Step away from the Christmas tree, stop singing the carols, and put down the turkey leg.

This is the perfect time for reflection. Find a quiet moment, slow down, and think. Thinking is good. We don’t do nearly enough of it.

This a turbulent time in our industry. Change is happening. Ask yourself these questions. Let’s see where the answers take you.

Your Personal Cross-Examination

1. What if the economy six years from now only vaguely resembles the economy of six years ago? How will that affect your choices? What if we never go back? What if consumers make very different choices going forward than they did in the past?

2. What will your work look like in 10 years? How will it be the same? How will it be different? What impact will technology have on us? What impact will changes in perceptions of “local” have on us? What impact will gay marriage have? What’s the impact of the many people delaying marriage? What’s the impact of changes to the divorce rates among the affluent and the poor?

3. Would you rather be doing something else? What would it take to make it happen? How bad do you want to make the change? What’s holding you back? How bad do you want it?

4. Will middle- and upper-middle-income clients buy their divorces online? What if the LegalZooms of the world become the de facto standard? What if they advertise so much that they get the call instead of you?

5. How good will the online services get in the next 10 years? They’ve got lots of capital and plenty of good people. Is it possible that they will be better than you? What if they keep attracting the best software engineers and lawyers to build their systems? Can you build something comparable? Something better?

6. What happens if clients only go to firms with excellent online reviews? What if you aren’t paying attention to making that happen? What if it becomes challenging to get your reviews to appear online as screening algorithms improve? Many of us now walk away if we see unhappy clients online. What’s the impact of these peer review sites on your practice?

7. What if a firm gobbles up dozens of unemployed lawyers and starts advertising divorces for one-third of what you’re charging now? What if the firm skimps on real estate, uses cheap cloud computing alternatives, outsources drafting and support to India, and delivers a quality service for practically nothing? Will clients keep calling you, or will they sneak over to the firm that saves them thousands of dollars?

8. What if online dispute resolution services automate the divorce negotiations? What if clients like it better than talking to you? What if they respond to these services like many did to ATM machines? What if you’re the travel agent and they’re Kayak, Expedia, or Hipmunk?

9. What if pro se divorce increases by 15 % (to more than 70%) and those lawyers (the ones who used to handle those cases) are fighting to get your clients? What happens if they’re desperate for the business? What happens if most young lawyers go straight into solo practices and use cut-rate pricing as their marketing strategy?

10. What happens if non-lawyer ownership of law firms passes in some states (like it did in the U.K. and Australia) and Walmart opens law offices? What if Amazon does the same? What if Barnes & Noble shifts from books to legal services (it already “sounds” like a law firm)? What if Wells Fargo and Bank of America offer online divorce and other legal services? What if Mint.com joins forces with LegalZoom and a low-cost network of lawyers and offers its service through large employers, banks, associations, etc.?

11.  How long will it take you to catch up if you ignore the problem now? What’s the impact of waiting while others move forward? What happens if you watch your profits shrink and fail to change? How will you finance the change if you wait until late in the game?

There’s an abundance of questions right now. Finding the answers is difficult. They won’t, of course, come to you if you’re not asking the questions.

It’s time for thinking.