Size matters (and there’s a law that says so!)
The size of your “work container,” that is. I suppose the size of your “fun / recharge container” matters too – but as lawyers and law firm owners, very few of us have a hard time keeping that one from overtaking the work hours. Am I right?!?
Gwen recently wrote about the decisions we get to make as entrepreneurs – choices about how we frame our days, when we choose to take breaks, how we prioritize in the face of competing needs (clients, family, self, community). She reminded me that we are actually choosing whatever outcomes we’re getting in that arena. We’re not being “done to” – we’re “choosing to”.
One of the choices I had to own up to recently was about the size of my work container. It got OUT. OF. HAND.
I had a major transaction on my plate, selling a client’s business, and for various reasons we all understood that the closing needed to happen as soon as possible. End of March.
That meant I was going to need to grind it out during the month that also contained a retreat in Arizona, Spring Break, my partner being away for a week, and my birthday. Outstanding. Are there even that many weeks in March?! Added fun: the client is a medical practice, and the sellers are all in surgery all day – so all client calls to help them navigate very complex deal terms were at 7am or after 6:30pm, or both.
Although I’m extremely proud of the work I did, the care the client felt through the process, and the relationships I built with the professionals on both sides of the deal, I’m not thrilled about the part where I did not take care of myself, and my family got nearly zero attention from me for a couple of weeks. I chose to let the work take up all available space. I actively moved other priorities out of the way for the work. And I won’t do it that way again. Next go-round, I’ll loop in a team for support early in the game, be clear about my own work container boundaries, and set expectations for turnaround times and volume of work that are realistic given the team and container size. Feels good to have a plan.
Every now and then, I get to re-learn a lesson like that one. Here’s hoping that’s the last time I have to learn that particular lesson, though!
Turns out, there’s a law (of physics, but still, fitting) governing the results that come from our choice of container size. Seth Godin (who seems to be listening in on my life – this post came out the day after my deal closed!) reminded me about Boyle’s law: a gas will expand to fill the container it’s in. Our work is the same.
Choose your container size wisely, friends. It takes guts, but it’s worth it if you want to build a practice (and a life) you love!
-Whitney