Building effective habits is crucial for lawyers striving to achieve long-term success and a balanced life.
In legal practice, where the pace is unrelenting and the workload ever-growing, forming effective habits isn’t about sporadic efforts or sudden overhauls. Instead, it’s about the power of consistency—small, deliberate actions repeated over time. As a lawyer, you face the continuous challenge of juggling multiple tasks, managing complex cases, and responding to client demands. Developing the right habits can significantly improve your productivity, minimise stress, and lead to a more sustainable and rewarding career.
As Aristotle wisely said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.“
Why Habit Formation Matters in Your Legal Practice
Habits form the foundation of your daily routines and behaviours, acting as automatic responses to specific cues. These routines can make the difference between thriving in a challenging environment and succumbing to burnout. As James Clear, author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits, states, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This means you need to build systems—or habits—that support your long-term success. Developing “professional habits” is key to setting yourself apart. Steven Pressfield puts it well: “The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits.“
In practice, where the workload is unpredictable and intense, having reliable habits ensures that essential tasks aren’t overlooked. These habits help you maintain focus, prioritise effectively, and manage stress. For example, developing a habit of daily strategic planning, even if it’s just for ten minutes each morning, can lead to more effective time management throughout your day.
The Role of Your Brain in Habit Formation and Time Management
“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” – Brian Tracy
Time itself isn’t the problem; it’s how you think about time and how your brain functions that often lead to ineffective time management. To manage your time effectively, you need to understand the role your brain plays and how it can unknowingly sabotage your efforts. You’re a creature of habit, and your brain creates habits to conserve energy. Repetitive tasks—like making coffee, checking emails, or even certain thought patterns—become automated. Amazingly, you repeat over 90% of your thoughts from the previous day. If you don’t consciously change these habitual thoughts, you risk reinforcing unproductive patterns.
This habitual behaviour affects how you use your time. For instance, if it’s a habit to check emails first thing in the morning, you might get so distracted that you forget your productivity goals for the day. Similarly, habits such as mindlessly scrolling through social media or picking up your phone mid-conversation can steal valuable time without you even realising it. The key is to identify and change habits that do not serve you, giving you more control over how you use your time.
Consistency Over Marathons: The Value of Small, Regular Actions
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”- Jim Ryun
Consistency, rather than marathon sessions, is what fosters effective habit building. It might seem tempting to block off a whole weekend to overhaul your work processes, but sustainable change comes from small, consistent actions. For someone with a packed schedule like yours, committing to short, regular efforts are far more manageable and effective than trying to implement massive changes all at once.
Habit Stacking: An Effective Strategy for Lawyers
One practical way to build consistent habits is through habit stacking, a concept popularised by Charles Duhigg and James Clear. Habit stacking involves linking new, small habits to existing behaviours, making it easier to establish new routines without feeling overwhelmed. For example, if you want to improve at client follow-ups, you could stack this habit with something you already do every day, like checking your morning emails. This method leverages your existing patterns to make new habits easier to adopt.
To make habit stacking work, choose actions that are small and manageable. As S.J. Scott outlines in his book, Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness, setting a timeline for yourself to establish a new habit is crucial. Allocating a few minutes each day for a new task might seem too gradual, but this method reduces the risk of burnout and significantly increases your likelihood of long-term success.
Avoid the Trap of Rosy Prospection
Another mental roadblock to effective time management is “rosy prospection”—the persistent belief that at some point in the future, you’ll finally get control over your time and accomplish everything you’ve postponed. This is an illusion. There isn’t a future moment when you’ll magically have time for everything, no matter how disciplined you become. Believing in this myth only leads to more regrets rather than gratitude for the present moment. The key is to start forming good habits now, rather than waiting for an ideal time that may never come.
Hyperbolic Discounting: The Lure of Immediate Gratification
A significant brain-based challenge to building effective habits is “hyperbolic discounting,” which refers to your tendency to favour smaller, immediate rewards over larger, future rewards. This is a common reason for procrastination. Because the rewards for your efforts seem far ahead, you often succumb to the urge for immediate gratification, whether it’s scrolling through social media or indulging in another distraction. These urges—whether they manifest as boredom, irritation, or frustration—can derail you from your long-term goals. Becoming aware of these urges and allowing them to pass, rather than acting on them, can help you stay focused on the task at hand.
Identifying Your Keystone Habits
Not all habits are created equal. Some habits, known as “keystone habits,” have the power to trigger a positive chain reaction, influencing other aspects of your life and work. Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, explains that “keystone habits are small changes or habits that people introduce into their routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives.“
For you, identifying and cultivating keystone habits can lead to transformative effects. For instance, a habit of regular exercise can enhance mental clarity, improve mood, and increase overall energy levels, which, in turn, benefits your work performance. Similarly, the habit of setting clear, daily priorities can improve time management, reduce decision fatigue, and lead to better client outcomes.
Implementing the Cue-Routine-Reward Loop
A practical framework for understanding and building habits is the Cue-Routine-Reward loop. This concept, popularised by Duhigg, suggests that every habit follows a three-step pattern:
1. Cue: The trigger that initiates the habit.
2. Routine: The behaviour or action taken.
3. Reward: The benefit or payoff that reinforces the habit.
To establish a new habit, identify a specific cue that will trigger the desired action. For example, if your goal is to read legal updates daily, the cue could be finishing your morning coffee. The routine would be dedicating five minutes to reading, and the reward could be a sense of being up-to-date and prepared for the day ahead. Over time, this loop becomes automatic, making the habit more sustainable.
Make Your Habits Obvious and Easy
To successfully form habits, reduce friction. James Clear advises making habits obvious and easy. Use visual cues and minimise the steps required to perform the habit. For instance, placing a legal textbook or document in a visible spot on your desk as a reminder to review it daily can help make the habit more apparent. Similarly, organising your tools and resources for easy access reduces the effort required to engage in productive activities, making it easier to stick with the habit.
Accountability and Reflection: Keys to Sustaining Your Habits
Accountability is a powerful tool in habit formation. Whether through a mentor, colleague, or peer group, sharing your habit-building journey can provide the necessary support and motivation to stay on track. Moreover, regularly reflecting on what is working and what can help you refine these habits over time.
“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” – Duhigg
Conclusion: Take Charge of Your Time with Effective Habits
Building effective habits isn’t about overhauling your life overnight; it’s about making small, deliberate changes that accumulate over time to produce significant results. By cultivating habits that prioritise time management, strategic planning, and self-care, you can transform your legal career from merely sustainable to truly thriving.
For more information on our Time Management course visit http://bit.ly/pmritime.
For more resources and support, visit the Professional Mind Resilience Institute (PMRI) at www.pmri.co.za or contact us at info@pmri.co.za.
References
• Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House.
• Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.
• Scott, S.J. (2014). Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Oldtown Publishing.
• Fogg, B.J. (2019). Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
• Pressfield, S. (2012). Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work. Black Irish Entertainment LLC.
• Tracy, B. (2002). Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
