Are you just like the other family law lawyers?

Do you practice in the same way? Do you wear the same clothes? Do you say the same things in court?

Do you use the same practice management systems? Do you buy your office supplies from the same place they do? Do you do the same thing they do for bookkeeping? Trust accounting?

Do you do the same marketing they do? Same website? Same ads? Same everything?

Do you act like your competition? Do you imitate them? Do you go so far as to ask them how they do it so you can do it that way also?

Maybe that’s your goal, maybe that’s what you’ve been working toward. Maybe your highest aspiration is to be just like them.

Is that who you are?

If it is, if that’s who you are, then your results are mediocre. You’re another clone doing the same old thing, in the same old way, getting the same old results.

Why do I say your results are mediocre? Because I know what’s happening out there among the clones. It’s mediocre. Clients aren’t happy. Judges aren’t happy and the clones aren’t happy either. The money isn’t good enough. The work/life balance is out of whack. The job satisfaction is lacking.

If you want different results, better results (and maybe you don’t) then you’ve got to be different. You’ve can’t be a clone and expect things to be different for you. You’ve got to break out of the mold.

You’ve got to try different approaches to management, to marketing, to technology. You can’t do what they’re doing and expect a different outcome.

It’s scary to be different. It’s more comfortable to conform to the norm. But, if your going to conform then you’ve got to get used to the idea that your results are going to conform as well.

If you want a non-conforming outcome, you’ve got to be willing to break from the pack and do your own thing.