Are you too busy to spend time on learning and development?

Krishnendra Joshi

April 29, 2019

1699

https://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/10/the-promise-of-3d-learning/

This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, LawSikho.

Are you too busy to spend time on learning and development?

Sorry, but that’s ridiculous.

If you are very busy, that means you have achieved some measure of success. Lawyers who are too busy belong to one of two groups.

Actually, this is not true for just lawyers, but all professionals and business leaders.

And I am saying this knowing that I have been guilty of this.

Either you are inefficient and therefore too busy. You are not handling things the right way. When I joined my first full time job as a lawyer in a big law firm in Mumbai, this was my fault. I had not learned systematically the work I was supposed to do. I had good grades and all the bookish knowledge of law, but I was not trained to do the work one does in a law firm. Result: I made mistakes. My bosses were almost never happy with my work. I had to spend hours re-doing things again and again. I spent ungodly hours at the office. The free dinner barely makes up for the damage to health. And certainly, I was very busy, and could not spare any time to learning and development. Actually, that could have made things better for me rapidly, in hindsight. Apparently, I was too busy to think straight.

If I could go back in time, for every hour I spent working at the law firm, I would have spent at least 10 minutes on learning and development.

If I worked for 12 hours in a day, I would have spent at least 2 of those hours working on learning relevant skills.

I know now that doing so may have been hard initially, but if I kept doing so, I would have saved hundreds of hours over the year. I would have earned the respect of my peers and bosses and would not have to spend till 3 am in the morning sitting in my cubicle month after month.

And I remember that every time I launch a new course in LawSikho.com. Our courses are designed to reduce that pain and to make the learning and development systematic and smooth.

But in any case, I never planned to work in a law firm for long. So that was OK for me. I was always going to quit the law firm job to start working on iPleaders. That was clear even before I joined the law firm. So I began to spend time learning other things, like email marketing, writing, blogging, SEO and other allied skills.

That led to a runaway success when I finally launched iPleaders. We sold courses worth 40 lakhs in the first two months, thanks to superior marketing skills and sales chops. We got the website right. We got emailing right. We got our pitch on the phone right.

And then the hard part, we had to get the course delivery right. We did that too. We did it because we spent time learning what to do and how to do. We got it right at the first shot, and that would have never happened if we didn’t prepare.

Learning and development is that critical to real success.

The other category of busy people come next. They have already tasted success. Success means that they have learned to deliver some work, some results to clients. Then they spend too much time doing what they already know how to do. They stop further learning.

I was recently discussing this with one of our students. He is a successful lawyer in Kolkata with 12 years of practice. He appears in many headlining cases, and still, he signed up for our arbitration course. He said Ramanuj, I see young lawyers minting money and older lawyers struggling. Times are changing. I don’t want to be one of them.

And that’s true! Laws are much more complex today, especially in the corporate sector, compared to what it used to be. Even in criminal law, there are so many different tribunals, specialised laws, new avenues. Old lawyers with their old ways often fail to take advantage of rising opportunities. That takes away from their relevance.

New lawyers are learning marketing, building their brand, spending money on professional services. They are using technology to be more efficient and to cast their net wide.

https://lawsikho.com/course/diploma-entrepreneurship-administration-business-laws — click here

Ok, let’s take an example. Recently a new law came about regarding fugitive economic offenders. Before that, there was one on foreign black money hoarders. It’s an extremely lucrative area of practice at the moment. Some smart criminal lawyers with existing brand value have gone to town writing articles about it, speaking at conferences about it and are building a practice around the same. They are doing a great job at building an advisory practice, which will later lead to lucrative litigation assignments.

But how many such lawyers are there? Very few. Most fail to engage in learning and development systematically and therefore miss out on the biggest opportunities. All because they are too busy with whatever they are already doing.

Priority setting is critical. And to set priorities straight, you have to prioritize learning and development first.

Even the world’s richest men, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, make time for hardcore reading, learning, coaching and attending courses.

If you think you are too busy, or too successful to invest time in learning and development, then you are fooling yourself.

We have an entire ecosystem, and not just mere courses, for you to engage in best-in-class learning and development activities. Over 70% of our learners are practicing lawyers and working professionals. We know how to engage you, deliver tremendous value, and streamline your learning and development activities.

When did you last write an article and publish? With us, you will do that every month.

When did you last engage in a debate with other lawyers on a critical issue? With us, you will do that every week.

When did you last find a mentor or mentoring a younger lawyer or professional? You will get the intellectual rewards and satisfaction of doing just that in our courses.

When did you last spend time building a habit or a weekly practice that expanded your professional network? With us, you will be prodded and guided to do these things.

When did you last engage with a legal problem from a pure cerebral point of view, without client pressure or a huge stake hanging over everyone’s head? With us, you will experience the joy of doing that again.

When did you last study to expand your knowledge and refresh your understanding on areas of law that you have not taken a fresh look at in ages? How about doing that with a bunch of other lawyers who are all committed to learning, once a week?

Sure our course works well for law students, because it helps them to get jobs and stand out in internships. However, for practicing lawyers, the benefits are more immediate, quantifiable and massive compared to what a student gets. Practicing lawyers with serious goals extricate a lot more value from our courses.

Are you putting enough premium on your learning and development? You should. If not with us, then find something else. If you find hard to trust me, try out our free sample materials by visiting LawSikho.com.

Or just buy a course and try it out. Anyways you are protected by our 30 days money back guarantee. Read the refund policy here

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