Find out more on two work planning systems that can improve your time management and organization.
Sam Glover, founder of Lawyerist.com and attorney, joined me on this episode of the Legal Toolkit podcast to talk about time management and organization. One of the many great ideas Sam and I discussed is called “work planning”. Sam describes the concept of work planning, here and here at Lawyerist. Summed up, the idea is to sit down each week and plan out your upcoming week, including all tasks large and small, giving you a clear sense of what you need to get done.
Sam’s work planning incorporates two time management systems, Getting Things Done (GTD) and Most Important Tasks (MITs). GTD is a foundational system for collecting, processing, organizing, and reviewing tasks. For more on the basics of GTD and to see it in use, take a look at this post on Law Technology Today. Your MITs are the tasks that you must accomplish today.
Pulling from GTD, Sam organizes his work planning template, available here, with columns for case information; upcoming dates; tasks to “do now”, “do later”, and “waiting on”. He includes a top row for his MITs.
I particularly like this for attorneys because it provides a failsafe when it comes to deadlines. It requires you to review the status of your matters and keeps you on track to meet your deadlines by concentrating on your most important tasks for the week.
Why not give it a try? If you want to thank Sam for the idea or have questions, you can reach him on Twitter @SamGlover or find him at www.lawyerist.com. Sam Glover is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Lawyerist.com, an online magazine and reference manual for solo and small firm lawyers. He has written and spoken extensively about legal technology, marketing, management, and ethics, among other topics. In addition, he was a practicing lawyer from 2005 to 2011 for his own company, The Glover Law Firm, LLC, before he sold it to focus on representing tech startup companies.
