Finishing as Strong as You Started

I'm Melissa Shanahan and this is the Velocity Work. podcast Episode # 157.

This podcast is for attorneys who are running their own firms. We explore tactics, tools, and stories related to pushing past simply lawyering well and into building a successful firm. Working in your firm and working on your business are two very different things. This podcast focuses on the latter.

Hey, everyone, welcome to this week's episode. How are you? How are you doing? By the time this airs, we'll be rounding out Q2, and if you're in my crew and my world, we'll be making plans for Q3 and beyond. And, starting on the accountability side, and the coaching side of things between the quarterly planning retreats.

I'm watching people, as they're rounding out Q2, and my interactions with them, and there's something that strikes me, that I wanted to make sure to point out today, so you can be really intentional for yourself. This was inspired by a client of ours named, Ty Shepard, shout out Ty. His reflection was that how you stop something is just as important as how you start something.

I love this, and I want you to think about… You can replace the word “stop” with “end” something, “wrap up” something, “close” something. But that's just as important as how you begin it. We talk a lot, over here at Velocity Work, about how you start something. How you need to drop in and get focused, and things that you can do that help facilitate that: Setting timers, so that it really allows you to drop in and be present. Making sure you set expectations correctly, so that those around you aren't pinging you when you're supposed to be focused.

There are all kinds of things you can do to set yourself up to win at that game. But how you stop it, how you close that period of time is just as important. Now, we can look at the macro of this, and we can look at the micro of this. I'm going to start with a micro because it is going to be easier to think through, and then we're going to apply it to the macro.

The micro is when you are in your week, and you have a certain amount of time calendared to do something, then it's important, and when it's time to do that thing, you drop in and you do that thing. You do what you said you were going to do; you honor your plan.

Now, what happens sometimes for people, is that they bleed into, they work on that thing longer than they planned to. They let it bleed in, and they keep going and then, it throws everything else off that they had planned for themselves to get accomplished that day. That's because they aren't intentional with how they're ending that period. They are, kind of, rolling with it, instead of being very intentional.

Sometimes it feels good to keep rolling with it, “Oh, I'm on a roll. I'm just going to keep going, so I can really just knock this out.” Or, “This is taking longer, and I need to get this done.” And so, they just keep going. But they don't lift their head. And they aren't intentional about the fact that they're bleeding into other things now.

You get to decide if you're going to extend the period of time or not, that you're working. But just running into other things, is not the way to do it. And that is the way most people do it, if they're going to extend past the allotted time that they had on their calendar.

What that might look like is: When it's about stopping time… Let's say you're supposed to end what you're doing at 3:30pm. At about 3:20pm, somewhere between 3:20-3:30pm, you know you want to keep going. So, you stop, like pencils down sort of energy to all of this, you stop and you lift your head, and you go to your calendar and you adjust accordingly.

So, whatever was next, that you're getting ready to just run over by continuing your activity, you need to make a plan for how are you going to get accomplished, the thing that you are about to not get accomplished. Because, you're just going to keep going with the first thing that you're working on.

Are you going to move it to tomorrow? Does it really need to be done? Can you scrap it? Which if that's the case, it never should have been on your calendar anyway. What are you going to do with that? How are you going to be intentional, so that you still get everything done that you're responsible for, that you said you were going to do. And give yourself more space, in this moment, to continue on with the work.

Being intentional with how you're ending something is important. Or, the end of something, it's the end of the calendar event; so, be intentional with it. If you're not going to honor it, then lift your head and shift things around, so that you actually still are honoring your plan. You made decisions from a place that this is what makes the most sense for you.

I will say, adjusting things in the moment like that, should only happen when it is imperative that, that thing, that you're working, on gets done. If it's just kind of fun to keep working on because you're on a roll, or it feels good to keep working on because you're on a roll, and you're going to go past the time limit that you had set... Don't do that; honor your plan. Lift your head and go to the next thing that you said you were going to do.

If you need more time, you're going to have to schedule more space for that, more time for that at some point, so that you can keep going. But this is really about being intentional with the end. So, you either end on time, even if you wished you would have gotten more done, or you want to keep working on it. You end on time and you schedule more time for that thing, when it's appropriate. And then, you move on to the thing that you had planned to do.

Or, from a high-level place, you make a decision and you are intentional with the thing that you're getting ready to plow over. You have to move that and be really intentional with where you're moving it, reset expectations, etc.

That's a really inefficient way to do things, by the way. That's why I really want people to be able to make a plan that they can honor. It's inefficient. You're now having to take time to move it on your calendar. Now, you're having to take time to reset expectations, that may go along with that, that are needed. And that wouldn't have needed to happen, if you would just would have honored your plan.

But nevertheless, there are going to be times where it makes sense for you to, from a high-level place, make a call and move the thing, that's in the way, of you being able to finish what you started. Either way, you are intentional with how you end that block of time, that you made a plan for.

So, that's with an event. That's about as micro as I'm going to get on this podcast episode. Now, if we go one step out, towards the macro, then we can look at the day. It's very common to hear conversation about how people start their day, and to make sure that they have the day that they want; make a plan for their day, etc. All of that. Just being intentional with the start of the day.

Okay, but what isn't as common to hear talked about, though it is talked about, is how you end your day. Now, there's a couple of ways to think about this: One, as a law firm owner, how you end your workday, I think is very important. But then also, on a personal note, how you end your day entirely. We could talk about that in just a moment.

So, how do you end your workday? How do you want to end your workday? I recommend that you take stock of what was accomplished during your day. You can just do the top three accomplishments, if you want. Top one to three things that you are pumped that got accomplished that day.

And then, I would reflect for a moment, and note an observation that you have about you, and how you operated that day. This can be something great that you want to pat yourself on the back for.

Like maybe, you did stick to your plan that you had calendared, and it felt really good. Despite being pulled in different directions, and having urges to go work on something different. You actually stuck to your plan. I would acknowledge that, but I also, on top of that, would try to find… Really reflect here.

Why is that? What teed you up to be able to do that? How did you do that today, where some days, you didn't operate in the same way? What was the difference? I would learn about that so you can study your good patterns and good habits, and you can replicate them moving forward.

The whole point of reflecting, and getting a lesson learned, or just observing something, is to be able to carry forward what you want to carry forward; to create more of that, more of things that are in line with what you really want.

Now, on the flip side of that, I also think it's really healthy to evaluate what you would change or tweak about how you operated, how you showed up, how well you planned and honored your plan, for example. Or, how well you reacted to something that happened in your day. What could you, would you change to optimize your path and the way that you operate, to move towards your ideal way of operating?

Maybe you add an element to how you close your day. That's a great way to start. If you did that every day, at the end of every day, you took ten minutes or less, to write down the top one to three accomplishments of the day, and extract some sort of observation that you can use to intentionally move forward.

Okay, so we've talked about how you end a block of time, we’ve talked about how you end the day. And now, we're going to talk about one step towards the macro: How you end your week. Many of you know I teach a process called Monday Map / Friday Wrap, which is all about how well you plan your week and honor your plan. That's Monday Map, and then Friday Wrap is a way to intentionally close out the week.

In Friday wrap, it's very similar to how you would end the day, right? In Friday wrap, you list the top one to three accomplishments of the week. You reflect, and find a lesson learned about yourself and how you operate, that you're going to carry forward. So, even if you do this at the end of every day, there's some micro things happening. But, at the end of the week, there's one that trumps.

“The major thing this week, that I learned about myself, that I am going to shift so that I have a better result moving forward, is…” And pick the one that's the most important from the week. Of course, we all have things we want to improve. Some people have a list of one, and some people have a list of twenty-five, but just pick the one that you can really carry forward, right now. Here and now, that you can carry forward.

This creates a behavioral pattern of you really leaning into progress, not perfection. It doesn't have to be something earth-shattering every single week that you're going to flip and do better. No, it's small things about you and how you operated; just observing yourself throughout the week that you just had. What do you want to do differently moving forward? And applying that for the next week.

Monday Map / Friday Wrap is a really beautiful cycle with this practice, because after Friday Wrap, the next thing you'll do is Monday Map, which is planning for your next week. And so, you can carry forward, in your planning, the observation that you had, the takeaway that you had about you and how you operated in that week, that you just finished.

Friday Wrap is an intentional way to close the week so that it tees you up to experience progress moving forward. I also recommend that you do this at the end of every month. For me, this practice, when I do it, because I am not perfect, and there have been months, especially this year, there have been months that this has gotten skipped. As you probably heard, a few episodes ago, that was a big deal for me in terms of the overwhelm that it created, and what was going on mentally for me when I didn't really have as good of a plan as I needed, in order to get everything done.

It kind of stems from this, I didn't practice this idea of closing out one month and really being very intentional for the upcoming month, as a whole. But when I do, things tend to feel better. I highly recommend that you have a recurring event on your calendar, a meeting with yourself, to close out the month. Similarly, to Friday Wrap, it's just more macro.

What were the top one to three accomplishments from the month? And then, what is just one thing, one lesson, that you can take away from the month that you just had, as you reflect on the month in terms of you and how you operated, and not about the world? You’ve got to stay with what you actually have control over, which is you, and how you show up, how you operate.

What's one takeaway for yourself that you want to carry forward? One lesson learned that you're going to extract, that you can carry forward? Then, you can look ahead at the next month, and make sure that there are proper guardrails on your calendar; that your personal life is in the calendar and protected; that any big work initiatives have enough space; that you're going to be set up to win at working on those things. Just a 30,000-foot view of the month. Is your month set up to support what you have going on? That can be a really beautiful way to close out your month.

We did an episode on this; I think it was in September of 2020. It's funny I can remember that, because I remember what was going on with work when we were doing it. That episode, we will link to in the show notes, but it was something about how to make sure you create next month’s results, or how to plan your next month like a pro, something like that. We will link to it in the show notes. If you want to really dig into an end-of-month practice, we have that guide for you in a podcast.

Alright, so we've talked about the block of time, ending that intentionally. We talked about the end of the day, how you can end that intentionally. The end of the week, how you can end that intentionally. And now, the end of the month.

Now we're going to go more macro. This is as macro as I'm going to get on this podcast, but that's the end of the quarter. Now, if you are in my world, then we facilitate strategic planning at the turn of every quarter, for you. And in that, automatically as a part of that, we facilitate a review of the previous quarter. Where, similar to all the things you've heard prior, this allows you, gives you space to take stock of accomplishments, realizations, lessons learned. Really take stock of the last quarter so that you can decide what you're going to carry forward.

What lessons do you need to process, so that you can carry them forward? That is a part of the quarterly planning retreats. Anytime you are getting ready to make plans, to look forward to the future, in any way, it's important to review what you've just completed, what you just finished. Doing this makes it so that you are very intentional with moving forward.

If you don't do this, you will move forward. It's not that you can't create good in your world, and you can't move closer to your goals. I'm not saying that none of that will happen, but there is a peace of mind. There is reduced chaos internally, a sense of groundedness about making the plans and moving forward with plans, when you are reviewing, taking stock, taking note, and then choosing what you're going to do moving forward.

One thing you're going to tweak, or change, or one value that needs to be implemented into how you work, etc. Who knows what it is for you? But you will not know what you're going to carry forward, unless you process what you've just been through. It's extremely important.

This idea of ending intentionally, is very important. Now, I also want to say that ending intentionally means ending at the right time; ending when you're supposed to be ending it. What I mean by this is, so often we get started down a path, and then things get busy, we sort of lose focus, and it just sort of dissipates. We don't end anything intentionally. We didn't even get to the end, so that we get into intentionally.

Part of ending intentionally is making sure that you keep your head down, and you get to completion with that thing; that you actually do, what you said you were going to do. That alone, is ending more intentionally, because you're seeing this thing all the way through to completion, than the average person will give it.

We've talked before on this podcast, about your relationship to quitting. Quitting, people think typically, that quitting is an active behavior, but your version of quitting may be very passive behavior, where it just slips away. You didn't consciously say, “I'm quitting,” you just allowed it to slip away. Being intentional with the way that you stop something, and the way that you end something, makes sure that you are conscious. That you are awake at the wheel, so that you will quit less things, because you won't just let things slip away.

When you think about ending intentionally, the first part of ending intentionally is the completion of it, or going all the way until you can't, because of unforeseen barriers that are halting the action. Sometimes that will happen, but it wasn't because you let it slip. And it wasn't because you gave it up. And it wasn't because you didn't plan your time well enough to be able to give attention to it. That's not why it ended.

So, part one ending intentionally, is you making sure that you see it all the way through. That, I think, is what is so beautifully done inside of our groups, is accountability for that. It's reminding… It keeps you awake at the wheel, because we're all talking about it, all the way through the quarter.

The second part of ending intentionally, is reviewing, taking stock, just taking note, and being able to move into the next phase or the next thing in a great way.

Hopefully, this all makes sense. Hopefully, there is one nugget, in here, that stands out, that maybe trumps the others, that you're going to take away and implement right now. So that you can move towards progress, not perfection, for yourself. If it is how you close up your day, then run with that. Just taking one of the things that I gave you today, to implement into your own world, will absolutely change the game for you.

So, if you feel like you could use it at the end of the day, do it. If you feel like you could use it at the end of the week, then go to velocitywork.com and get your hands on the Monday Map / Friday Wrap guide. That will guide you through not only Friday wrap, which is ending your week intentionally, but it'll also help you plan really well for every single week coming up.

If closing out the end of every month, is what the biggest draw for you was from this podcast. Then go to the episode that we provide in the show notes, and get your guide and the steps to do that. And if you want to be a part of a community and a group where intentionality is facilitated, then get in Master Group, and that is exactly what you will have. velocitywork.com/join is always where you can go to learn more about Mastery Group.

And, if you're listening to this in real time, you can add yourself to the wait-list, enrollment opens late summer for the next round. But no matter what, that URL will always have the information. If enrollment is open, you are able to enroll. And if it's not, then you can get on the wait-list, but that's the link to go get yourself informed.

Okay, let's be intentional with how we end things, not just how we begin things. Take one nugget from this podcast and implement it. It's remarkable what a difference it makes when you stop things, close out things, end things intentionally.

Have a great week everyone. I'll see you here next Tuesday.

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process that I teach called, Monday Map / Friday Wrap. If you go to velocitywork.com, it's all yours. It's about how to plan your time and honor your plans, so that week over week, more work that moves the needle is getting done in less time. Go to velocityvork.com to get your free copy.

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