I’ve talked to thousands of lawyers now and worked closely with hundreds in an effort to improve their practices.

Personally, I like to have those conversations under an umbrella on a beach. It’s even better if drinks are brought to us in our lounge chairs. You see, the beach provides endless material for analogies and lawyers.

Each lawyer comes to me with his or her specific frustrations, aggravations, and issues.

Every lawyer has a different story. The story sparks a question, and suddenly we’re talking. There’s always something unique about whatever is rushing through the brain of the lawyer who’s telling me the story and asking the question.

The Solution to All Practice-Improvement Questions

The questions: they’re all different, but they’re all the same.

They’re the same because the answers can be found in the same place. The answers are found in the lawyer’s vision for the practice.

If you can see it, you can build it. That sounds crazy to some, but it’s true. You’ve got to be able to see it in your head in order to create it.

Otherwise, it’s all sand on the beach that can’t ever be turned into a castle. You can’t build it until you take the time to visualize the moat, the drawbridge, the towers, the keep, and the battlements.

Once you can see it, you’ve got a fighting chance of building it before the waves take it away. Once you can see the castle, you can start to create it.

If you can’t see it yet, then you can’t answer the questions you need answered in order to build your practice.

The answers are all found in the same place. They’re found in one source. They’re found in the vision of the practice the lawyer is building.

How Do You Create a Vision?

So how do you see it? How do you decide what you want so you’re inspired to work day in and day out to create the thing of your dreams?

The starting place is my series Rosen’s Rules, which features “Rule Number Two” instructing you to “Create a Vivid Vision.” Rosen’s Rules is a 10-lesson course. It’s free. Sign up by visiting this page.

When you get to Rule Number Two, you’ll find a lengthy video on the process of creating a vision. Most lawyers struggle to find the time to watch the video. Then they struggle to find the time to create the vision. Then they move forward anyway.

Then, and this is the problem most of us face, we have to make decisions without a vision. We’ve got to decide which way to turn when we don’t know where we’re going. We’ve got to figure out where to move the sand when we have no idea what the thing we’re building is supposed to look like.

It all starts with the vision. The answer to every question is always the same. The answer is that we should do that which is consistent with the vision. The vision provides the answer.

Should we keep him or fire him? That depends on what we’re building. Should we use voicemail or a live receptionist? That depends on what we’re building. Should we move to a new space? That depends on what we’re building.

See what I mean?

Sign up for Rosen’s Rules. Watch the video for Rule Number Two. Then create the vision.

Then, keep watching the rules. There’s good stuff in there. The other nine rules will help you turn the sand into a castle. They’ll also help you build it in a style, manner, and place where you’re less likely to lose it to the waves.

Go. Now. Get the Rules and build your castle.