Success Lessons from Lawyers (yeah, Lawyers!)

Holy Toledo! (or something like that ;-) ) was what I said when I got my final bill from a lawyer I used on a recent transaction.

You know what personal development practice they have mastered… probably better than you and me? Valuing their time.

They charged me for every lunch, brief huddle, phone call and email… yeah every email! THAT is the kind of time value awareness we all need to have.

This is one of the most valuable lessons I can give you about transferring daily, hourly, moment-to-moment behavior into a significant annual income...

Having an income oriented association with how you spend your productive time.

Let me show you how this works:

What is your annual income goal? Let’s say it is $150,000.

Now here is how you need to bill/produce/value your time accordingly –

If you work 50 weeks a year 40 hours a week, that’s:

·         $3,000/week

·         $600/day

·         $75/hour

·         $37.50 every 30 minutes

·         $18.75 every 15 minutes

·         $6.25 every 5 minutes

> Spend an extra 15 minutes at lunch – pull out a $20 bill and tear it into pieces.

> Chat with a friend for 10-minutes during your work day – that just cost you your lunch money.

> Leave an hour early because it’s Friday – take out 3-$20s, 1-$10 and a $5 for the privilege.

That is what wasting time costs you, but so does confusing “activity” from productivity.

Every day you need to ask yourself – what am I going to do today that will earn $600 or more? During every hour you need to ask yourself – am I producing $75 in results? If not, that is why you will fall short of your annual income goal.

It is your vigilant discipline of producing $20 worth of work (every 15 minutes) that will magically materialize your $150,000 annual income.

Good advice right? My bill will be in the mail! ;-)