Blog : Performance

I was watching a Ford truck commercial—you know, the kind that airs during Monday Night Football—and the theme was how good solid blue-collar Americans who own small welding businesses and wear plaid flannel shirts always give 100%. Cue Bob Seger, “Like a Rock.” Oh wait, that was Chevy. But you get the idea. Anyway, Ford has obviously gone soft. Anyone who follows sports or business figures on social media knows that giving 100% is for losers. Winners give 110% every day. I know this from watching Shark Tank and that Michael Jordan documentary. This idea is not limited to athletes and […]

Ok, I don’t really want to lose. But I don’t want to be *afraid* to lose.

This week I’m excited to have a guest post from Craig Huggart. Craig liked my post I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Ignored Epidemic in the Legal Profession and asked if he could contribute something on the topic of sleep. Here are his helpful tips about getting better sleep on the road. – Zach Do you sometimes struggle to sleep well in hotels? Me too! However, after more than 600 nights on the road, I found two key things that make it easier to get a good night’s rest on the road – picking the right room and optimizing it […]

What will motivate your team to succeed? Past failures? Sporting goods commercials? Find out at my blog post.

You probably know the Sunk Cost Fallacy and how it applies to litigation. But do you understand the Sunk-Cost-Fallacy Fallacy?

In Book III of his Metamorphoses, the ancient Greek poet Ovid tells the story of Narcissus, the child of a naiad, Liriope, and the river-god Cephisus. Narcissus was “most beautiful” but had a “pride so fierce no boy, no girl, could touch him.” One day a rejected youth prayed for Narcissus to get his comeuppance, and Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance, “judged the plea was righteous.” So she cursed Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. Narcissus endlessly stared at the pool, even pressing his lips to the water to kiss his own image. But […]

What real lessons can we learn from those “most successful people I’ve met” memes and tweets?

You’ve all read those “habits of successful people” and “best morning routine” articles. Is this just another one of those? Well, yes. But it’s a little different. That’s because my morning routine doesn’t follow the conventional scripts. You already know the basic types. First there’s the “Crunchy” kind: get a full night’s sleep, wake to the sound of birds chirping, practice “mindfulness” for 20 minutes, then do some yoga and meditation, drink green tea, and eat an egg-white omelette made with local asparagus and eggs from cage-free free-range chickens. Eventually get to the office at 11:00 am. That’s not for […]

So many litigators describe themselves as “aggressive.” But do aggressive lawyers actually get better results for clients?

This year, try adopting a client-centric definition of productivity. And identify the top 5 productivity killers.