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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast where we help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career as an attorney. And where we make the practice of law fun. Now today we’re going to take a look at how you’re showing up for your clients when you do get clients.
[00:00:24] Scott Benton: And we’re going to take a look at how to brighten up a space. How to brighten up a space.
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[00:01:17] Scott Benton: Now remember that wherever you go, whether that’s in person or IRL, as the kids like to call it, or if you’re doing it virtually, maybe through your phone or tablet or computer, however you get there, maybe you have a fancy watch.
[00:01:29] Scott Benton: Throughout your day, you’re entering one space after another. Now, if you go to a courthouse, for instance, you’re now in a giant building or a new space. And inside that space, you might be, let’s say in a cafeteria, or maybe a break room or inside the courtroom, or maybe even inside the judge’s chambers.
[00:01:48] Scott Benton: So usually there’s a space within a space, sometimes within a space, but in any case, notice how you’re always in one space or another. In fact, you’re never not in a space. [00:02:00] And the key to being inside of space is that you want to have a kind of continuous monitoring system running in your mind somewhere that you develop or borrow or that you just have in place that’s keeping track of how you’re showing up in every new space that you enter.
[00:02:17] Scott Benton: Now in the law firm that I work for, one of our core values is to make sure that we’re always brightening up spaces. So this is already built into our work culture because of how crucial that skill is for us to practice and it’s something that we know.
[00:02:31] Scott Benton: And this is a skill that you want to master because it becomes very easy to forget about the choice you have and how you show up in any new environment. And if you forget to check in on how you’re showing up, you can often arrive With some negative energy that you might have, I don’t know, carried over from your previous meeting.
[00:02:50] Scott Benton: Maybe you had to go deal with something at lunchtime. Maybe you got some bad news from your auto mechanic about an expensive car repair that needs to be made. And now you’re [00:03:00] bringing that frustration with you into the next space that you’re entering. And really, while you didn’t mean to bring in any negative energy with you, There it is, and it’s going to deplete all the oxygen from the room, which really was not your intention.
[00:03:13] Scott Benton: You have to know how to brighten up the spaces that you enter. Now, when you enter a room, let’s say it’s a client meeting, and you’re not focused on brightening the room, then you have a chance of slowing down the progress of the case because clients can feel the energy levels that you’re bringing in.
[00:03:30] Scott Benton: Now, we know clients often feel that they don’t need to pay for legal services anymore because of what’s available online, at least that’s the impression that they get. But we also know that they’ll pay for relationships all day long with their attorney, and if they feel that they have a strong working relationship with you, then they’re more likely going to want to keep engaging your legal services, and they’re going to see their case all the way to the end.
[00:03:56] Scott Benton: That means that your to do list is going to remain [00:04:00] full for that case, which means you’re generally going to have a lot of legal services to perform that you’re going to bill for, and you’re going to continually have work all the way through this case that you’re going to be using the success cycle for over and over again, and why it starts with showing up, brightening up the space that you’re in.
[00:04:19] Scott Benton: Now, in addition to having a constant monitoring system, let’s call it, that makes you aware of your brightness levels as you go from one space to another, if you find that you’re not where you want to be, then you’re going to want to pause. You’re going to want to take a break momentarily, and you’re going to want to find a way to bring that brightness up to where it needs to be.
[00:04:40] Scott Benton: Now, sometimes that means simply reflecting back on what’s bringing your energy down and resetting, as in the case of where you need an expensive car repair.
[00:04:50] Scott Benton: You want to find a way to put that on hold in your thoughts so that you can focus on your clients. For instance, imagine taking that car [00:05:00] repair issue and temporarily putting it in a box, in an imaginary box, and in your mind putting that imaginary box on an imaginary shelf. Now, that car repair issue is still going to be there when you return to it, but for now, you’ve got it safely tucked away.
[00:05:18] Scott Benton: You’ve just freed up your mind not only to raise your energy level and brighten up the room that you’re in, but you’ve also given yourself full permission to suspend any and all rumination about the car repair, and instead focus 100 percent of your energy and 100 percent of your attention on your client.
[00:05:36] Scott Benton: That’s what you want. That’s a great start. And sometimes you can do that in just a matter of a few seconds if you get really good at this. And you don’t have to take a lot of time detaching yourself from all the many stressful events that are affecting you. And sometimes there’s a lot. Sometimes we’re going through a lot of stress.
[00:05:55] Scott Benton: But you need to find a way to manage that. So another tool that often works is [00:06:00] simply to think about anything that you’re grateful for. Feeling good about something such as the house that you get to live in or the family that you have or the car that you get to drive when it doesn’t need an expensive repair.
[00:06:13] Scott Benton: Or simply the friends that you get to spend your time with is often enough to help re energize your mind before stepping into the next space that you’re entering. So you want to stop. And think about what you’re grateful for.
[00:06:26] Scott Benton: Feeling good about something is enough to raise your mood. It’s enough to raise your spirits, and in turn, it’s going to raise everyone’s brightness experience, which for all involved will have many positive benefits. And before you know it, you’ve created a positive feedback loop, which means that the brightness you’ve created and others is simply going to circle back and bring your illumination up even further.
[00:06:51] Scott Benton: And that’s when your to do list starts to fill up with tasks for you to complete.
[00:06:57] Scott Benton: So I hope that’s been helpful. My name is Scott Benton. [00:07:00] I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. Now if this podcast is material that you like and you want to get notified whenever we post a new episode, you can go to our website. Our website is classroom2courtroom.
[00:07:12] Scott Benton: com. That’s classroom, the number two, courtroom. com. You can leave us your contact information. We’ll send you an email anytime we post a new episode. You can also stay on top of all of our new episodes by sharing, liking, and subscribing wherever you find this podcast. And until the next episode, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time
[00:07:33] Scott Benton: thank you so much
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