Category Archives: diligence

Stop Being Busy. Start Resting.

Posted on August 15, 2024 | Comments Off on Stop Being Busy. Start Resting.

When you’re busy all the time, it’s hard to pause, slow down and rest. But the busier you are, the more you need to recover and recharge. Wanting to rest is not a sign of weakness or laziness. It’s not just a reward for hard work or a job well done.

Rest helps you avoid exhaustion, overwhelm and burnout. Although it helps you to do more and make more, it’s vital for its own sake. When you’re well rested, you make better choices and prioritize what matters. You do fewer things in the short term, but accomplish more in the long run.   

Visible activity is often mistaken for real productivity. You could be going fast and spinning your wheels, but not making real progress or heading in the right direction. When you’re too tired and stressed, you can’t produce output and generate ideas that are truly valuable and useful.

In episode 70 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) What is rest

2) The benefits of passive rest, like Niksen (the Dutch term for doing nothing)

3) The advantages of active rest, like tactile hobbies or meditative activities

4) Rest can be mentally restorative, physically recharging, or spiritually renewing, or a combination of all three

5) The two main branches of the nervous system: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic

6) Polyvagal Theory and the importance of the vagus nerve and Ventral Vagal State

7) The four types of responses to stress: Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn

8) Rest allows you to use your nervous system more effectively and activate the Ventral Vagal State to destress

9) Why rest is key to creating big results in small steps

I’m making an online course currently titled The Busyness Trap: How to Escape Overload and Focus on What Matters. To get updates on the course launch and registration process, subscribe to my e-newsletter or The Incrementalist YouTube channel or podcast.

To read the transcript of this episode, go here.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Watch the video our YouTube channel, The Incrementalist – A Productivity Show. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps busy professionals and business owners reduce overwhelm, turn their ideas into action, and focus on what matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

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Posted in communication, competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

Learn While Doing Things (Better)

Posted on May 4, 2024 | Comments Off on Learn While Doing Things (Better)

Learning is a meta skill for thriving, growing, and doing better. When you don’t learn, you stay stuck and repeat the same mistakes. While learning might not be as urgent as performing tasks, producing output and meeting deadlines, it’s just as important.

Your performance is at its lowest when you’re purely performing or purely learning. You’re most likely to succeed when you have the ideal mix of both.

In episode 69 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) Chronic performance is counterproductive

2) The difference between having a fixed mindset and a growth mindset

3) 7 big ideas from Eduardo Briceño’s book, The Performance Paradox, to break out of chronic performance and turn the power of mindset into action

Big Idea #1: Chronic performance does not improve performance. (Progress toward success is rarely a straight line.)

Big Idea #2: Integrate learning into your work and life. (The Learning Zone and Performance Zone are two states of mind for different purposes.)

Big Idea #3: Combine the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone so you can learn while doing. (This is different from learning by doing, which is repeating an experience without reflecting on it.)

Big Idea #4: Use different learning strategies to improve performance. (Briceño provides 6 to try.)

Big Idea #5: Know the different types of mistakes and how and when to make, avoid, and respond to them. (Briceño divides them into four types: Aha-Moment Mistakes, Stretch Mistakes, Sloppy Mistakes and High-Stakes Mistakes.)

Big Idea #6: Understand the realities of having a growth mindset and integrating the learning process. (Briceño explains 6 common misconceptions.)

Big Idea #7: Build a strong growth propeller by attending to five elements: identity, purpose, beliefs, habits and community. (You can have one integrated identity with different responsibilities or multiple identities that involve your different roles in life. Ultimately, they should all encourage learning.)

4) I’m making an online course currently titled The Busyness Trap: How to Escape Overload and Focus on What Matters. To get updates on the course launch and registration process, subscribe to my e-newsletter or The Incrementalist YouTube channel or podcast.

To read the transcript of this episode, go here.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Watch the video our YouTube channel, The Incrementalist – A Productivity Show. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps busy professionals and business owners reduce overwhelm, turn their ideas into action, and focus on what matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

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Posted in communication, competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

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How to step into uncertainty, make progress, and find flow

Posted on February 14, 2024 | Comments Off on How to step into uncertainty, make progress, and find flow

Uncertainty makes it harder to make progress and find flow in meaningful things. In easy conditions, progress is a straight line toward an end point. But when there’s uncertainty, progress is more like a feedback loop. The key is to focus on what you control and let go of what you do not.

In episode 68 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) When faced with the unknown, you can either take action or no action, do something or do nothing.

2) The difference between uncertainty and ambiguity and why they both cause frustration.

3) The Paradox of Control and how we create anxiety.

4) How good anxiety works for you and bad anxiety works against you.

5) The Progress Principle and ways to leverage it.

6) Progress is a feedback loop when you face the unknown.

7) How to step into uncertainty to make progress and find flow:

Tip 1 – Define the right problem or challenge to tackle before you get into solution mode.

Tip 2 – Break up the problem or challenge into subproblems or smaller challenges.

Tip 3 – Set clear, daily goals to make consistent progress, get immediate feedback and exercise control. (Stage 1 of flow cycle.)

Tip 4 – Disengage from the problem or challenge and let yourself imagine, daydream and mind-wander with intention. (Stage 2 of flow cycle.)

Tip 5 – Zoom in on the task at hand and find the sweet spot where the challenge is the right match for your current skill set. (Stage 3 of flow cycle.)

Tip 6 – Zoom out from the problem, take a break and rest. (Stage 4 of flow cycle.)

8) Benefits of the Flow Cycle

9) Benefits of the Progress Loop

10) I’m making an online course currently titled The Busyness Trap: How to Escape Overload and Focus on What Matters. To get updates on the course launch and registration process, subscribe to my e-newsletter or The Incrementalist YouTube channel or podcast.

To read the transcript of this episode, go here.

To listen to the podcast, click here and subscribe. 

Watch the video on The Incrementalist YouTube channel. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps busy professionals and business owners reduce overwhelm, turn their ideas into action, and focus on what matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

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Posted in competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

Goal Setting to Make Your Best Year Ever

Posted on January 15, 2024 | Comments Off on Goal Setting to Make Your Best Year Ever

Setting goals – when done right – puts you on the path to a more desired life. In goal setting, do not make the finish line the main thing or lose sight of the journey.

In episode 67 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) By breaking your big goals down into mini goals, you achieve small wins that build your confidence, grow your knowledge, and keep you on an upward spiral.

2) Goals are spotlights pointing you in a certain direction. They are not always your ultimate destination point.

3) The key differences between extrinsic goals and intrinsic goals.

4) Why it’s better to focus on goals you control, like your daily habits and actions.

5) The benefits of embracing failure as a chance to learn, instead of a negative experience to avoid at all costs.

6) Why you need to choose or design the ideal environment and not rely on your willpower.

7) Fear of hope is a root cause for why we resist change.

8) I’m creating an online course currently titled The Busyness Trap: How to Escape Overload and Focus on What Matters. To get updates on the course launch and registration process, subscribe to my e-newsletter or The Incrementalist YouTube channel or podcast.

To read the transcript of this episode, go here.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Watch the video on our YouTube channel, The Incrementalist – A Productivity Show. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps busy professionals and business owners reduce overwhelm, turn their ideas into action, and focus on what matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

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Posted in competence, diligence, lawyer well-being, The Productive Lawyer - Productivity + Lawyer Wellbeing Blog

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A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail

Posted on November 6, 2023 | Comments Off on A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail

A bias for action can help you do big things and reach big goals. In big projects, it’s vital in the delivery phase, which should be fast. But it hurts the planning phase, where it’s better to be slow.

In episode 66 of The Incrementalist, you will learn:

1) A bias for action feels productive but can also backfire and cause big failure in big projects.

2) Every big project has 2 basic phases: Planning and Delivery.

3) In their book, How Big Things Get Done, authors Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner note that 99.5 percent of megaprojects go over budget, over schedule, fail to deliver promised results, or have some combination of these.

4) Failed projects use the Think Fast, Act Slow approach (rushed, superficial planning before project delivery). Successful projects apply the Think Slow, Act Fast pattern (careful, precise planning before project delivery).

5) To do big things, apply the Think Slow, Act Fast approach with these 5 action tips:

i) Tip #1 – Commit to not committing.

ii) Tip #2 – Think from right to left.

iii) Tip #3 – Tinker, test, and experiment.

iv) Tip #4 – Figure out what’s your LEGO – your basic building block – and keep adding one block to another.

v) Tip #5 – Take the outside view, not just the inside view.

6) Why the significance of planning is often downplayed: The Principle of the Hiding Hand and the Theory of Beneficial Ignorance or Providential Ignorance.

You don’t need to be deep in delivery mode to spark creative ideas. Use the think slow, act fast pattern to plan carefully, deliver effectively, and get the best results in big projects.

To learn more by reading the transcript, go here.

To listen to A Bias for Action Can Make You Fail, click here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist podcast at Apple Podcasts or other apps.

Watch the video on our YouTube channel, The Incrementalist – A Productivity Show. And subscribe to the show to keep making big changes in small steps.

# # #

Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.

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