Many lawyers deal daily with a subtle form of procrastination – working on “busywork” to avoid the important but intimidating jobs that they should be working on. This behavior creates a vicious cycle that causes stress which, often, leads to additional procrastination which, in turn, leads to more stress and, you guessed it, more procrastination.

“Life is a series of interruptions interrupted by interruptions” is a quote that we had always attributed to John Lennon, but that may be apocryphal.

Anyone who has ever worked in a law office knows that interruptions are the bane of a lawyer’s existence. We can’t tell you how to get rid of them, but we can offer some suggestions to help you control them and reduce their impact on your work.

To control interruptions, make sure that you and your secretary both take your previously scheduled work sessions as seriously as you would a client interview. If …

Decide to block out your time and put aside one block of time to accomplish important but not urgent tasks to avoid them never bubbling up on your To Do list - and actually get them done.

Here’s another tip from the Taste of  ABA TECHSHOW 2011 dinner that Dave and I hosted earlier this year.  This tip comes from Allen Howell, Director of Career Services at the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law of Faulkner University.

Allen’s tip is to make maximum use of your local law school’s interns.  He states that they can help with legal work and provide welcome insight into what is new, not to mention that you’ll be helping to mentor a potential new lawyer.  Sort of seeing the world through new eyes….…

"Do you jump from one task to the next without ever finishing? You may want to try the Pomodoro Technique of getting work done.

People who are regularly bombarded with streams of email do not pay attention. Turn off all notifications that an email has arrived in order to structure your work and devote uninterrupted time to the important tasks of the day.