Friday, June 6, 2014

Sparking a Choice

Sitting here in my office on a beautiful Friday afternoon, prepping a presentation for a Paycor webinar I am reminded that 1) writing is difficult and 2) I don't like sitting in my office on beautiful Friday afternoons. James Altucher, author of Choose Yourself, says that to be good at something you should put in 1,000 hours doing it. I've been a lawyer for fifteen years. I've got my 1000 hours in, times 15. To write well he advises that you write every day. Got it. To be more creative he says exercise your creativity and come up with five ideas a day. Is it that easy? No. Try coming up with five ideas in a day. I find that comfortable, familiar habits are now well worn, smooth ruts that leave little room for novelty and are hostile to efforts to climb out. We know what we should do to get better, but it's easier to keep doing what we've been doing. The book Spark by Lyn Heward, former creative director at Cirque du Soleil recognizes the ruts and the need to get out. It is so very easy. So so very easy to just do what you did the day before, and the day before that. Pretty soon we are left with nothing but bland memories of the days before as the ends of our futures come rushing into view. No more tomorrows. Time's up. If there is something interesting you dream of doing with your life, then you should start now. I read a great quote on Twitter within the past few days: "In a year you will be wondering why you didn't start today." So true. My partly written presentation is up and waiting for me on my other monitor. I should work on it. An opposing counsel just called and asked for two more weeks to respond to a motion and some interrogatories that also marked a settlement deadline. He needed an answer. He got it. The pool and my children on summer break are beckoning by text message. How many tomorrows do I get? What do I do? What would you do?