?

[00:08:00] Here is an example of the value of one hour.

[00:08:05] If you spend an hour of time going in a direction that doesn't take you closer to your goal,

[00:08:12] you know what that is?

[00:08:13] That's actually a two hour loss of time.

[00:08:15] What?

[00:08:16] I just spent an hour on it.

[00:08:17] No, it's a double loss or more because that's an hour that you spend walking in the wrong

[00:08:22] direction.

[00:08:23] And now you got to go back.

[00:08:26] Now it's an hour that you got to walk back to get back on track.

[00:08:30] You see, that's time that you spent going in the wrong direction and it's time that

[00:08:34] could have been spent moving you closer to your goal.

[00:08:37] So when you think of it like that each hour, if I spend it incorrectly, it's a double

[00:08:41] loss.

[00:08:42] If I spend this hour of time incorrectly, I've actually lost two hours because I've

[00:08:46] got to recoup the time that I spent going in the wrong direction.

[00:08:50] When we think of it like that, we're going to be making better decisions about how we

[00:08:55] spend our time.

[00:08:56] One final thought.

[00:08:58] Think of it like this.

[00:08:59] I remember one day I'm on my way when I lived in DC.

[00:09:02] I'm working downtown.

[00:09:03] I've got to get to Reagan and I dilly-dallyed and not getting to the Metro because I wanted

[00:09:08] to take the Metro to the train because of the traffic.

[00:09:11] It's quicker and easier.

[00:09:13] I dilly-dallyed and I should have had a sense of urgency because you know what?

[00:09:18] I missed the Metro train by about 30 seconds.

[00:09:23] And guess how much time the next train was going to show up?

[00:09:26] 11 minutes.

[00:09:28] And you know what?

[00:09:29] That was almost enough time for me to miss my flight.

[00:09:33] Had I gotten there just 30 seconds earlier, I would have recouped 11 minutes worth of

[00:09:37] time.

[00:09:39] You don't know when the next natural or man-made disaster is going to occur.

[00:09:42] That's why I really believe in margin.

[00:09:44] We don't know what that next change is going to be.

[00:09:46] That next disruptor that's going to take our best clients away from us.

[00:09:50] That's why we can't take for granted everything.

[00:09:52] We've always got to be picking up a string in the field every time we see it because we

[00:09:55] might need it for some use.

[00:09:57] We've got to find these little pockets of time and tuck them away and be productive and

[00:10:01] useful.

[00:10:03] And you know what?

[00:10:04] You already know this lesson, don't you?

[00:10:06] You know when you learned it?

[00:10:07] When you were a little kid, the tortoise in the hare.

[00:10:10] If you have that sense of urgency, the tortoise had a sense of urgency.

[00:10:15] He didn't take anything for granted.

[00:10:16] He kept moving forward.

[00:10:17] He didn't have any time to waste.

[00:10:19] He said, I've got a deficit in terms of my speed.

[00:10:21] So I'm going to harvest my resilience and my desire.

[00:10:24] And I'm going to leverage that for me to advance my goal and I'm going to win.

[00:10:29] When you look at time like that as a precious resource that's finite and we don't know, if

[00:10:34] we dilly-dally and we get to the metro late, we're going to miss our metro card.

[00:10:39] It's going to take us another 11 minutes.

[00:10:40] I wish I didn't spend so much time on Facebook, fending an old girlfriend of mine.

[00:10:44] I wish I'd been more diligent in getting to the metro soon and doing things that are

[00:10:49] priorities instead of dilly-dally.

[00:10:53] When you look at time as a precious resource, that each hour that's lost is actually two

[00:10:58] hours because now you've got to reclaim it and gain it back, you're going to appreciate

[00:11:02] it and make better decisions.

[00:11:05] And by the way, here's one extra tip that's going to help you get one more hour of time,

[00:11:11] a day.

[00:11:13] Come into the office, 15 minutes early.

[00:11:16] Stay 15 minutes later.

[00:11:18] Well that's a half hour.

[00:11:20] You can stand on your head for 15 minutes.

[00:11:22] Come on, just get in 15 minutes early.

[00:11:25] Stay a little bit later.

[00:11:26] It's not going to be the end of the world.

[00:11:28] That's a half hour.

[00:11:29] How do I get another half hour?

[00:11:31] When you take the ideas that I've shared with you, I promise you that you will reclaim

[00:11:36] at least 15 minutes worth of goof off time in the morning.

[00:11:40] You will reclaim 15 minutes worth of goof off time in the afternoon.

[00:11:44] There's your other half hour.

[00:11:46] I found that just by being deliberate and intentional about how we spend our time even

[00:11:50] with the little things that's going to add up over time, and that my friend is how you

[00:11:54] become a high achiever.

[00:11:56] Now I know that this has nothing to do with business development, but it's all about

[00:11:59] execution.

[00:12:00] It's all about getting things done.

[00:12:02] Thank you for listening.

[00:12:04] As always, this podcast is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite

[00:12:08] of Products, Firmscape and Leopard BI.

[00:12:10] Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard.

[00:12:13] I appreciate their sponsorship, and I appreciate you also.

[00:12:16] Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

[00:12:17] I'm easy to find.

[00:12:19] And thanks again for being a listener to our show.

[00:12:21] I'm very proud of what we've done.

[00:12:22] It's not just me.

[00:12:23] It's my colleague, Gabriella, that's helped out a lot with all the marketing.

[00:12:27] And our super editor, Z, who's done all of our podcast.

[00:12:31] And by the way, if you have any audio recordings that you went down for anything like that, let

[00:12:35] me know and I'll refer you to him.

[00:12:36] He does a great job.

[00:12:37] Thank you again for listening and I appreciate your support of the Rainmaking Podcast.

[00:12:47] Thank you for listening to the Rainmaking Podcast.

[00:12:50] For more information about our recruiting services for international law firms, visit

[00:12:55] our website at attorneysearchgroup.com.

[00:12:59] To inquire about having Scott speak at your next convention conference sales meeting

[00:13:04] or executive retreat, visit thebrainmakingpodcast.com.