June brings time for a bit of reflection here in the little law office on the prairie. Spring’s flurry of activity is has wrapped up; the first cutting of hay is in the barn, planting is done, calving is over and everyone is settling in to the slower rhythms of the coming summer. So, now is as good a time as any to reboot things and look to make the remaining year fruitful.
Find a fresh voice
Take some time to look outside your usual box; read some new blogs, take a CLE outside of your practice area, pick up a new magazine, or see what other industries are talking about. You never know where you might find that bit of inspiration that will help transform your year.
Start planning for 2016
If you are like me, planning much beyond 30 days is more a matter of wishful thinking and prognostication than it is a matter of deliberate thinking. But think how smoothly the new year’s start will be if you take some time to at least outline 2016’s big picture now rather than trying to cram that strategic thinking into the week between Christmas and New Years. While you are taking a day or two to plan ahead for 2016, you might also want to want to break the remainder of 2015 into 90 day blocks and map out your remaining marketing and tech projects for this year.
Build your relationships
You’ve got the time, so reach out to that contact you’ve not spoken with in a while and set up a time to meet for coffee, or lunch, or drinks, whatever. This is the time to do all that stuff that actually builds relationships.
Create a new habit
You had good intentions back in January when you made those resolutions and June offers a chance to renew them and begin constructing and reinforcing those new habits.
Learn a new skill
A bit of downtime is a great time to learn a new skill, so here’s to trying your hand at blogging, or perhaps learning business analytics, or taking a run at that CRM software.
So there you have it, five things to occupy June’s downtime and to reboot yourself and your practice for the upcoming 6 months.