The Keys to Work-Life Balance: Lessons from the Monday Map Process with Drew Hickey

I’m Melissa Shanahan, and this is The Law Firm Owner Podcast Episode #287.

Welcome to The Law Firm Owner Podcast, powered by Velocity Work, for owners who want to grow a firm that gives them the life they want. Get crystal clear on where you're going, take planning seriously, and honor your plan like a pro. This is the work that creates Velocity.

Melissa Shanahan: Hey everyone, welcome back to this week's episode. I am here with a very special guest, Drew Hickey. Thank you for joining us. 

Drew Hickey: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Melissa: So Drew, you are a Mastery Group member. 

Drew: Correct.

Melissa: You also lead, which we'll get into more in a minute, but you facilitate our Monday Map Power Hour.

Drew: Yes.

Melissa: So the reason I wanted to do this podcast episode with you is because you've been around the block in Mastery Group for a bit. And I recently got to spend a day and a half with you in person and got some work done. And there were some really cool things that came out of that for you and the work that you did.

So I thought we could capture it here. I think other people benefit from it. So if you want to just start, maybe tell everybody where you are and what you do.

Drew: Sure. So I am from central Illinois. I have practiced for 14 years now. I've done lots of different things, but right now my practice areas are in adoption, estate planning, probate estates, and some personal injury work. So I have several different practice areas. I've tried to niche down, but I really like all those areas. So I kind of keep those. It's hard to cut them out. 

Melissa: You've niched down quite a bit from before.

Drew:  Yeah. Our firm is general practice, so we have lots of different practice areas inside the firm. So just kind of limiting those is niching down quite a bit.

Melissa: Explain your specific scenario and the way that you're set up in your firm ownership. And over the years it will likely change, but in the last couple of years that I've known you, what's been the set of circumstances that you have used us to help plan around?

Drew: So my stepdad is one of the owners, the main equity partner in the firm. And so our firm name is Bolen Robinson & Ellis. And there were three equity partners, my dad, and then another attorney; two other attorneys. One of them recently passed, and so now it's just the two main equity partners. 

The rest of us … we don't have any associates … so the rest of us are all partners, in the sense that basically there's overhead and then we just take the profit. So we're an eat-what-you-kill firm. It's a pretty generous split, so it's great. We all consider ourselves owners. We work as a team to make decisions about the firm. But I guess I'm not the final decision maker because we definitely work collaboratively.

Melissa: It's like you each own your little business within the bigger business. Right: 

Drew: It is true. So while we all work together, and our finances are all combined in that way, we have our own kind of silos in a way. If I want to have my own program or go to a CLE or get my own software, that's kind of on me. So I can do what I want. Like with Velocity Work, I didn't have to clear that with anybody, but I pay for it out of my own pocket. So any kind of extra programs like that, you can do it, but it's on you.

Melissa: Okay. So that kind of sets the stage a bit. You've been in it… Is it two years? 

Drew: Yes. Two years in December. 

Melissa: I think one way that we could open this up… So another Mastery Group member mentioned to you, and I heard her mention it to you, that when she first met you on a call, your energy was very different than it is now. I don't know if you want to speak to that. Because you feel the shift as well. So maybe just speak to the work that you've done. 

Because you've worked hard. You've done a lot of work. You’ve stayed with it. Some quarters are better than others. Some quarters are easier than others. Some quarters get more done than others, but you kept at it. And because of that, you've gotten yourself to a different spot. So maybe share a little bit about what she was referring to from your perspective.

Drew: Yes. So when I started, and I actually think it was October of 2022, I was coming from a place of just complete overwhelm. I had suffered terrible, terrible burnout. I am a firm believer that burnout is a medical condition, a psychological condition. 

There were days I was crying at my desk from overwhelm. I had two small kids. My husband had gone back to law school in another city two hours away. So I was suffering with a lot, and time management was a big deal. Knowing what I wanted was a big deal. Knowing where I was headed in this job was a big deal. And I was feeling kind of under a paradigm that I didn't feel like I had a lot of control. 

And so that was what really brought me to Mastery Group. I heard the podcast and… I don't remember the first ad or anything that I saw, but it was “structuring your firm around your life instead of the other way around.”

Because I feel like as lawyers, it's the work that comes first. And that's the main focus. You do the work. You do the work, and everything else comes fourth or eighth or whatever. I had two babies and a husband, and I didn't want all of that to come last. So that's where I was coming from. 

I wanted to be able to use the firm as a source of income, as a source of joy and vocation and responsibility, but not as this huge source of grief and barrier to the things that I enjoyed in my life. 

Melissa: What do you think she meant when she said you feel different now?

Drew: Oh, yes. So coming into that, I mean, you can understand why I was pretty frantic. So between having practice areas I didn't enjoy, having kids and just all of these different things, responsibilities that I was juggling, I'm sure that I came across as just incredibly intense. Plus, I think I was just excited to hear what was going on.

I remember especially my first Strategic Planning. I was just kind of nervous, kind of excited, kind of just wanting to hear the answers. What are the answers to these big, huge questions I've got? And so how do I fix it? How do I fix it? And so that was my energy at the time. 

And so the shift has come in, in that when you plan your time, when you have a clear vision… I've always wanted very lofty things. I like to travel to Europe. You want to have a house. You want to provide for your kids. You want to have nice things. And so I've always had this kind of big vision, but it's always been vague. These are the things that I want, but I didn't have a connector of how to get there. 

And so Velocity Work helped me put a clear line around my vision and say, “Okay, what's the money that this is going to take? What does that mean in terms of the work?” And then also, you don't have to hate your life between now and then. And so that was a huge, huge realization. And so I think the shift has come in in that, yes, you can have all those things.

Because there's also the fear that maybe if I didn't work hard enough, maybe if I didn't do the right things, I wouldn't get those things that I wanted. So there's a difference now. There's a calm in that. Yes, you can take time for yourself. You should take time for yourself. Yes, you can have all the things that you want and not work yourself to death to get them.

Melissa: I will say it again, you really have done the work. I think what it takes is just a stick-to-itiveness. And I don't mean that you have to be perfectly disciplined. No one is perfectly disciplined. So it's not that. It's just you really keep showing up. And because you keep showing up, you keep making strides and you keep making headway. 

And something you said, that I definitely want to talk about today, you said you have a sense of calm. Yes, you can have the business that you want and the life that you want. And you've made huge strides in that. And that sense of calm made me think about, when you mentioned that, it almost seems like you trust yourself more than you used to. 

And that sort of dovetails into one of the things I want to talk to you about, that came up when I was working with you, was about being really clear and direct, and how much better your existence is because you're clearer and direct. So I wonder if you can speak to that and how it's really impacted you. 

Because even when people listen to this, they'll be hearing your story, but being clear and direct has been a meta skill that it seems that you have developed, that has served you in other areas of life too. And that's true for listeners that may not, maybe they're the outright owner of their firm, but the skill of being very clear and very direct could serve anyone. So if you want to just share your experience with that journey.

Drew: So starting out as a young attorney, I was in this firm with mostly men; mostly men who are a lot older than me. Mostly people who are very, very, very successful. And so that was intimidating. I mean, I was like, “Thanks for the job,” and just trying to kind of be quiet and learn. And I wanted to be successful, but I just was kind of taking the advice, soaking it up. 

Some of the advice was learn lots of different practice areas, find what you like. Which I think is good advice. I took a lot of pro bono cases. I just tried to work really, really hard, and the whole come in first, leave last; that whole mentality.

I thought that I was doing everybody the best service, including myself, by not speaking up. By just listening, soaking it up, following advice, not making waves. And I didn't really feel like I had a seat at the table. Even though I was physically sitting at the table, I didn't feel like my voice was one that anybody really wanted to hear. 

And I didn't feel like I had an equal footing to contribute. Because some of these attorneys had practiced 40 years, 30 years, 50 years, and had been tremendously successful. So what am I going to tell them that has any value to them? And so that was really, I think, my attitude. I don't think that was necessarily said to me or anything, that was just kind of the way I felt.

And over time though, and I think through learning the business… The biggest thing was the business. The “business of law” intimidated me because I had never run a business. I had never known much about business. Both my parents were entrepreneurs, but I didn't know how to… So I saw that side of it, but I didn't really know much beyond accounts payable, accounts receivable and that kind of thing, hiring, firing. 

So I didn't know a whole lot, and I didn't know how to apply it in this arena. And so I didn't feel like, again, I had much to contribute. And I didn't really want to dig into it because I just wanted to kind of do my job, keep my head down, and learn.

And then when I realized that path was not making me happy, that's when I realized something else had to happen. And through listening to your podcast, listening to and reading books, kind of learning, it just opened my eyes to there's a whole world out here full of possibility. This is not the only way.

I told myself, about five years ago now, “I'm going to give it five years.” Because I thought, “You want to run, right? I'm going to be a judge. Maybe I'll do this. Maybe I'll do that.” I mean, all these things. And I was public about all these thoughts. And so I thought all these different things maybe would serve me. 

And then I just thought, “You know what? I'm going to stick it out for five years. I've worked really hard for this degree and this license. I'm going to stick it out. If I can't make it work after five years I'm going to burn my license.” I didn't. “Okay, but if I can make it work, then great. Then maybe I can build on that.”

And so some of the skills that I learned through Mastery Group were some of the business decisions; how those are made, what goes into that. And so that gave me the confidence to learn more about it. The curiosity to learn more about it. I used to be terrified of numbers. I actually learned that not only am I okay and have a good head for numbers, but I actually like looking at numbers.

I like digging into my time and seeing how I'm spending it, which is something I never looked at before. So I learned that. I like it. I have an aptitude for it. And I can explain to other people that maybe these are things that we want to do. Maybe this is a better way of doing it.

And so the next leap from there was, will anybody listen to me? If I say these things in a meeting, is anybody going to listen? And they did. I was able to recommend hiring a different accountant. I was able to recommend a lot of business decisions. And when I started talking, the attorneys would say, “Hey, these are good ideas.”

And so it gave me confidence to help influence the business, help influence the way the business was going. To know that I can make decisions that help me, that help other owners and other people in the firm. And I think that confidence translates everywhere else, and to speak up too. It helps with judges; that can be an intimidating situation; judges, other attorneys. I just noticed that it's easier for me to speak up in any room.

Melissa: One thing that you mentioned was, when you spoke up you were heard. And you didn't know if you would be. You didn't know if anybody would want to hear you. And the response was positive. You had requests, and they honored those requests. They gave you what you asked for in order to help make the business healthier.

And even now, you're kind of at your next level, where you're thinking about making requests to run an experiment in the business. And you said, “I just realized, why wait?” You were going to wait five to ten years to ask for these things.

It was like, “Whoa, wait a minute. Why do you have to wait five to ten years?” And once you thought it through, you're like, “Oh, well, if I get clear, then I can ask.” I don't know, I just was struck by you talking through this. The clearer you get, the more willing you are to speak up. You don't want to speak up if you're a mess, or you don't understand something, right? So that matters. I think that's smart. 

But learning that even after you get clear… It's almost like the last couple years you have learned that once you get clear, you need to make the ask. And when you do, it will likely be. In your scenario, what's been proven to be true is it will be well-received. 

If it's not well-received? I guess talk about that. What if you hit a scenario that's not well-received? Is that going to shake your confidence or not? I’m thinking of health advocacy stuff, or for yourself, your family, or whatever, speaking up when it might be uncomfortable to speak up. If it's not well-received, do you keep doing it anyway?

Drew: I think it depends on the topic, for sure. I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean disregarding everybody else's opinion. I think that's part of speaking up. It’s adding your voice to the conversation.

Sometimes they don't take your exact suggestion, but then somebody else comes up with something different. But then it evolved. Because if you hadn't put in that input, the idea may not have been as good. So that's kind of what I've noticed about it. Maybe it's not that exact idea, but maybe it's somebody else's idea that piggybacked off of what you said.

And so then, to me, that's a win because we're all being collaborative. We're all coming up for what's good for the greatest good and the next best step. So I think that's helpful and something that is worthwhile.

Melissa: I know your situation is somewhat unique. I know we have listeners that have a business within a bigger business, so some people will be right there with you.

You said something this morning. People in positions of power, sometimes they want someone else to come up with ideas. I thought, “Man, I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're an outright owner of your firm, that means you're in a position of power.” And that is important. It seemed important for you to realize… And so that's good. So anybody listening, I'll have Drew say something about that.

But also, it's important that people that surround you understand that you want their ideas. That you don't want to be the only one coming up with things. Because to your point, the way you described this was you didn't think that they wanted your ideas. But when you started speaking up, they took to them and they encouraged more of it, and it surprised you.

Drew: Right. Yeah. I think a lot of times when you see people in positions of power, you see people who have been successful, you think, “Well, they've got it all figured out. They don't need to hear from me.” I think people, if you're in a leadership position maybe, I think the people that you're leading may think, “Well, they don't want to hear what I've got to say. They don't want to hear criticism.” I think that's completely untrue.

You and I were talking about how… “Please give me ideas. Please tell me the way things can be better because I don't have all the answers.” I think that's true of everybody. I don't know. I mean, anybody, especially good leaders. I think any leader that is just saying, “No, I've got all the answers and this is how we're doing it,” is not probably a great leader.

I think it's more having that feedback. That sounds more like Machiavelli, who's just like, “No, we're not doing that.” I think that it's more of, if you're a good leader, you are taking feedback. You're listening. You're trying to improve things and make things better for the people around you. And that includes listening.

And so offering those ideas and speaking up, I think people want to hear what it is. And again, it may not always be, “Yes, absolutely. Let's run with that.” But that's part of the collaborative process.

Melissa: If you're listening to this and soaking this up, I feel like the big morals of the stories that I took away from you, and having a conversation with you, was to be direct and make requests. Don't wait. And then sort of dovetailing with that, I said, “Don't wait.” But your statement about, “Why wait? Why am I going to wait five years?” … 

Because, technically, on paper, it would be easier to wait for a bunch of different reasons. Things will play themselves out. Maybe it's just going to be easier to transition without as much friction in five to 10 years. But it's not a negative, that there could be friction if you do it sooner. You just have to navigate it. And you doing that waiting is actually sacrificing a bit of yourself.

And so just be clear: Be direct. Ask for what you want. And that's true for your team members. That's true for anyone around you in a professional setting. And in your personal life, that goes a really long way, too. So I really thought that was meaningful, especially for women. I think there are a lot of women out there who have good ideas and they don't speak up.

And for a bunch of different reasons. Maybe it’s cynical. Like it's not going to matter. They don't necessarily have a lack of confidence; they just feel like it's not going to matter. And I think what you shared so eloquently over the course of a day and a half, was just, “No, it does. And it changed my life. Me speaking up changed my life. I could have not done that. The old version of me wouldn't have done that.” So anyway, kudos to you.

Now, I want to talk about Monday Map a little bit. Because you, as I mentioned earlier in the call, you are the main Monday Map Power Hour facilitator, which is a call that we have once a week for Mastery Group members. They come and they can do Monday Map facilitated. Drew walks through the process. 

And so people show up to that call, and you basically say, “Okay, you have a few minutes to do this step. And then you have a few minutes to do this step.” And you guys can talk and share as well, right? And for those of you who don't know what Monday Map / Friday Wrap is, it is a process that we teach for how to be really intentional in terms of planning how you're going to spend your time, and then honoring that plan. 

This is very much about your calendar and getting to the point where everything that is supposed to be done, everything that you're supposed to spend time doing, is actually on the calendar. Most of us have magical or wishful thinking when it comes to all the things we're going to get done. But if you can map it out, then you can start to see, “Oh, this doesn't all fit.” Or the barriers surface and you see what the problems are going to be. 

It's a process. It's a practice. It's not something you ever get perfect at. I teach the stuff and I still have periods of time where I struggle with it more than others. And we'll talk about that a little bit, what to do in those scenarios.

But I would just love to hear from you. I'm in a position where I teach about this stuff, and you do to an extent as well. And you were feeling a barrier with Monday Map recently, and have been for a bit. So do you want to share about that? And then share what we worked on that has helped, that has shifted it.

Drew: Yes. So first I'll say that feeling of calm or sense of calm that I've talked about before, very much came from Monday Map, that process. Because one of the things that I struggled with before learning the Monday Map process and kind of knowing what was coming next, in terms of not only my long-term goals but short-term goals in a week, was my “strategy”. My strategy was just to sit down and cram as much as I could into a day.

There just wasn't any rhyme or reason to it. It was just, “Here's what I have and just cram it in.” So whenever there was a distraction, whenever there was a phone call, whenever there was chaos. It just made me feel like I was a rabbit on a wheel and never getting anywhere. And so I, even though I worked and worked and worked and worked, I never felt like I made any progress. So that was very disheartening.

I wanted that to change. When I learned the Monday Map, it was so nice to come in on a Monday morning and know almost 90%, if not 100%, of what I was going to be doing that day. And of course, you're going to have your phone calls. You're going to have people come in with questions, and all different kinds of things. But if I know, “Hey, this is what I said I was going to do last week.” 

Maybe it's not something I'm necessarily looking forward to. Or maybe this is something I'm looking forward to. Just whatever the case may be, but I know. So when I go to sleep Sunday night, I know Monday morning I don't have to stress out about, “What am I going to be doing? I don't know. I'm stressed.” Because I know what I'm going to be doing. I looked at it on Friday, in depth. I put it on my calendar.

So that's where the sense of calm comes from. It’s that you're walking through your week knowing, “Hey, this is what I'm going to be doing. And if there's an issue, this is how I'm going to handle it. I know that I have court in another county at 10 o'clock on Tuesday. But guess what? I have it on my calendar that I'm leaving my house at 8:45, so I know I'm going to get there.” It's just those things. 

And it seems simple, but if you don't put it down, you're scrambling.

Melissa: Yeah. I mean, it's really supposed to be your map; your map to the week. Your map to move through the week so that you get everything done that needs to be done. And people struggle with this at first. The process itself is just principle-based, it's not rocket science. I didn't invent something with this. These are principles that are out there. They're time management principles. But it's packaged in a way that I think lawyers can respond well to.

But when you first start practicing it, you bump up against stuff and it can be frustrating. Because you are used to flying by the seat of your pants and keeping it all together, even though you're flying by the seat of your pants. And this sort of forces you to say, “No. No, this is what's happening and when.” 

And then, if it doesn't all fit, you have to make some decisions because it wasn't all going to fit anyway. So wouldn't you rather know that ahead of time and be able to anticipate barriers or reset expectations or whatever? You start to get a lot more control over your life, your existence, your time, the results you create, how happy people are with you or not. Right?

So it can be frustrating at first because it's new, different. It's not fast. It's not easy, but it's so worth it. I mean, you actually are productive and not just busy. And that's a big deal. You're better about boundaries. That's a big deal. 

But there comes a time for every single person, where if you start to feel in a groove with it, there'll come a point where it's not feeling as groovy. And you were in that phase. I'm currently in that phase, so I know what that's like. I know what I need to do to get myself out of it, and I'm going to do it over the space of the holidays.

But explain to people what you did that helped sort of push the reset button for you. Yeah, we'll go from there.

Drew: Yes. So that is definitely true. I kind of fell into a rut, especially with facilitating. It was like, “Okay, well, I'm facilitating for other people so this is what I can get done in an hour.” I have my task management system, and so I would kind of have this habit of, “Okay, here's what I can do. I'm going to spread it out over the days and not necessarily schedule the times and different things like that.” 

And so that was just kind of “good enough”. And again, it was kind of back to just trying to cram it all in and not necessarily being as intentional. It was working okay, but I knew I wasn't doing what I had done before in terms of fully doing it and feeling the calm, the sense of calm. Because again, I didn't have the full time-estimates and those types of things that really, I think, help. 

So what we did at Mastery Group Live, yesterday especially, is sit down. And I knew that I had things that I needed to change. I had a court schedule change so I had a block of time that needed to change on my calendar. I had some recommended time from my doctor that I needed to do more exercise. And I'm sitting here thinking, “How am I going to fit this in?” It’s just all of these things are in the back of my head.

And so what you and I did, we sat down with my calendar and my ideal week and revamped it, changed it. Just looking at that today, I woke up and I didn't have all that bouncing around in my head of ‘when am I going to do this? I'm supposed to be doing this.’ It was like, “No, it's on my calendar.” So I get up and do it. So that was so helpful, to just take a look with fresh eyes.

And I don't know why I didn't. I mean, in the back of my head, I think I thought, “Yeah, I need to do that eventually, but schedule time to do it.” I think it took half an hour. It's not a whole lot of time. And that's what I tell people about the prep steps. I put a lot of time initially into that ideal week and thinking about it. But you can kind of do it and then tweak it. 

I think it's that ongoing process and realizing that you're going to be constantly changing it. Your life is changing. Court schedules are changing. Your kids' schedules are changing. Your husband or spouse or partner, whatever, everything is changing and ever evolving, and so you've got to evolve with it. 

And when that happens, you sit down. You reset. And then when I reset that, I realized, “Oh.” Actually, we were looking for things and you were like, “There’s probably a way to integrate this,” this software I use, Asana, “integrate that with Outlook.” Sure enough, I could just put it right on my calendar from Asana. So I don't have that link step now. Now I can do it right from Asana.

That's a game changer because I can estimate the time and put it on my calendar in the same step. So now, where it was kind of getting to be a little bit of a chore, a little bit of a, I'm feeling a little lost, I'm feeling a little not as invigorated as I used to, it's now, I'm excited. I've got a little bit of a techie thing that I can do. 

And it's just going to be exciting now to go back and see how it fits into my life. And get back to that sense of calm, because I missed that. I was like, “I've tasted it. I know it's there. I know I can do it. I just have had a lot of circumstances that have pushed life around and I haven't had that.” So I'm excited to get back to it.

Melissa: When we first sat down, you said, “I'm just not honoring the plan.” You were kind of beating yourself up. You were like, “I'm just not doing it.” And then when you dig in… We kind of got to, ‘no, you can't honor the plan. There isn't a plan that's good enough to honor.’

This happens to all of us, by the way. Especially when you feel like you've gotten good at something, your brain will take its foot off the gas with it. And it kind of feels like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I have these things. I'm not going to calendar them. I know I'm going to do these on Tuesday. I'm going to do this on Wednesday.” But it's not the same. 

You basically have a to-do list for every day, and that's what we're trying to get away from, is these running to-do lists. And so you didn't realize that backing off of the specificity was setting you up to fail entirely. Because then you're just supposed to go at a bunch of things on any given day. The day's not going to go as planned. It doesn't always; it rarely does. 

So the day doesn't go as planned. And then you have these things start to stack, and things start to carry over, or you work long hours. You felt like you were going backwards. So I think it made a lot of sense to me when your version of pushing the reset button was revamping your ideal week, which is a step in the process; revamping your ideal week so that it made more sense for you to put tasks in. 

And then, the other, is to actually assign the amount of estimated time and then put them in your calendar. And those steps feel so tedious, and in some cases frivolous, but it's not. They are the keys. It's like your brain is almost there, in terms of planning well, but it didn't think through the details. And when it doesn't do the details, then we can't win. Because the details are a thing. 

So anyway, I just think it's so cool to see you excited again and reinvigorated and just pushing the reset button. Like, “Oh, okay. Now I'm going to do these steps fully. Now that I revamped my ideal week, I feel like I can more easily do these steps fully. It can go in.” And so today you did it, you did Monday Map / Friday Wrap. You weren't facilitating.

Did you plan your week? I mean, it's a short week next week because it's a holiday, but did you plan your week?

Drew: I did.

Melissa: Okay. And it feels like it's going to work?

Drew: Yeah, it does.

Melissa: Do you see any reason you wouldn't honor your plan?

Drew: No. The only thing I would say is that, to be quite honest, is that I don't have my mouse, my external mouse; my fingers got tired dragging everything around. So that's the only thing.

But no, I mean, I think that I was honest about the amount of things … That's the other thing, being honest about the amount of things you can get done in a day. I very rarely am honest about that. I'm like, “Oh yeah, this would be great.” And then it's like eight things. It's like, “No, you can do about three.” 

But I think I was honest about that. And be honest about my next week; what really does need to get done and what really doesn't, and the time I have to do it. So I feel like next week is going to go well. I'm not going to be butting up into Thanksgiving and being stressed about everything. I think it will go pretty well, so I'm excited.

Melissa: There's also what you're talking about, with resetting. I think that needs to happen kind of a lot, and I don't know if we talk about that enough. So working with you the last couple days has given me an idea. Maybe we need to do some sort of Monday Map Reset Guide. Because if you've got the principles down, okay. But eventually your template, that you're using for your ideal week and zones for where you put certain kinds of activities, it's not going to make sense. 

Especially if you're in a mode of delegating and shifting roles, or getting responsibilities off of your plate and putting it on somebody else's. Your setup needs to look different in your week. You're going to have different focuses and different windows of time that make sense because of the space you've given yourself to focus on new things. 

So, I don't know, I just think maybe quarterly having a reset just to check in will help keep it grooving.

Drew: Yeah, and I think that if you do that, if you do it more often, it'll take less time. So when the court schedule changed, if I had changed my day then, it would have been one less thing I would have done this time. So if it's faster, it seems like a less daunting task.

Melissa: Also, we didn't really say this, but the whole point of Monday Map is for you … as the person, not the work side of you only … That was another thing, you carved out when you're going to take care of your health and when you're going to spend time with family. And you may spend more time with your family than what you have carved, but you have carved what matters. You're not going to miss these things that you put in. 

That is a part, when we just plan our workday, it's so shortsighted. There are so many other things that are contributing to our experience, it's not just work. So really coming at this from a holistic perspective is way smarter and helps tee you up. And so anyway, you had some freedom in finding new spots that make sense for you, for that kind of stuff. It's cool. 

Okay, well, if you have one tip for someone who might just feel like they tried Monday Map before but they didn't get really very far with it, or as successful as they wanted to, … The idea was great, but it just didn't feel the way they wanted it to feel ... what would you say to that person?

Drew: I would say that it is not a ‘you're going to come the first hour and get it.’ It takes time. It's so worth it, though. So there's actually a link on the Mastery Group calendar to a page that has podcasts. I listened to a lot of podcasts; a lot of podcasts about Monday Map / Friday wrap. You glean a lot from that, just about the principles. I mean, there are a lot of principles. 

So the Power Hour is meant to be fast. But the principles behind what gets you to the Power Hour are very deep and very, I want to say intense, but there's a lot to it. So I would say to learn that … I don't want it to sound intimidating because I find it to be really interesting. It's a way of thinking. There's a lot to it in terms of philosophy. 

And so I think if you listen to the podcast, those episodes… Because the episodes have been taken out to where you can find the episodes, and they're listed there on the website. And then Melissa has kind of an introduction. And there's actually an episode that I did, where I think I was helping walk somebody through it. And so that helps too, to get the background behind why we're doing it. Because the execution on the Power Hour is meant to go quickly.

But again, the philosophy, there's a lot of philosophy behind it. So it takes a while. It's a practice. Progress, not perfection. If you come in and stick the landing the first time, that's not really the point. The point is to learn and to figure out what works for you. So consistency is going to help a lot; trying to come as much as you possibly can. You don't have to be there every single Friday, but that's important. 

And I also think that five years ago I would have said, “Why would I spend a billable hour on something that isn't going to make me money?” And I will tell you that spending an hour away from something will make you so much more money. Because you're going to be so much more efficient. You're going to hit the next week and just get your work done. Be able to knock it out of the park.

It has made my revenue go up. It has made my time with my kids and my family more impactful. Because I know that that time is for them. I'm not checking my phone. I'm not looking at emails. I'm not stuck in that cycle. No, this is the time that I've set aside. So I'm looking them in the eye, I'm engaging, and I'm invested in what's going on.

Before, that's been lost a lot of times because you're so pulled in every direction. So that's what I would say. I think it's worth it. It's worth it to stick with it. Everyone that I've talked to that has done it says that it's helped. I haven't had anybody say, “This was just the worst thing I ever tried.” Most people say, “This is really helpful, and it's really done wonders for me.”

Melissa: Yeah. Yes, to progress not perfection. Because I agree. Everybody says it's helpful, but the degree of usefulness really depends on you showing up every week to do it. It'll get more and more useful as time goes on.

Drew: I agree. And you get more and more efficient as time goes by; just like anything. But the idea is the more you do it, the more efficient you'll get. And then, as we've seen, sometimes you kind of get less efficient because your brain kind of says, “Oh, I know how to do that.” And so you then revamp it. Yeah. You cut corners, but then you revamp it. And then you're revitalized and excited to start again, and then you get back into it. 

Melissa: Yeah. And for those listening, she's talking about Mastery Group, the page. So that's in the Member Area. But if you are not a Mastery Group member, you should be. Scratch that, I'm just kidding. If you're not a Mastery Group member, you could go to VelocityWork.com and there is a chance to put in your name and email to get the Monday Map / Friday Wrap Guide. There's lots of material there to help you.

So, yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for being so present at this live event. Favorite thing from the time we had together?

Drew: The facilitation has been amazing. I mean, thank you for putting these ideas out there and facilitating the ability for this type of work to happen. Because it's really been a huge difference; made a huge difference in my life. And just to being able to continue doing it if ever I'm discouraged or I'm feeling down. I'm just like, “No.” 

There's this feeling of hope and excitement around ‘you can make anything happen.’ You just come here and find out, or listen to a podcast, and then you get that sense of hope. So, thank you for that. 

Melissa: Thank you. It is my absolute honor to do what we've done the last couple of days. This is what gets me up, for real, for work. So I love it. It was the best. And you got to see the new space.

Drew: It's gorgeous. Oh my gosh. I highly, highly, highly recommend coming. Actually, we were just talking about that. Mika and Lauren and I were talking about the panoramic view of the mountains. It's like those inspirational posters you see; but it's like living in one, you know? 

And so you're sitting here, you're trying to think past your barriers and outside of your box, and you're literally outside of your box. I mean, what isn't possible? Look at that mountain over there. Anything's possible. It's truly an inspiring space. And the furnishings are beautiful, everything's warm and inviting, and everything's comfortable. It's just a great space. I highly recommend coming here and seeing it, and just taking part in it.

Melissa: It's been a blast to have you. Thank you for your time today.

Drew: Thank you. 

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process 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 VelocityWork.com to get your free copy. 

Thank you for listening to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. If you're ready to get clearer on your vision, data, and mindset, then head over to VelocityWork.com where you can plug in to quarterly strategic planning, with accountability and coaching in between. This is the work that creates Velocity.