As you undoubtedly know, I love coaching lawyers and I feel fulfilled when I hear back from them about the success they’ve achieved and their joy in their career and life.

A law firm contacted me recently about coaching lawyers in their firm. One of the firm’s lawyers asked what is the most important thing I do when coaching lawyers. It was hard for me to answer. But, I thought of a Stephen Covey quote I had recently re-read. He said:

Effectiveness-often even survival-does not depend solely on how much effort we expend, but on whether or not the effort we expend is in the right jungle.

I told him that the most important thing I do is listen and get to know the lawyer I am coaching. When I really know the lawyer I can help him or her figure out how best to spend their client development time.

Your success at client development does not depend solely on how much effort you are making. You may be working very hard at it, but as Stephen Covey would say:

“It is not in the right jungle.”

If you have a coach or a mentor, her job is to help you figure out what activities will work best for you.

If you want to do that on your own, one way is to keep a journal of what you are doing and review it and rank your activities from most important to least important.