The Red Velvet Lawyer

Making Higher Aspirations a Part of Your Life In December, I shared a goal setting strategy focused on picking one (or three) words for the year. Yesterday, I ran across this collection of other goal setting strategies .

Tracking Gains, Setting Weekly Goals, and Holding Yourself Accountable Yesterday, I described my productive use of three snow days and the " satisfaction of completion ."  Today, I want to describe a tool my business coach, Christine Kane , advised me to use in her UpLevel Your Life on-line coaching program. She calls the tool the "Sunday Summit" because she encourages you to use it once a week to plan your intention for the week.  I have used it every week for three years. The 2-page tool consists of eight questions.  The questions on page one help you focus on gains made the last week and create accountability for missed goals.  The questions are: 1.  What have I accomplished this week? 2.  Is there anything I wanted to accomplish but did not? 3.  What a-ha's or awakenings have I had this week? 4.  What challenges am I experiencing? 5.  If I were coaching myself, what would I tell myself about those challenges? The...

The Satisfaction of Completion This last week, the Dean declared three snow days.  I feel like a kid when that happens.  Yes, I did play in the snow a bit.  But, mostly, I enjoyed what my business coach, Christine Kane , calls the "satisfaction of completion." On Sunday and Monday, I completed my tax returns for 2013 and 2014, and I plan to use the refunds to pay off most of my debt.  Ka-ching! On Thursday, I began writing the minutes for the Admissions Committee on which I serve. Last night, I completed the first drafts.   Those two big projects had been hanging over my head for a long time.  I'm glad they are behind me because their completion frees up so much energy that I can now focus on new projects, including a couple of law review articles I want to finish this week.  P.S. The photo features a nearby view.  Thanks to alumni, Darryle Ronning, for sharing it on Facebook. 

Still a Good Option If You Can Get  a Bargain on Legal Education For the full story, see  here .

How is Your Own Stuff Affecting the Negotiation? Bill Ury has published a new book : Getting to Yes with Yourself and Other Worthy Opponents .  I've not read it yet.  But, as the big storm of 2015 began dropping snowflakes on Grundy, I watched an hour-long video featuring Ury at a Google-sponsored event during which he describes the book, tells several stories as examples, and engages the audience in a discussion and a role-play. First,  I do love the "getting" series of books.  I've read them all.  I have assigned Getting to Yes to all my students over the last thirteen years of my teaching career.  In another week, my current students will start reading it.  I use Getting Disputes Resolved in my Arbitration seminar, partly because it refers to a labor dispute in a coal mine located not far from the Appalachian School of Law.  I also use it because it was one of the first books written on dispute resolution s...

Teaching Students to Serve Future Clients This week, I've been designing my class that will be a part of ASL's Introduction to Natural Resources Law course.  We are offering the course as a one-week intensive before regular classes start in January. Through it, we hope to encourage students to earn our Natural Resources Law certificate .   My day-long class will focus on shale gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays located in mostly Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York.  The class will include an overview, presentations by a couple of guest speakers, and then a simulated negotiation of a mineral lease.  I am expecting it to provide good coverage of the topic and a fairly interesting way to spend an 8-hour day of class. I am trying to frame perspectives from the industry, the environmental protection community, and health officials.   My slide show is almost done.  I've really enjoyed the required research and my...

Happy Holidays  to my  Friends, Colleagues, and Students Hope you are enjoying the day with your families. P.S.  This modern interpretation of the three wise men comes from the photos I took in Dubai earlier this month.  I snapped it in the lobby of the Burj Al Arab, a six-star hotel on the Gulf that overlooks the man-made Palm and World Islands.