In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Sarah Tetlow discuss:
- Why email is so important and so readily used by lawyers.
- Ways to manage your inbox to make it effortless.
- What ARTT stands for and how it can help you manage your inbox.
- Tips for better managing your email.
Key Takeaways:
- Treat your email like a mixed bag of jellybeans. Keep only your favorites (what needs to be done) in your inbox and keep them from being buried.
- You have the choice of what to do with what comes into your inbox – Action, Reference, Tracking, or Trash.
- If you’re overwhelmed and bogged down with thousands of emails, get some help to get it cleared out, utilize your filters or quick steps, and only touch once.
- Some things are better communicated through phone or a meeting than they are through email.
“There are three Touch Once – you should touch the email one time only. Those are your actions, your reference archival, and then it’s your delete.” — Sarah Tetlow
Episode References:
- ARTT: arttemail.com or organizemyinbox.com
- Be That Lawyer Podcast Episode 52: Sarah Tetlow: Maximizing Your Time and Life
- David Allen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidallengtd/
- Book: Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Be That Lawyer Podcast Episode 236: Sarah Reiff-Hekking: Time Management to Take Back Your Life and Business
Connect with Sarah Tetlow:
Website: Firm-Focus.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarah-tetlow-42688b8/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/firm-focus-llc
Facebook: facebook.com/Firm-Focus-2133715496717831/
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Legalese Marketing: https://legaleasemarketing.com/
Moneypenny: https://www.moneypenny.com/us/
Practice Panther: https://www.practicepanther.com/
Connect with Steve Fretzin:
LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: Fretzin.com
Email: Steve@Fretzin.com
Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!
YouTube: Steve Fretzin
Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911
Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie
Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
SPEAKERS
Narrator, Steve Fretzin, MoneyPenny, Jordan Ostroff, Practice Panther, Sarah Tetlow
Sarah Tetlow [00:01]
There are three, what I call Touch once you should touch the email one time only. And those are your actions. They are your reference archival. Those are the ones that there is no action and you’re going to file them away. And then it’s your Delete.
Narrator [00:21]
You’re listening to be that lawyer, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Each episode, your host, author and lawyer coach, Steve Fretzin, will take a deeper dive helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results. Now, here’s your host, Steve Fretzin.
Steve Fretzin [00:43]
Hey, everybody, welcome to be that lawyer. I am Steve Fretzin, your host as the announcer mentioned, hope you’re doing well we finally got some snow here in Chicago. And everybody’s excited. Everybody loves the winters in Chicago. I’ve never heard a negative thing about it. Sir. Have you ever heard anything negative about Chicago winters?
Sarah Tetlow [01:00]
I don’t know if you’d call this negative, but I follow Mel Robbins. And in her recent podcast, you can’t change the weather in Chicago. It’s not negative. It’s just a fact. But you cannot change the weather in Chicago.
Steve Fretzin [01:12]
Well, you can change it, you just wait a few hours, it’ll change 30 degrees. That’s what Chicago is all about. Also, global warming, I think really helping we were 70 degrees and early November. And that’s just lovely. So, you know, kudos to global warming that we’ve got, you know, one or two perks out of it, we’ll all be you know, buried underwater at some point on the on the coast. But short of that, that’s kind of neg kind of a dark negative way to start the show and very sarcastic. I mentioned to Sarah that I’m sort of in a mood. So I don’t know how that’s gonna play out in our conversation today.
Sarah Tetlow [01:42]
And you know, I’m joining you from California like on the coast. So yeah.
Steve Fretzin [01:47]
Just you know, don’t buy a mansion, the actual Coast that’s gonna like fall into the water, then you’re fine. Right? Right. Okay. Good to know, Sarah, I’m gonna get to you in just a moment Tito, I’ve got some sponsors who I happen to be very excited and passionate about. If you haven’t heard money, Penny, you know, you want to take you know talking about time and efficiency. You know, take the receptionist, you know, monkey off your back. And they do the virtual reception. We’ve got practice Panther, automating your practice management, making you superstar and, of course, legalese, taking the marketing, and essentially just doing it for you. You know, if you see all the LinkedIn posts and all the newsletters and all the podcasts I’m putting out Well, guess what? legalese, helping me do it every single day. Ah, okay, Sara, let’s move on to something more exciting, which is your quote of the show that you totally stole from David Allen, which is what I asked you to do. Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them. I like it. Big fan of David Allen. My audience knows I rave about him. And I think you’re maybe even a bigger fan. But why don’t you give me that quote, and welcome to the show, by the way.
Sarah Tetlow [02:55]
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me, Steve, always a pleasure seeing you and chatting with you. That is a quote that I’ve built into many of my programming. I live by that. So your brain needs to be a processor, not a hard drive. And in order to be successful, and effectuate the work, we can’t be carrying our projects, tasks, ideas, thoughts, assets in our head. It doesn’t leave room to actually do the work to process what we need to do and effectuate it. So your mind is for having ideas not for holding them or your head is for having ideas not for holding them is one of my favorite quotes. Yeah, right on
Steve Fretzin [03:29]
and you are a two timer on my show. Just want to add the last part of that, that you’re not a two timer unless I say your accept on my show. And we spent some time really talking about maximizing your time and your life and getting that stress down. And I feel like as this you know, pending or existing recession happens, there’s going to be some stressed out attorneys. So I’d say go back and listen to the show. We did. I don’t know how long ago is that? It’s got to be a year, year and a half January
Sarah Tetlow [03:55]
of 2021. I am on like page two or three of the back end of your podcasts.
Steve Fretzin [04:04]
So okay, so yeah, so I wasn’t far off right about about No, it’s about is that two years? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, I was about to say a year. I’ll tell you guys my brain is melting right now. This is what happens when you get me kind of near the end of the day, after you know all that all my juices are running dry. But listen, we’re going to do great today. I have a good feeling about it. Sarah tetlow, you are the CEO of firm focus. And as I mentioned, the two timer on the show. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into working with lawyers and helping them be efficient in their in running their law practices. Yeah,
Sarah Tetlow [04:39]
I worked in law firms for 15 years. And I created firm focus to help lawyers with a very niche area of time management. It was a pain point I would see throughout my career. And my be that lawyer tipping point was really discovering on BART one day I made that cameo. And I have this whole kind of program I do called hold my person. There’s a lot of backstory to it. But the very simple part is I was holding my purse closely on BART, but made a very courageous decision literally in one train ride. Like, there’s something bigger, I need to be doing it out there, then I’m doing inside one firm in those four corners. And I want to help a lot more lawyers with the gift that I have. And something I’m really passionate about, which is helping them with project management, task management, time management, attention management and email management. So that led to the creation of firm focus. And I am so grateful every day that I started this company and can help my clients.
Steve Fretzin [05:43]
Yeah. And you mentioned Bart, it may be I’m just a little slow. What is Bart? Simpson?
Sarah Tetlow [05:49]
Yeah, Bart stands for Bay Area, rapid transportation, and it is the worst subway system. Probably anywhere in the world. It’s really terrible. So
Steve Fretzin [06:00]
I got Okay, yeah, I’m not a big public transportation guy. So I will definitely stay up above the street level when I visit you in the bay. Because we like street cars. Those are fun, right?
Sarah Tetlow [06:13]
street cars are fine, you can do those. Okay, art is just dirty and inefficient and has a lot of problems. So anyone that’s in the Bay Area, or has come to the Bay Area and ridden bar is probably nodding right now going Oh, yeah. It’s pretty awful.
Steve Fretzin [06:26]
Yeah. Pretty disgusting. Yeah, man, I just I don’t know, I never even taking the train into the city from the suburbs. I’m just like, I’d rather drive. You get your podcast going and your dude, maybe handle some business calls, like you can be eating? You know, I know, the trains are great for like sitting and doing your work, but maybe not. If you’re thinking about, like that rat that’s gonna come nibble at your foot or something. So let’s talk a little bit about efficiency. And one of the areas that I know lawyers really struggle with, because I’m hearing about a daily is emails, dealing with emails flooded with emails, letting their their emails really run their day, run their week, run their life, and it’s a definitely a sore spot for attorneys, you know, everywhere. So why is it such a big issue lawyers dealing with emails?
Sarah Tetlow [07:14]
Well, for one, it is the number one tool for collaboration. And lawyers, often, you know, they want a response into instantaneously. So they can send the email and get a quick response. Or if they’re thinking of something in the moment, and they don’t want to forget that thought, I’m happy that they’re getting it out of their head. But that trust that system in that moment is sending that email to somebody else to put the I don’t want to say burden, but send the next action item or task for somebody else saying, Get this done or answer this question or pay this or whatever. And then they can kind of forget about it in the moment until as we know what happens, they wake up in the middle of the night, and they think I never got a response to that email, or they never finished that task or project. And so it has created a lot of anxiety and overwhelm. And nobody has really taught you how to use email, right? Because you don’t really need to know you open up a new mail and you type a message and you hit send and it goes to that person’s inbox. And then you get a reply at some point. And then this continues back and forth. But there are ways to manage an inbox that is somewhat effortless, and doesn’t contribute to that overwhelming feeling and actually helps you organize, prioritize and triage email,
Steve Fretzin [08:30]
right. And we’re going to have to get into that because I think people listening, you know, whether they decide to take notes, just take a mental note or whatever they need to really consider getting efficient, because if time is money, and for lawyers, it certainly is every, you know, wasted opportunity to be more efficient. It’s something that literally runs your day, and you’re dealing with a day in day out every you know, weekends and evenings. You know, you’ve got to figure out a system that’s going to help you cut back on and I know I have and a huge, huge shout out to David Allen, who we’re going to continue to talk about throughout the show. But I mean, really changed the way that I and I I brag to people, I don’t want to be stuck up or brag braggadocious but you know that I don’t finish my day with any unopened emails, every email has been assigned to a task or has been done. So I feel like when I go to sleep, I don’t have anything outstanding that isn’t scheduled for some next step. And that’s, you know, that’s just one piece of the puzzle. But I think for me, I don’t know if I had 235 100,000 emails unopened in my inbox that I would be sleeping bro. Well, yeah. So what So you mentioned something to me about jelly beans and I was just like, What the heck are you talking about? What is that in line with our conversation? Okay, you know, you’re showing me jelly beans. Now. I want some jelly beans. All right. My by the way, my dad, Larry, the lawyer who was my 200th Episode used to carry jellybeans in his pocket, so that the grandchildren would like him. That’s a true story. Yeah, okay. And it worked. It worked there. like grandpa jelly beans and like that was his jam. And I think he picked it up from as good as it gets with the guy had the bacon in his pocket so a dog would like him anyway, just saying.
Sarah Tetlow [10:10]
That’s what jelly beans in the lint, right?
Steve Fretzin [10:12]
Yeah jelly well no he had a special plastic bag that I think he repurposed over and over again Hey, every time he’d see my three year old four year old at the time, you know jelly beans grandpa jelly beans, grandpa he was brainwashing them anyway didn’t work. Now they all dislike him. They hate him not just to give me jelly beans anymore. They should give him heat. If he gave out cars and college education, then he’d pick up some fans $100 bills, hundreds oh my god, he should yeah. $100 I’m gonna have to mention that that will never happen. This is a guy that when he gets a check for $50 at a restaurant, he sits there for 20 minutes and reviews every item so I don’t think he’s gonna be thrown out $100 bills, but he supports my son’s 529 as well as anybody so it’s appreciate it. He’s a good man. Every the lawyer everybody. All right, Sarah. Totally degress. So jelly beans.
Sarah Tetlow [10:59]
Jelly Beans. Yeah, so jelly beans. How are jelly beans similar to email. So I haven’t this analogy. And hopefully it creates a visual for everyone watching. So I actually live near the Jelly Belly factory. And when you go go through the tour, when they drop you off in the gift shop, the number one seller is the Jelly Belly variety pack. So that’s what I held up a moment ago, if you heard the crinkling. And you buy it, because it’s fun, it’s colorful, it’s flavorful. And when you go to open up that bag of Jelly Belly variety pack. So of course what I mean by a variety pack is there’s all kinds of mixed flavors in there. But you inevitably are going to start looking for that favorite flavor. So for me, it’s I’m gonna hold up like cotton candy, because that’s my flavor, the pink. And then when I’ve exhausted the pinks, I dig through and I’m looking for maybe my coconuts or my juicy pears. And as you’re going through this bag and you’re getting lower and lower in the bag, you realize that you missed a cotton candy or a coconut or juicy pear. And then you get all the way down to the bottom of the bag. And what you’re really left with are those flavors you don’t want at all like the toasted marshmallows, or in some cases, the black licorice.
Steve Fretzin [12:10]
I was gonna throw out cinnamon but that’s the right cinnamon. Yeah,
Sarah Tetlow [12:16]
hey, well, there’s I’m sure there’s people listening that love the cinnamon, because usually one of my popular ones.
Steve Fretzin [12:21]
Yeah, they’re, they’re called crazy people. Okay,
Sarah Tetlow [12:23]
do you see people. So you have this bag. And as you’re going through, you miss your favorite flavor. And at the bottom, you got the junkie flavor. So it’s like an inbox where you’re leaving messages in your inbox, you’ve got all your flavors mixed. And you’re in the case of what i The analogy I gave the cotton candy is that most pressing client right now where you’re going to trial in two weeks, and you need to communicate with that client, your coconut, if that’s your second favorite flavor might be that prospect that you’re nurturing. And that juicy pear might be your business development or networking group that is your power partners, and you want to stay top of mind with them. And then the the toasted marshmallows are the cinnamons. In Steve’s case, those are your spam messages, the junk that you really aren’t going to read, don’t have time for it. Or even if you do intend on reading it, it’s not going to be a high priority today or maybe even this week. And so if you’re leaving all of those jelly beans or all those emails in your inbox, you’re working, your brain is working in overdrive, and you’re causing decision fatigue, to constantly prioritize and organize your jelly beans are your emails. So that’s why with what I’ve created called the art system, it’s a way of creating workflows. So that with many emails, it’s a touch, once philosophy, you touch the email, you make a decision on what action you’re taking with the email, you do that action when you can. And then there’s a whole area where you can’t do the action right away, whether it’s you’re gonna read it later, watch it later, sign it later, respond to it later, do the project later, break the project down, you’re waiting on something back. And that’s what the art system that I’ve created. It is really about is that open workflow.
Steve Fretzin [14:11]
Yeah, and I’ll tell you my favorite one touch and get rid of it as unsubscribe. I can’t tell you how many like random people are getting me on their newsletter and I just like okay, this is I’m like in some weird, you know, like wood burning grill, you know, whatever. I have no idea how they even got my email and I’m like, okay, but those like, you know, there’s so much junk and it’s not being captured by the by the email system. We’ve got to get rid of that first.
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Practice Panther [15:07]
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Steve Fretzin [15:15]
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Steve Fretzin [16:05]
But talk about the productivity system as it relates to valuable emails, secondary valuable emails? And how are we working through those to one touch and clear things out and handle them in an orderly fashion? Because I think that’s really what we need to understand is how your system works, just to make things efficient.
Sarah Tetlow [16:26]
Yeah, so I’m going to answer it sort of in the way of talking about the flow. So when I say the one touch, there’s really, three, let me let me actually say what art stands for, because we are and I think that’s going to be helpful as I get into answering this segment. So art stands for action, reference, tracking, trash. Now, those acronyms, I’m gonna dive a little deeper into them in a second. But they’re actually based off of another productivity principle or philosophy that David Allen talks about, which is a concept called the Five DS method. The five DS method is that with anything, we do anything, we do it all in life, as human beings, it boils down to five behaviors, you do it, you delay it, you diminish it, you delegate it, or you delete it. And I talked about this in the other podcasts that you and I did together, Steve. So do it, delay it, diminish it, delegate it, delete it, those are your choices. Email is no different email is somebody communicating something to you, they want your attention in your inbox, and you have the choices there to do something with the email to delay the email and do it in the future, to diminish the email and it’s a project or something you’re going to do over chunks of time to delegate what was ever communicated with you, or to delete it. Now, the only other exception with email is we also have no action at all, because you finish that thread or you’ve taken the action, you don’t want to delete it. So that’s what led to the creation of art. So art action, do the email right now, reference has two parts, we can either reference the email in time in the future. So I call that reference actionable, meaning you’re going to do something with that email in the future. So examples would be you get an email confirmation that you have signed up for a webinar for next Friday at noon. So you need that email to have the zoom information to log in next Friday at noon. But you have no more action associated with that email right now today until next Friday at noon. Reference archival in the art system means you want to reference that email in time in the past, we cannot do actions in time in the past. So that indicates that it’s an email that there is no more action, you answered the clients question or you sent them what they needed, or you got what you need it back from the client or from Steve or from your potential client or colleagues. And you want to save that email because you might need to reference it at some point as just basically archival reference material. So that’s reference archival, then the first T tracking, that’s your delegate. Why? Because with email, you might delegate out an assignment, for example, and then you want to track that email to make sure that you get back what you need when you asked for it back. But with email, we also delegate out other actions like a contract to be signed an invoice to be paid a question to be answered, requests for documents, these are all examples of, of correspondence you might send to somebody else. And now the next action is you’ve delegated the next action, but you want to track that email which my art system helps you set that up so that it stays top of mind but it’s not weighing you down. And if you’re someone who cc’s or BCC yourself on email, that is your way of tracking. That is your way of saying I want to follow this email so I need it to come back up into my inbox. But then as you’ve probably learned, as the real estate, as your Jelly Belly variety pack keeps getting filled up on you, you’re missing that email, you’re forgetting about it, it’s getting buried down, it’s getting buried down. So my art system, which I’m going to answer about the flow in just a moment, my art system is a solution to that. And then finally, that trash the last tea in the art system is our delete, trash delete, it’s the easiest one for me to say, and make that connection and get it it’s one of the hardest one for people to do. They look at the email, and they say, oh, that’s trash, that’s the wood burning fire pit that I never am going to buy, but then they just ignore it and they leave it there, they’re leaving that sizzle and cinnamon or that toasted marshmallow Jelly Bean in the bag. And they keep sifting around it each and every day, I’m telling you to take that sizzle and cinnamon out of the bag and throw it in the garbage can and I’m giving you permission to do that.
Steve Fretzin [20:56]
And we’re or real quick before we move on. Just I know you’re gonna mention this, but so important. If that’s not, it’s not something that you can do, you’ve got 10,000 emails sitting in your inbox that you definitely need to get some help. Right like get get a VA get out the assistant of Pyro paralegal, anyone that’s willing to help you to step up, I mean to teenager whomever to go through and just look through your emails and start clearing out that clutter. Because that’s really again, that’s, you know, loaded with all the bad Jelly Bellies and jelly beans, that you’re not going to be able to easily find anything.
Sarah Tetlow [21:31]
I agree to a point, Steve, here’s where I’m gonna get into tiny little, not debate with you, but I’m just gonna give a different perspective. If that’s the case, and you have a massive bucket of jelly beans, and you’re saying to your teenager VA, like I am so overwhelmed, please just go through these Jelly Belly for me. How successful will they be without knowing what your habits are? What how would you? How would you prioritize that. So
Steve Fretzin [21:57]
you may have to give some direction like anything that you see as clearly someone you know, just a random newsletter, like you have to clarify like that or can go through and I think there’s a way to like, let’s say I’ve gotten 200 emails from that wood burning magazine on our grill magazine or whatever, you can pull that up at that, you know, just through the search, it pulls up all those you can highlight them and clear out 200 at a time. So you can get some of that type of searching and clearing of the clutter. But I get I totally get what you’re saying. And I would never, by the way, bring in my teenager at 15 to do this for me. Because he would just delete everything. And I’d be I’d be sitting there crying. So I think I think maybe like a paralegal or someone like your secretary, someone who knows, like you really well and can probably help you out with that with some direction.
Sarah Tetlow [22:49]
Yeah, yeah. And ultimately, rules or quick steps and outlet rules, or quick steps and outlet filters in Gmail can do this for you if you know what your habits are. And I talk about that in art. So just to wrap up the value of art. So art is really about the workflow. And there are three, what I call Touch once you should touch the amount one time only. And those are your actions. They are your reference archival, those are the ones that there is no action and you’re going to file them away. And then it’s your Delete. So those are basically the touch ones. You see those? I want you making that decision and taking action. If the action is you’re just needed reply with Thank you. Or if the client asks you what time do we need to be at court tomorrow for our hearing and you know, a Meet me at 815. And you can send that response, take that action right away the reference archival if you know you want to keep it but there is no action, get it filed away. And the art system is really customized for you how you file, it’s not a one size fits all. So it helps you set up what those folders would look like for you. And then the Delete, you get that wood burning stove before you have to ask your secretary to sort them and find them. As Steve mentioned, I always say whenever you see an email that you know you don’t want anymore, number one unsubscribe. Then number two before you hit Delete sort your inbox, especially if you have 1000s or 10 1000s or 20,000 emails, sort by sender. Delete all the ones that are in your inbox because you might capture three or 200 and then create a rule that they go into your trashcan automatically because as some people listening might be asking, yeah, but sometimes the unsubscribe doesn’t work. It’s true. Sometimes it doesn’t. So if you follow those steps, then you should catch most of them and they’ll start to be self deleted.
Steve Fretzin [24:46]
You’re putting them in a spam so that they don’t come back to haunt you.
Sarah Tetlow [24:49]
Right. And then the touch just to quickly capture because that’s what really kind of gets into the details and weeds. The touch twice in some cases is the rest of the art system. So that’s your reference actionable, there’s something you’re going to do in the future. That’s your tracking, you sent out the next action to somebody else, and you got to track that email. And it’s your diminish diminishes, indicating it’s a project that you’re going to do over time or in sections. And so the art system also teaches you what to do with that workflow. Yeah,
Steve Fretzin [25:21]
well, this is all such important stuff. And again, I’m not gonna say It’s Rocket Science, the stuff I teach isn’t either, but it’s just it’s not learned in law school. It’s not learned at the law firm level, who’s teaching it? Well, you are Sarah. So I think it’s just so important for people to realize, you know, there’s something that you don’t have the expertise in, like, I’m not a lawyer. So guess what, if I need a lawyer, I’m gonna call lawyer. If I’m struggling with my time, and with time management, and in the email, won’t call Sarah, you’ve got a resource you’re hearing about right now that can walk in and help you set you up through a system to make sure that you’re removing a huge barrier to your ability to live the life you want to live. Sometimes it’s just it’s maybe not just email, but a lot of times it’s a big part of the problem. Yeah. So let’s wrap it up with kind of a final thought. Any other like major tips that you can share? Before we kind of wrap up and get to Game Changing books?
Sarah Tetlow [26:20]
We don’t have another hour. I’m like, Yeah,
Steve Fretzin [26:25]
I’ve got one. Yeah, sure. One of the you tell me how smart I am. I’m just kidding. I’m not going to do that. But no, I want you to Oh, okay. Just something also, this is just a simple a simple thing that we try too hard to have conversations through email. And I see a lot of lawyers writing volumes, pages, paragraphs of emails to clients and other people. And then, of course, the going back and forth to schedule things. So I just want to clarify the importance of keeping emails short, things are better said on the phone, or on a zoom than, you know, relayed through an email. And obviously, we all know that miscommunications happen all the time, through emails, because we try to, you know, explain a case or explain a situation or scenario that just can’t be explained as easily as you would on a phone call where you can handle a question or whatever. And then the last piece of it is, like, when you’re trying to schedule something with somebody, if you don’t have a tool, like acuity or Calendly, with the auto scheduling, which, you know, I know, you and I are huge fans of them, give them three or four or five dates and times and say, hey, here are three or four or five dates that work for me, let me know right away, which worked for you to avoid the back and forth, I’d really appreciate it, get it one and done. Versus that these dates work for me, these dates don’t work for me, those dates work for you, and you go back and forth. Now your 456 touches to get a date on the calendar. If you’re doing that all day with clients and with other people, you’re gonna be you’re gonna want to, you know, blow your blow your brains out. Yeah, I’m
Sarah Tetlow [27:59]
gonna throw in a Don’t be that lawyer. Don’t be that lawyer who sends a message that says something like, yeah, let me know when you want to meet that you and then you complain about eat too many emails? Well, if you that’s just very passive, you say here are and have your assistant give you three dates on your calendar and the parameters you said this week or next week, put them in the email and start that conversation, you’re more likely to get a response where they select one of those options than respond to you and provide dates and if you’re just doing that to push them off because you don’t really want to meet with them
Steve Fretzin [28:38]
I’d love to get together with you let me know when you’re free and then they never respond. I’m like all I think God, thank God, I had no interest in that person. So much flavor that you were my cinnamon and my tungsten marshmallow. And I nailed them both by by not having them respond at all. So mission accomplished on that. Sarah, so much fun. Who would think that efficiency is fun, but we’re making efficiency fun, right? Speaking of fun, let’s talk about your game changing book, which is of course David Allen’s getting things done. And I’m just going to put out my two cents before you put in your two cents. Changed my life absolutely changed my life. I was the worst stacks of business cards, stacks of brochures mixed in with proposals mixed in with everything and just emails, you know, 10,000 deep, you know, just paper everywhere. And he changed it and then I started like helping my clients do it the way you do it. And now it goes every set of materials that I send out to my clients includes that book, I probably need to talk to him about a volume discount. Anyway, why do you love it so much like I do.
Sarah Tetlow [29:44]
i It’s a dense book, but it really boils down to kind of three components out of your head into a trust System Review religiously. So what I really love about it and I know you had Dr. Sarah high ranking on your show and then I just butchered her name, but she talks about systems and we need the systems to work for us. That is, what time management is essentially about and getting more done. And that’s something I help my clients set up to is like the right system for them, what is the right system to remind them for the next action they need to take on projects and tasks. Also, when I read David Allen’s getting things done, it just resonated with exactly how my brain works and how it’s worked my whole life. I’m lucky enough that I’m gifted with being incredibly organized and having a good sense of time management and project management. And so his book was just like, this is the way I’ve always operated, and someone put it into words into a book better than I will ever be able to. So yeah,
Steve Fretzin [30:48]
and I’m the opposite I was I needed to be completely rewired, retooled. And I just think I think everyday for him in that book and what it did for me, and now what it’s doing for my clients, at least the smart clients that read it, and I send it to them. And, you know, even if you just pull up the flow chart and start to memorize and internalize the flow chart that he has in the book, it’s super helpful. Yeah, well, Sara, listen, I just want to thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your wisdom. This is an area of it’s such a sore subject and an area of frustration for the attorneys that I that I work with, and that I know really, really need your assistance if people want to get in touch with you, and they want to hear more about art and working with you to help them improve their productivity. What’s what’s the best way for them to reach you?
Sarah Tetlow [31:34]
Absolutely. So LinkedIn, of course, you can find me on LinkedIn, Sarah tatlow. The show notes will also have a link to my firm focus website, as well as our email. So it is two different websites because our email is an online course that is available in both outlook and Gmail. But it’s not about the platform at all, even though it does provide some really cool tips about the technology. It’s really behavioral change on how you organize triage, prioritize email, and not feel so overwhelmed by it.
Steve Fretzin [32:05]
Yeah, and you did an amazing job. I heard you speak at one of my roundtables recently. And the feedback was void we really wish we had her for another 15 minutes because in the 30 You know, they were just like they’re like they were just chomping at the bit to hear more so anyway, I hope you know, we’ll have you back again to talk with another group but so appreciate what you do for the legal community and in beat for me being on my show and then being a good friend. So
Sarah Tetlow [32:29]
yeah, absolutely. Anytime Steve, I always enjoy conversations with you and
Steve Fretzin [32:34]
I’m okay. I’m all right. I’ll ask my teenager if I’m alright, we’ll see what he says but now we’re all good. Listen, hey everybody, all about helping you be that lawyer and if you can’t get organized with the way that you’re running your practice, the way that you’re managing stuff, your email, etc. Very, very challenging to focus on business development and marketing and branding and the things that will end up bringing in the business so really take to heart what Sarah shared today and then again, be that lawyer someone who’s confident organized in a skilled Rainmaker. Take care, everybody be well. Be safe. We’ll talk again soon.
Narrator [33:12]
Thanks for listening to be that lawyer. Life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website fretzin.com. For additional information, and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends. For more information and important links about today’s episode, check out today’s show notes