The right kind of goals...

I think this is great chunk of information (that I don't follow nearly well enough) from RJon Robbins from over at Howtomakeitrain.com:

I told you I'd be connecting-up all the dots we've been looking at over the past few weeks and showing you the foundation upon which all of my success with all of my Rainmakers, is based. It's all based on the premise that you should be happy.

And happiness is a natural consequence when a rational person takes consistent action in pursuit of his or her goals consistent with your values. The foundation for all of this is having the RIGHT set of goals.

"The 'RIGHT' kinds of goals!?! Hey, RJon, where do you get off trying to tell me what my goals should be?!?" Whoa, there! I'm not going to tell you what your goals should be. But I am going to say that after having helped hundreds of lawyers build their law firms, I can tell you that the ones who've had the greatest successes are those who developed the right kinds of goals.

That is, realistic and measurable goals which address all of their true motivations, not just financial. In my experience, the right kinds of goals are those that address your Financial, Social and Professional needs. To put it bluntly, if your law firm business isn't serving each of these needs, you're in trouble.

How To Predict A Lawyer's SuccessI was first exposed to the idea that a lawyer's goals had to be multi-dimensional when I was introduced to a fantastic book by Cynthia Kersey called Unstoppable. Once I absorbed those lessons, I finally had an analytic framework for understanding exactly why some lawyers are only moderately successful while others with seemingly no greater talent or skill enjoy extra-ordinary success in their professional and personal lives.I've seen lawyers make a success of themselves in almost every practice area imaginable, and I've seen plenty who have failed at those same practice areas. But I've never been able to predict success or failure based on age, race, personality, what law school a lawyer went to, what kind of grades they earned, or even how many hours they spent in The Barn.

The Best Predictor Of SuccessThe best, in fact the only reliable predictor I've found for whether and how successful a lawyer is going to be in the long-run with his or her business is the degree to which their career and their firm supports all three of the lawyer's needs: Financial, Social and Professional.