Starting a Law Firm - Getting Things Done, Part 2

In yesterday's edition of Starting a Law Firm, I posted about the importance of maintaining to do lists as a reminder to get things done. But I realized that it is difficult to really grasp the to do list concept without some examples.

So today I will let everyone know what my current to do list entails. In this post, I'm only listing the A priority items, and in the next post, I will list my B and C priority items. This is just an example of a list, and you should create yours in a way that makes you more productive. Keep in mind also that I keep multiple lists, for all aspects of my professional and personal life, and this is only the list for the "business" side of my law firm. I also keep one for the "lawyer" side, which contains work to be done for clients (obviously, I can't disclose that list on the public blogosphere). Believe it or not, I also keep a list for my personal life. Why do I do this? Because it helps me get things done. I also read somewhere that a very common characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is the obsession with making lists.

If you haven't opened your doors yet, and are reading about How to Start a Law Firm, then you will only have the business side to do list. So without further ado, my A priorities for today:

1. Contact CPA (I have a name, but will not use it here) for appointment.
2. Sign up for [bar association] lawyer referral service.
3. Add content to family law page of website.
4. Post to Starting a Law Firm blog.
5. Write criminal law article for website.
6. Go to bank and deposit checks.
7. Order office supplies.
8. Contact two attorneys for lunch networking meetings.

This was my A priority list at the beginning of the day, and will keep me plenty busy. After this post, I will have checked off the first 4 items. Also, in re-writing my list, I noticed that I broke one of my own rules - to be specific. Some of my items are not nearly specific enough, which is something I will need to work on. The easiest way to do this is to come up with a broad goal or something you want to get accomplished, then create more specific set of items that need to get done in order to accomplish the broad goal.

After getting through my A priority items, I will move on to the B priority items. Actually, the B priority items compose the majority of my list, and I usually bump a few of these up to A priority items each day.