Think Creatively About Your Future

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Think Creatively About Your Future I want to tell you a story. It was June 6, 1970, 44 years ago in Lombard, Illinois a Chicago suburb. Yes, 44 years ago when Nancy and I married. We spent that night in a local hotel and hit the road early the next morning on our way to Richmond, Virginia where I had summer classes starting on Tuesday. We spent Sunday night at some cheap motel just off the Ohio Turnpike and ate a romantic dinner at the truck stop restaurant. We arrived in Richmond on Monday and settled in to our $99.50 a month townhouse apartment, furnished with old furniture our families did not want. When our lease was up we realized we could not even afford the $99.50 a month, so we moved in with my grandmother and 100 year old great-grandmother. The only thought we gave to our future at the time was my finishing law school and Nancy getting back to school to get her Medical Technology degree, which she did a few years later. We like to say now that “we didn’t know, what we didn’t know” when we got married. When you are young it is sometimes challenging to think about your future. Although I know that Nancy and I were married when this photo was taken, I doubt seriously we were giving a lot of thought to our future. Our anniversary reminds us of one of our favorite songs: Stevie Nicks  song Landslide. Now, after 44 years we are sure that we built our life around each other and we can climb the mountain and turn around. I am sure you remember some of those lyrics: Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’ ‘Cause I’ve built my life around you But time makes you bolder Even children get older And I’m getting older too And I’m getting older too Oh, take my love, take it down Climb a mountain and turn around One thing Nancy and I like about the song is that you can interpret the lyrics many ways so they fit your own life. Here is what Stevie Nicks said about the lyrics: Many years ago, but after the photo above was taken, I read Steven Covey’s book: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Habit 2 is: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND I liked that habit because it encouraged me to quit thinking about just what I was doing today and to start thinking about what I wanted to become. Using Habit 2, I ask you to think about your future. When you answer those questions, you are able to better envision what you want to do in the last half of 2014 that will help lead you toward the end you have in mind for five years from now. One of my favorite websites is www.hellomynameisscott.com. Scott is the name tag guy and has many, many articles that are valuable for lawyers. Recently I received an email link to Scott’s Blog post which has great questions to ask about your future. The questions he asks will challenge you to think creatively about your future. Take a look at the list and pick out the ones that you think would be helpful. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.