Quick Report from AALL

Hi, I was out at the law librarian's conference in Portland. Here's a quick update:

Westlaw has some new interfaces:

tax.westlaw.com for (big surprise) tax. It allows for a global search that organizes top hits by category.

compliance.westlaw.com for compliance information in a number of areas.

citeadvisor.westlaw.com - no kidding, it's suppose to help you get your Bluebook citations correct.

Other websites:

heinonline.org - added a "my heinonline" feature so individual users can customize bookmarks.

http://icyte.com - in beta, this is a research management software. Highlight the part of the document you like and it saves the document with the highlighting. You can annotate your entry in the database.

http://lexisweb.com/ - free legally oriented search engine from Lexis.

Here's the flower (yellow, red & blue) I painted so West would donate money to the Arbor Foundation. I know, don't quit the day job!

Shaun

New Year's Resolutions

Have you fallen into the New Year's Resolution trap? You set BHAGs . . . Big Hairy Audacious Goals at the beginning of the year and dedicate a short period of energy toward achieving them, become overwhelmed and then give up.

Here are some ideas if this describes your experience:

1. Set and reset goals whenever it makes sense. No need to wait for a new year to become the "you" you want to be.

2. Divide your goals up into steps so you can achieve "mini-goals" on the way to your main goals.

3. Realize it is o.k. to adjust your goals based on new information and changed perspectives. This is not a failure, but part of the growth process. The key is to know why you are making the changes and make a conscious choice to change your goals.

4. Enlist people to help you achieve your goal. Publish your goal to supportive people. Get a coach or mentor to help. Find other people with similar goals for support.

5. Research your goal. It is likely other people have tried similar paths, maybe there is wisdom you can tap into so you will not have to "reinvent the wheel." Granted, be careful about advice and think critically about its merit and its application to your specific circumstance.

6. Realize there will be set backs and do not give up. Resolution is very close to the word "resolve." Achieving goals requires resolve.

7. Lighten up and enjoy life, goals are there to support your happiness, not interfere with it.

Happy New Year!

Shaun

Feedback Wanted

What I experience myself and hear from others is that we need feedback to improve. Self help books and degrees and community education courses are wonderful, but nothing replaces feedback. The best kind, of course, is feedback from insightful people with decent people skills. Alas, not everyone has great people skills, so we should accept feedback even if it is poorly delivered in the form of unwanted criticism.

Why do we want feedback? Answering a question with a question, have you ever communicated something in a straight forward and articulate fashion only to have it completely misconstrued? Have you ever had a plan that worked out quite differently than you anticipated because you missed an important factor? It is possible that the people who misunderstood you are actually competent people, regardless of how you feel about them in the middle of the miscommunication. It is also possible that the universe is not punishing you when your plans go awry. It may be that you had a blind spot, misconception or were simply missing information. If we want to be our very best, we need other people's perspectives.

How do we get feedback? Occasionally, we get lucky and someone provides us feedback. Sometimes it is built in to a coaching meeting with a manager or an annual review. Most of the time we must ask for it. Try to be as specific as possible: "I am concerned whether the timeline on my project is realistic, could you let me know what you think?" "I am working on audience engagement during my presentations. Would you observe my presentation to see what I could do better?"

On that note, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this blog. Help me make it better! Post your comments on this Blog or email me directly at shaun@guideonyourside.com.

More to follow . . .

Shaun Jamison