Friday Before Memorial Day Weekend

For most of us, Fridays are awesome. Full stop.

All potential.

I’m not sure who created the concept of a five day school or work week, but one of the side benefits are that on the last day of that school/work week most people have one eye on the clock, and one foot pointing towards the exit.

Long weekends ramp up that stealing-time feel to a Friday.

But, given that we all must take the bitter with the sweet, how can you position yourself to make your Friday the springboard to the best weekend you can?

In my present legal professional life, the factoring in of a pending Friday before a long weekend usually causes a rush to get all of Friday’s work done on Thursday so that you can start the already extended weekend just a little bit earlier – leave work early so you get the traveling done to your mental oasis – even if it’s just getting home – on someone else’s time so that you can enjoy every moment of Saturday to Monday – because you are intent on wringing the most enjoyment out of the long weekend.

Now back in the last Century, when I was a lowly associate, Fridays at law firms always sucked because there was always some scumbag partner looking to dump billable hour work on one of his/her matters on a fungible minion so that they can go off and enjoy their extended weekend knowing that their cash machine is still generating income that ensures that their weekend – and every weekend – is top shelf.

Most of that time, it’s not that the particular work needed to be done over that particular weekend, but that by getting someone to do that work over that otherwise free time, you free the minion’s other time during the actual work week to generate more work on one of your matters, at a hefty billable hour rate. Caching!

There is also a self-centric ego thing at play, the partner wants a problem resolved when they arrive back from their restful, long weekend, instead of getting their answers on a Wednesday, when they may be distracted by other matters.

Unfortunately for the minion, that leads to burnout and resentment. And develops an us-versus-them mentality.

In all fairness, scumbag partners were all once oppressed minions who just lost their perspective. Their turn to enjoy the spoils. They embrace the “Them.”

However, having now played the litigation game for four decades, as minion and partner, I’ve found that other than when you are up against a hard Court imposed Monday filing deadline on something, or an unforeseeable emergent situation arises, even the most contentious litigations can be comfortably managed – work and time wise – through civil agreements with your opposition – accommodation is a two way street, we all have families we want to see – supplemented by otherwise careful planning with the people you work with.

Assuming you engage in civilized civil practice . . . .

Pay attention to your deadlines on your matters, do the heaviest lifting up front during the Monday through Wednesday time slot, working a little longer those days if needs be. Use Thursday as the day to wrap up your actual working week, to get that (or those) project(s) put to bed, off your desk and into the hands of the next person up the team process chain. Then Friday becomes a day of reviewing where everyone is at on a project, strategic planning and scheduling for the filing and service on the upcoming deadlines, and the mapping out of the next set of real matters on your to-do list. Leave Friday as your flexible reward for your hard work. It is sort of the good behavior reduction on the end of a prison sentence.

To accomplish this, prioritize the difficult matters. When a challenging project needs to get done, do it first. Mondays suck anyway, so embrace the suck on a Monday, when your mind is somewhat refreshed from the weekend. Tackle the hardest task.

When something in your project is really difficult, don’t attack it as an overwhelming monolithic whole, but instead break it into manageable pieces and – reverse the process – do the easiest pieces first, which will create project momentum and mental confidence so that by the time you get to the really hard pieces you feel more in control of a consistently shrinking problem in front of you. Plus, putting the other easy pieces into place often allows you to see and attack the harder pieces from a different and maybe better perspective. A puzzle becomes clearer the more pieces are in place.

And don’t be afraid to ask for help or guidance. Even young attorneys hate to look like they are not omniscient – yeah, it is an ego driven profession – but the truth is that no one on a team wants one of their members floundering especially if it means that a deadline arrives and the necessary work hasn’t gotten done – which means you may be stuck stepping in at the last second to clean up the other person’s shit. Experience teaches us things that books and study cannot. So ask the more experienced person on a team if they have run into a certain issue or problem in the past that may be giving you trouble in the present. As long as you are not asking someone to do your work for you, they are more likely than not to offer their guidance getting you past a hurdle.

And if something is just out of your wheelhouse, speak up earlier rather than later, so if team members need to be switched around to handle different aspects of a project it can be done early enough to not disrupt deadlines.

Finally, if you are a lowly minion in a major law firm, keep your cards close to your vest. Don’t let the partners know anything beyond that you have your matter under control and are on schedule to meet their deadlines. Otherwise, the legal maxim “no good deed goes unpunished” comes into play and they will reward your industry with more work that will destroy your self management Monday through Thursday prioritizing.

Now this methodology won’t necessarily apply to the military, first responders and front line medical professionals, for humans and animals. That is a life of leaping from one emergency to the next, and you need talented workers to fill the 24/7/365 void. Death takes no holidays. Lots of stress but lots of rewards.

Same with farmers, ranchers, food processors, stores and restaurants.

And parents and homemakers. 24/7/365.

God bless those who provide the rest of us with those services.

Still, some of the above time management rules may be transferable. Stay on top of schedules, identify and prioritize the difficult matters and break them down into bite size pieces and keep at it until it is done. And ask for help when needed.

But Friday will be meaningless. Sorry.

For the rest of us toiling on that five day school or work system, hopefully by the end of your Thursday you have managed your time so that you can maximize Friday for all of its potential pleasure.

Of course, this self-management practice may never make you a kingmaker law partner that rakes in your millions in billables each year, but you will probably be ulcer and cardiac issue free, still be in one marriage, raise children that actually care for you, not suffer from some form of substance abuse, have people you have worked with that actually like you, and you’ll find yourself somewhat happier at the end of the day and/or life.

Maybe you’ll write a book.

So, my fine, five readers, TGIF, what plans are on for your Memorial Day weekend?

I hope there’s family, friends, BBQs, some outdoor events and maybe some down time to start your summer reading list.

May I suggest The Claire Saga?!

Now I must slide through my Friday.

First some kitties to cuddle and rounds to make.

Claire and Honey tithing throughout the day.

But no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.