While today's 50 degree temperatures and rainy skies make it hard to believe, the summer season is almost here and it kicks off some of my favorite Total Attorneys company events. A few weeks ago we had an amazing fundraiser for the Total Impact House. People enjoyed each others' company after work, all the while raising about $4000 for a great cause.
This month we'll be participating in the Chase Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile run for companies located in the Chicago Loop. We had about 40 runners last year and many more who came out to cheer their co-workers on and hang out. This event is also cool because it gives us a chance to interact with other Chicago businesses and show them how we like to have fun! Below is the never-before-seen, unique design for our team t-shirt this year, designed by one of our employees.
Company outings can either be planned in great detail or be as simple and spontaneous as grabbing people to head out to the park for a picnic. Later in the summer we have our annual softball tournament to look forward to. The whole company is invited to enjoy softball, food, and friends in Grant Park.
Promoting socialization among employees also has work-related benefits, too. People get to know each other better, so they work together better. They are also more energized because events such as the ones described here provide them with an outlet to relax. Productivity increases as the result of having fun. Caring about the holistic development of employees will yield results in productivity for your organization. Having an annual golf outing helps our employees take a day to not worry about work and just enjoy each others' friendship.
If you work at TA, what is your favorite company event? If you work somewhere else, what kinds of events does your company have, and what is your favorite?
Join Total Attorneys on Blog Talk Radio this Tuesday, April 20 for the next installment of our series hosted by Kevin Chern and featuring Kevin Houchin. Listen or call in while they discuss work-life balance for attorneys and "Becoming the Lawyer that You Want to Be (Both in the Office and Out)". The show starts at 12:30 PM central standard time, and you can get answers to your questions by listening in here, or calling in at (347)-857-1419 during the show. If you can’t listen in during the show, be sure to check out the Total Attorneys Blog Talk Radio page for more information about upcoming shows and recorded archives and mp3 downloads of our past shows.
I've lived in Chicago my entire life. People from Chicago have a great deal of civic pride, and I'm no exception!
Aside from being the host of the ABA Tech Show, Chicago is a great city for culture, sightseeing, and nightlife! We are home to lots of museums, a great skyline, and rich cultural events.
Want to fit a little of what Chicago has to offer into your time here?
Admission to the Art Institute of Chicago is free every Thursday evening from 5-9. If you are a fan of Impressionist paintings, then it is a must visit. The Modern Wing, which opened just last year is an architectural marvel and houses the work of famous artists such as Picasso, as well as more contemporary living artists.
Is your family traveling to Chicago with you for the Tech Show? The Adler Planetarium has great astronomy exhibits for kids, including a new one opening tomorrow called "Planet Explorers." The Shedd Aqurium is also right next door to the Adler and is always a family pleaser.
Chicago is getting warmer but the weather isn't that nice yet. A great indoor alternative is to take advantage of the city's theater scene. Shows currently playing include Billy Elliot and Beauty and the Beast. You can check out all the shows currently playing here.
Interested in sophisticated cocktails and a magnificent view of the city? Check out this great deal for Rebar at the Trump Tower: $25 for $50 worth of food and beverage. The best part is that 10% will go to the charity of your choice. Excellent venue and an excellent cause!
Want to see a great local Chicago band play in one of my favorite Chicago bars? Check out Spare Parts at AliveOne on Thursday.
You can also click here to visit the city's official attractions page.
Be sure to stop by Booth 603 and let us know where your adventures have taken you in our fine city.
March is finally here in Chicago; the snow is melting, the temperatures are rising, and the Cubs' season is about to start! Spring is great because it brings both a feeling of accomplishment (we've weathered the storm!) and of excitement for the months to come (summer is almost here!). Together, this makes spring a really enthusiastic and productive time! People start to do their spring cleaning, making plans for the summer, and just enjoying themselves outside.
Spring is always an energizing time at work, too. You aren't quite in the planning phase of the new year anymore. Spring is the beginning of the executing phase. Momentum builds as projects get rolling and people are excited about the work ahead of them. Recently, I cleaned out my slightly cluttered office, and I feel so much better about it now. There's something to be said for working in an organized space. I don't know much about feng shui, but I do know that a clean, organized office makes me more relaxed at work.
Spring cleaning--in the literal and symbolic senses--can be a healthy exercise in prioritizing and de-stressing. What kinds of spring cleaning are you going to do this year? How is it going to de-clutter your life?
Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day that came out in 1993? It featured Bill Murray as a burned-out weatherman named Phil Connors who had to cover the annual events in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In the movie, this was the one job that Connors hated to do most, but when he finished the job and went to sleep on February 2, he woke up then next day only to find himself repeating the same dreaded February 2 day over and over again in a seemingly endless loop.
After numerous suicide attempts and hedonistic indulgences, Connors begins to reexamine his life and priorities in an effort to break the chain. He stops focusing on the monotony of his job and depression, pulls himself away from his autopilot approach to life and uses his vast experience of a single day to help people in his community, strengthen personal relationships and learn how to do a number of new things. After Connors learns to focus more on the things that really matter most—getting involved in his community, spending time with loved ones and working on his personal growth—he is able to wake up the next morning to find that the time loop is broken.
Almost twenty years later, the plot of this movie rings true for many people working in the legal industry. As an attorney, do you see yourself going into the office, dreading the day, and working on autopilot, only to find yourself stuck on a loop that has you missing out on the things that matter most to you in life? If so, I urge you to do take a tip from Bill Murray’s character and find ways to break the loop by making more time for yourself and those around you.
Instead of heading to the office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, have your virtual receptionist forward your calls to your email while you spend the morning volunteering for a cause that inspires you. Are you sick of looking at your office walls during client meetings? Just upload contracts and forms to your virtual law office and let your client sign and fill out these documents from home. Do you find yourself getting stuck late at the office filling out forms and doing paperwork? Why not take off from work early and send non-billable tasks to a reliable case support staff who can get the job done while you have dinner with your spouse or enjoy a card game with friends?
At the end of the day, take a look at your job and find out which parts of it you can streamline or delegate. This will give you more time to do the things that matter most to you. And if you are doing more of the things you love, you will be able to do your work with more energy and optimism rather than feeling the pains of a monotonous loop like the one Bill Murray’s character suffered in Groundhog Day.
