Month: June 2017

Ten Things: An Index to all the Posts (November 2014 to June 2017)

I realized the other day that it has been a while since I posted an index to all of the blog posts – November 2016 to be exact.  Since the last time I did this the blog has grown to well over 2,000 direct subscribers and the American Bar Association has published my book (based on the blog) entitled “Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel: Practical Advice and Successful Strategies.”  Speaking of which, last week I received the highest compliment I could imagine about the book: my Dad read it and said it was “pretty good!”  All heady stuff for a guy who started out just wanting to jot down some of the things he learned over the course of a 20+ year career as an in-house lawyer.

I know there are a lot of great blogs and websites out there for you to read (and I’ll be writing about those later this year).  So, I am very appreciative of the fact that you make time to read my posts.  Based on the comments, the emails, and from talking with many of you directly, I hope I can continue to write about things that interest you and do so in a way that is practical and useful.  If not, then I have missed my mark.  I know I have missed my mark with being able to prepare a proper index on the actual blog site.  I am still a bit wary about messing with the technical aspects of WordPress because I think I’ll delete everything.  I know that’s not really likely, but that’s my biggest fear.  Anyway, I promise I’ll keep working on it but in the meanwhile, by popular demand(?), here is an index of all of the posts from the beginning back in November 2014 through today:

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Ten Things: Slaying the Email Jabberwocky

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

 And the mome raths outgrabe. 

“Jabberwocky” – Lewis Carroll

I am a fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.  So, instead of titling my article slaying the email “beast”- which would be the more conventional path – I am taking a slightly different road and reaching back to a movie from the 1970’s entitled “Jabberwocky” based on the poem by Lewis Carroll and featuring members of the Monty Python troupe.  If you have not seen the movie nor read the poem, do not fear.  No knowledge of either is required to understand this article (though you are missing out on some good laughs).  All you need to know is that the Jabberwocky monster is a terrifying beast that truly needs a serious butt-kicking.  Just like email.

My love/hate relationship with email goes way back.  Like many, once I had a taste of the email-crack, it became the main way I communicated at the office.  And like an invasive species, it quickly replaced written memos, letters, phone calls, and old fashion face-to-face chats.  I realize now this was all a big mistake as, over time, I found myself in a horror movie of my own making.  Like “The Blob,” email soon oozed into every part of my day along with many of my evenings and weekends.  Smart phones only increased its deadly, hypnotic power.  I knew I needed to get email under control and through a lot of trial and error I came across several great ideas and discovered a few of my own – all designed to take back the work day from email.  If you woke up today interested in getting out from under the tyranny of email, you’re in luck.  Grab a cup of coffee and settle in.  This edition of “Ten Things” shares some simple but highly effective ways you can control the amount of email you deal with on a daily basis:

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