DO YOU LIKE VAMPIRES?

LAST NIGHT I WATCHED “SECRETS OF THE DEAD” ON PBS AND THE SHOW WAS ABOUT VAMPIRES. I learned how their existence got started and how it remains today. I felt virtuous for watching such foolishness  because it was on Public TV.

How many people will dress as Vampires tonight? How many children will want to be the “walking dead” while accepting real live candy?  What is the fascination with dead people who have come back to life?

The PBS show seemed to explain part of this by the fact that ancient people couldn’t explain why they had disease and barren crops much of the time.  It was easier to blame dead people who came back to haunt the living with catastrophic events.  Their solution was to dig up the buried person and cut out their heart and burn it in the village cross roads.  This supposedly took care of any further disasters from that Vampire. There were plenty more out there in the grave yards though!

The more modern Vampire, of course, was first made famous by Mary Shelley and other writers. Readers were quick to enjoy the threat of being scared by the monsters imagined to be rising up from the dead. Vampires had big front teeth to pierce the throat and suck blood from the living at night.  Then, they would go to their coffin and sleep during the day.  Then they didn’t need to have their hearts toasted, but just be stopped by a stake through their heart.

Today, this gives way to finding Vampires in all kind of normal circumstances.  Since Dracula was noted to be quite a gentleman and downright sexy when he was behaving himself, that image grew into young ladies swooning over them. Vampire stories are quite popular with teenagers.  Parents don’t seem to be discouraging this fascination on any great level.

So, I guess we have to just learn to live with the fascination of Vampires and even believe a little in their existence within our world. We can even dress up like Dracula and feel good about scaring people.  I guess we are also comforted by knowing that germs cause disease, not Vampires.

BUT I GUESS WE STILL NEED THEM AROUND……..BECAUSE THEY DON’T SEEM TO BE GOING AWAY! 

MUSINGS

I was sick last week, so no blog but I did muse. Then I took a friend and  went to the beach and  this is the result of that musing…..                                                             

“DON’T PLAY LEAPFROG WITH A UNICORN”

I came across this saying and thought that the suggestion might be helpful to attorneys.  My interpretation, which is always right, is that you shouldn’t engage with someone or thing that might really do you great harm.  This brings to mind the defense attorney who just won’t turn away any client even those that are obviously dangerous.  Or the family law case in which the client has had 4 prior attorneys and has sued them all.

As attorneys, we need to protect ourselves from those in our society who can cause us more than the normal problems associated with a case.  We need the ego strength and our personal greed alert to assist us with getting out of these situations as soon as possible.  Or we might get that horn stuck in a very uncomfortable place…..

“DON’T GO TO THE HARDWARE STORE FOR A HAMBURGER

One of my favorites.  For attorneys this pertains mostly in the marketing/network arena.  In other words, don’t continue to market to people who are never going to give you leads, let alone support.  Don’t spend time or energy on folks who will never take the time to be interested in what you are doing.  They may be able to give you a screwdriver but never a hamburger.

Now if you need a screwdriver, you might be in luck but don’t waste the time finding out what they have to offer, if it’s not what you want. To know what you want, you need a marketing plan, have identified your target market and have a clear elevator speech.

“BE UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WISH THEM TO BE UNTO YOU”

This is my interpretation of “do unto others…”  If you want someone to be interested in your career and success then you need to be interested in their career and success.  This is the solution to people who say they can’t small talk.  Small talk equals big rewards because it can turn into big talk. You will never know what the rewards are unless you spend a little time testing the waters.

People have then whined (which you know I hate) that they don’t know what to say to open a conversation for small talking.  How about something like “ Has anything new happen in your life last week” or “ What brought you here?” or “ What is your area of practice?” or “Have you been to this event before?”.  Smile, that helps and offer them a piece of wrapped chocolate.  Big Talk equals Big Rewards.

IT MIGHT BE NICE IF YOU MUSED A LITTLE YOURSELF THIS WEEK.  CAN YOU COME UP WITH A SAYING THAT GIVES GOOD ADVICE?  SEND IT TO ME AND I WILL PUBLISH IT!!

ALSO, MY NEW LINKEDIN FORUM IS NEEDING NEW MEMBERS. JUST GO TO LINKEDIN “GROUPS” AND SIGN UP FOR ATTORNEYS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FORUM and please post a little something.

WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR?

Don’t ever hide your sense of humor!

Some lawyers think that everything is serious and some lawyers think nothing is serious.  Of course, what is obvious is that neither of these lawyers are correct.

Using humor can be a great asset to an attorney.  How many of you looked at my Fun on Friday post that was really funny ?  How many of you laughed?  More importantly how many of you sent it along to other friends so that they could enjoy themselves for a minute?

A sense of play or fun is also a good tool for an attorney to use when appropriate.  To approach a project by making it fun is an exceptional gift.  You ask, How could a Summary Judgement be fun?  Sometimes making a game out of a tough project can make it fun. Race against the clock to see how fast you can get it done or make some of it rhyme or picture parts of it in a fun way.  See it as a game of dungeon and dragons or David and Goliath.  I have used all of these to make life more fun when faced with a tiresome project.  You can too.

In my book, BE A BETTER LAWYER: A Short Guide to a Long Career, I suggest that you gather together a humor file to keep in your desk.  When you are feeling a little down, just open it up and look at all the funny cartoons or sayings or other humorous items you have amassed.

Work humor into your mediation when it becomes tense.  Use humor with a jury and/or judge when it is appropriate.  But don’t be a dunce and tell jokes just for the sake of the joke.  Also using humor correctly when giving a talk. Do NOT feel obliged to always tell a joke up front. That is really old and not the way to entice your audience to listen to what you say.

So, your job this week is to find 3 events, stories, or situations that you see as humorous.  Then take one of those events and write it up and put it in your OFFICE HUMOR FILE, so you can look at it later. Last you need to share it with someone.  Maybe you can cleverly work it into a conversation or just send it to someone with a note that you thought they might enjoy it.  Brighten someone’s day and yours will be brighter too!