The Calendar

I'm sitting here on a Sunday going through my calendar trying to update/organize it. I don't go through my calendar very often, unless to see what court appearances I have.

It's funny that when I don't look at it, and I try to play my memory "by ear" that I feel panicked and feel like there are a million things to be done, and consequently I feel overwhelmed and on the verge of a panic attack.

When I go through the calendar to figure out what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done, I feel like I have more control and the panic subsides. Hmmm. Do you think going through the calendar is helpful???

And yet I don't go through my calendar very often because I am so busy that I think I don't have time to look at the calendar. Yet the very act of going through the calendar keeps me abreast of things that need to be done, and when.

So if I went through my calendar on a daily basis, I would probably be more productive. I wouldn't feel overwhelmed, and I probably wouldn't be "knee-jerking" a reaction at the various things that come up.

I have got to do this. I have got to start looking at my calendar on a daily basis.

When Tom started working with me at building my law practice, we bought a license for his computer so that he could be scheduled as well as me for all the things that needed to be done.

Starting 2 1/2 years ago, when he first started working here, we were supposed to have meetings to discuss what was coming up on the calendar. It became a joke that we never had meetings.

To date, we have probably had less than 10 meetings in 2 1/2 years. That is abominable in a law office. It seems like everything has been knee-jerk reaction.

At least we just came out of December. In a law office where we practice mostly family law, no one files for a divorce in December because of Christmas. Actually, from Thanksgiving until after New Year's Day, we hardly get any family law clients unless there's an emergency, which is rare.

Usually, when you file documents, the hearing won't take place until 6 to 8 weeks later. That means that after Christmas, we won't be busy in court until after February 15th. That means that I still have a chance to get organized and get caught up. I'm working on that tonight and will be working on getting caught up until the hearings start.

There was a time, until I went through that divorce 5 years ago, that if a document came in to which a response was required, I got the response out the same day. I answered mail on the same day. I did all the filing on Friday of every week for everything that came in during the preceding week.

For the last couple of years, I have been so busy that filing is done sporadically and I often go to court with files that are disorganized, and I hate that.

I am often playing "catch up" with my files, and I hate that, too.

We have put ads out to hire someone to work for me, but the various people we have hired have been inept. I am not a hard boss, so it's not like I am nit-picky.

We have tried paralegals, law students, graduated law students, and attorneys. I could bore the reader with each situation as to why these candidates didn't work out, but I would be even more bored trying to describe each situation, so I'm not going to bother.

Here is what I wish I had: A person who was a self-starter, who could do what needed to be done while I wasn't here, who could organize my files, who could meet with clients, who could manage my calendar, etc. Sigh.