Managing Your Money and Your Time are Surprisingly Similar

Most lawyers struggle with the tension between the culture of the legal profession and pretty much everything else you want to do in life. It’s very difficult to balance a successful practice with a broader, fulfilling life. In addition, burnout is a major issue in our industry. After working so hard to pursue your education and build an amazing life and legal career, it’s frustrating to feel like it’s costing you your life to keep up with it all. Managing your money and your time well are two of the most important keys to unlocking the flexibility and freedom that prevent burnout and provide fulfillment in your practice and life. Most lawyers, however, never learn to manage their money or time to intentionally support their life and practice.

Fortunately, managing your money and your time have much in common. In this article, we share five steps to taking back control of both your money and your time.

1. Start with your Priorities

When asked to name their priorities, a person might list X, Y and Z. However, their calendar and bank account often would tell a different story. The things we spend the most time and money on should reflect our true priorities. When we’re not intentional about the way we manage our time and money, we end up prioritizing things that aren’t important to us.

Your priorities are very important to your finances. We’re always making tradeoffs with our money—the money we spend on one thing is money we can’t use for something else. The problem is that many of us make those tradeoffs unintentionally. We spend a lot of money on things we don’t really care about and end up not having money left for the things we do care about. Thinking about your priorities when making spending decisions will often lead to some different decisions than you might otherwise make.

Your “priorities” are the people and things that are most important to you, what makes you feel fulfilled, your values and what makes you feel like you. As our careers march forward from law school through practice, lawyers often get used to putting their own priorities on the back burner, and the culture of our profession encourages us to do so. Instead, lawyers need to start by getting clear on their own priorities. You can then use your priorities as a north star to guide the way you spend your time and attention, managing your time in a way that aligns with your own priorities. 

2. Be aware of how you currently spend your money and your time. 

One of the most important steps in managing your money better is getting a good handle on where you’re currently spending your money. You can’t create a better plan if you don’t know where you’re starting. Many of us have no idea where we’re spending. And as we discussed in the last section, many of us are spending a lot of money on things we don’t even care about. You want to figure out where you’re currently spending your money. From there, you can determine if you like what you’re spending on and how much you’re spending. This is where knowing your priorities comes in handy.

Similarly, many lawyers do not feel in control of their own time. You may feel pressured to spend time on every to-do that comes your way. Saying “yes” might even feel like a reflex. If you’re like most lawyers, you respond by treating yourself like a race car, always trying to work harder, go faster and do more in the hopes it will all fit––a recipe for burnout. Instead, once you are clear on your priorities, you can start building awareness about how much of your time is being spent in a way that aligns with your own priorities. 

3. Make a plan for spending your money and your time.

You want to create a plan for how you will use your money on the front end, rather than waiting to see what happens. This plan is your budget. Many people dislike the word “budget” and prefer to call it a “spending plan.” Whatever you decide to call it, it’s simply the decisions you’ve made about how you’re going to use your money for the month. When you make those decisions intentionally up front, you can make sure that your spending is aligned with your priorities. It also helps you avoid spending more than you make, so you don’t overdraft your account or need to rely on credit cards to cover expenses.

Similarly, you need a plan for how you spend your time. In other words, many lawyers simply respond to every ask and task that comes their way, putting out fires all day, and ending the day feeling frustrated at the important things they keep putting on the back burner, haunted by undone to-dos or guilty about things they “should” be doing. It may feel like your day is just happening to you. Instead, when you are clear on your priorities, you can take back control of your time by intentionally planning and managing your time in a way that makes room for your priorities, allows you to get the important things done, steers your life and career daily in the direction you want them to go and leaves you feeling accomplished each day (even in a busy practice environment). 

4. Use your new awareness and plan to make better decisions.

When you become aware of how you’re currently using your money and create a new plan for your money based on your priorities, you’ll inevitably make better money decisions. With your new awareness and plan, you’ll be able to make your money decisions more consciously and be sure they align with your priorities. You’ll also be more aware of the trade-offs of your decisions and make more decisions that move you closer to your goals.

You can also make better decisions about the way you spend your time by asking whether each potential use of your time is aligned with your priorities, or whether it instead reflects someone else’s priorities or a pressure to act or perform a certain way. Burnout is fueled by putting too much on your plate and by ignoring your own priorities. Instead, when you are clear on your own priorities, and use them as a filter for how you spend your time, you’ll solve both issues by making better decisions about how you spend your time. In other words, you can make more room for your own priorities and other important tasks and less room for unimportant and unhelpful tasks. Your plan and newfound awareness are key to keeping you on track as you take a priority-driven way of managing your time. 

5. Identify likely obstacles so you can address them as they arise.

Even if you are clear on your priorities and have a plan for spending your time and money accordingly, you can expect obstacles to arise along the way. However, when you expect those obstacles and know in advance how to address them, they’ll be much less likely to throw you off track. For example, obstacles such as distractions, procrastination, perfectionism, guilt, imposter syndrome, people-pleasing and underestimating how long tasks take can all threaten your solid, priority-aligned plan for spending your time. Similarly, unexpected expenses, spending temptations, old financial habits and money mindset issues can threaten your plan for spending your money. Instead, think about your most likely obstacles and know in advance how you’ll address them when they arise.

A little thought about these issues in advance can turn them from major roadblocks that derail your careful planning to minor road bumps you can confidently navigate as they pop up along the way. By identifying the biggest threats to your plans, as well as your go-to strategy for tackling them, you can substantially strengthen your financial and time management plans, so you can sustainably protect your own priorities. 

Put it all together and keep it going!

After you take the above steps, you’ll have a financial and time-management foundation to support you every day. Once you build that foundation, keeping your life and practice in alignment with your priorities becomes much easier. As your life, practice and priorities change, you can periodically revisit your financial and time-management plans and adjust as needed, so you stay on track for the long term. Finally, feel free to reach out to us and share your struggles and wins––we’re here to support you and cheer you on along the way!