Often I wonder how many lawyers are using certain techniques and knowledge that will assuredly assist them in achievement of goals for both law practice and law firm management. Since the legal profession is not known for dancing on the cutting edge, I bet only a few are using the gold from neuroscience and the gems of narrative expression.
Perhaps more lawyers are employing a method used by several winning golfers. In "Stick to Your Routine" Tiger Woods says, "Don't forget the visualization. It makes a huge difference in your performance." And from "The Legacy of Earl Woods":
Tiger Woods has often said his greatest gift is his imagination, and his first lesson in visualization was administered by his father. "Do you see the picture of the hole?" Earl Woods asked the toddler. "OK, putt to the picture."
Arnold Palmer used visualization, as have many other great golfers and leading athletes in most sports.
Visualization is "a process whereby a reality is created in the mind and then lived out in-person." That simple, wise definition comes from "Better sports performance: It's all in your mind." In addition to sports, visualization is used in a whole host of other activities, including health improvement, creativity acceleration, habit extinction and problem resolution.
Now we learn visualization can be used to get out the vote. Yesterday, just in time for Election Day in the US, an article was released by Seed Magazine: "Study Suggests New Election-Strategy: Imagine the Vote."
Drawing voters to the polls tomorrow, researchers say, may be as easy as asking them to picture themselves voting.
. . .This visualization technique could offer an easy, low-cost way to increase voter participation, said Gavan Fitzsimons, a consumer psychologist at Duke University.
"One of the big goals in any election is to 'get out the vote.' And this seems like a very innocuous way to do so," Fitzsimons said.
Still another area in which visualization is used for improving performance is sales. How many lawyers are using it as a way to develop more clients? How many are using imagination power to relate most effectively with current clients, opposing counsel, partners and associates, employees, not to mention family and friends? To hone trial skills? To reduce stress? To prepare for a deposition? The list could go on to include almost any activity in which a lawyer participates. I wonder how many are rehearsing success in their minds. Because visualization is simple (not always easy) and creates positive change, I regularly recommend it to clients and friends. Now I am recommending it to you.
On an unrelated note, two more articles about women in the legal profession. If that topic is of interest to you, read "Traffic on the off-ramp: Women are still second-class citizens in the legal profession. What can be done about it?" and "Early warning signs: Miner’s canaries, even in law school." Both are from Harvard Law Bulletin. I took note of this from the first article:
Harvard Law School is in the early planning stages for Celebration 55: The Women’s Leadership Summit, which is expected to focus on topics including women’s lifelong career paths, mentorship and work-life balance. This event, scheduled for Sept. 19 to 21, 2008, will mark the 55th year since the first woman graduated from HLS. It follows Celebration 50, one of the best-attended alumni events in the school’s history.
More about Celebration 50. I am curious. Do other law schools hold similar events for their alumnae? If so, please let me know.
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