As one can imagine being a criminal defense attorney can be a little hectic on Monday mornings. A lot of crimes like DUI, battery, drug possession and violation of probation type matters happen more on the weekends than they do during the week. I guess people are off from work and have free time and decide to do something against the law. Coming in on Monday morning at my office is really interesting. On a typical Monday there is jury selection, if I have a trial going on, I have people calling who were arrested over the weekend, I have a lot of normal court appearances and sometimes depositions scheduled, and meetings with current and new clients scheduled. I normally get to work no later than 4:00 a.m. every morning and used to I would get to work by 2:00 a.m. on Mondays because I was so stressed out about what all had to be done. Not anymore though. I woke up this Monday morning as normal and got to the office at 4:00 a.m. as I usually do. I will go to court today, meet with clients, return phone calls and do everything I need to and not have any stress doing so. If fact, I have such good Mondays it actually feel like Fridays to me now.
How do I do this? Well, it can be easy to feel down about Monday mornings. When I first started practicing law it would affect me so much I would start worrying on Sunday afternoons about everything I had to do on Monday. Now I actually like Mondays. I will go so far as to say I like Mondays better than Fridays. How did I do that? Well, it all started about 5 years ago. I was dreading coming into work on Monday and it was only Friday. I didn't have a lot going on that Friday so I started writing down everything I had to do on Monday in chronological order. I listed out what time I was going to get to work, when I was going to read the paper, return emails, when my jury selection was to begin and end, when I was going to meet with clients, when I was going to go through the mail, when I was going to return phone calls and what times I was going to eat and/or take a break. Basically, I wrote down EVERYTHING I had to do that Monday. Before I left the office that Friday I looked at the list and thought Monday was not going to be too bad. However, what was amazing was that on Saturday and Sunday I didn't even think about Monday's tasks. In fact, I slept more soundly on Sunday night than I ever had. When I got to work on Monday morning at 4:00 a.m. I was amazed that I had that list on my desk and was able to blow through every item I had listed on time and without any issues. I couldn't believe it. So the following Friday I did the same thing and again I felt relieved all weekend and had another tremendous Monday. Since that time I have always made a list of things to do on Monday. This has even made me start making a list every afternoon before I leave the office for the day. I now sleep better, get up more refreshed and get everything I need to do done that day. I know it may seem like a hassle to write down everything you are going to do the following day but take it from me it has saved me time, money and more importantly I have less stress and more enjoyment every day of the week. EVEN on Mondays!
I hope everyone enjoys this blog entry and have a Happy Monday!