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All right, real quick. Before we start today's episode, we open nominations for the very first Max Locon Awards. And honestly, this one means a lot to me because it's something I've been wanting to do for several years, and we're finally doing it. These awards are about recognizing the people who are genuinely making an impact in the legal industry. The people building standout brands, they're innovating, they're creating incredible cultures and teams, marketers getting attention for their law firms, leaders giving back to the community, people pushing the industry forward and raising the standard for all of us. We created 10 different awards to celebrate law firm owners inside the community and the legal industry. And I'd love for you to take a few minutes and nominate someone that you know. Nominations are open now through June 30th at maximumlure.com forward/awards. And hey, make sure you nominate more than one person if you want. There are 10 different awards, so nominated away. Nominate someone for every single category if you know someone that fits that role. There are a lot of people that are in the community, in the Max law community that deserve to be recognized. And hopefully you will share the love and recognize those that deserve to be nominated. Welcome back to Maximum Lawyer Live. Today I want to talk to you about something that I think most people think is incredibly simple. I think it's incredibly simple. But the more I've thought about it, the more I realize it explains everything. It explains why people get healthier, why they get unhealthy, why they build a great business, why they build a crappy business, why some people can be perceived as amazing leaders and others not so amazing much. And it really comes down to habits. That's. It just comes down to habits. And so I was the reason why I want to bring this up. It's. And I even took a screenshot of it and the. It's. I was going through this deep stash app because what I'm trying to do, I'm really trying to force myself that if. If I have the urge to get on X or Facebook or any of the above, YouTube, trying to force myself into doing something a little more productive. Even though, like, whenever I'm listening to YouTube, we're going on this. I. I try to find, like, business content. That's what I'm trying to do. But I do find myself kind of going down these other rabbit holes that I want. So I. There's this deep stash app, and it. It. What it does is it goes through core concepts of a lot of books and I wanted to go back through James Clear's book Atomic Habits. And there is a screenshot that I took. I was like, man, this is, it's such a simple thing, but really cool. And it goes through the habit loop. And I'm going to go through what the habit loop is in a second. But it's like this really does explain everything. At most things, I guess as Tony Kornheiser says, they answered all your questions as money. But this is, gives you a little bit more of a deeper meeting as to things. But it really is a core concept that is simple, right? It really is. But I think it's in the execution that makes it so hard. Where like a lot of us fail in that part of it. It's in the execution of it. And so it, here's what the habit loop is. It's a four step pattern. So you have a cue, you have a craving, you have a response and you have a Reward. That's it, four things. Cue, craving, response, reward. Okay, CCRR help you remember it. Two Cs, two Rs. Cue, craving, response, Reward. It's four steps. Once you understand this, I think you're gonna start to see it really everywhere. That's what, that's what I think is really amazing about this is you. Once you understand these four steps, you're going to start seeing them in all parts of your life. You're starting in your law firm. If you're married, you're gonna start seeing your marriage. If you have kids, you're gonna start seeing in your parenting, in your health. Okay, I got a little bit of sweet tooth. That's the, that's the main reason I, I feel like I'm in really good shape. But if I can handle the. I think I'm gonna try to really trackle this, tackle this, this issue with the four steps. Be like a little bit of a ribbon around my stomach. I want to get rid of, I want to, I want to get that six pack. That's what I want. I gotta, I gotta break this pattern is what I gotta do. So let's, let's kind of break this down a little bit more. The first step is the queue as I talked about. And that's the thing that starts the process. And it could be something as simple as like a notification on your phone. It could be someone walking into your office. Maybe you had a rough hearing and so you're feeling stressed, or maybe you've got a hearing coming up and so you're feeling stress. It could be boredom or, or for A lot of you, maybe it's a. That candy bar on the counter or a bag of chips on the counter, or you open the pantry and you see those things. Something happens, a trigger appears somewhere, and then comes the second step. That's the craving, okay? So notice that the craving didn't come first, okay? As we, A lot, A lot of us think the craving came second, okay? That came after the cue. That came after the trigger, the craving. And this is, this is where, in my opinion, it gets really interesting. And it's because most people think that they're craving the habit, okay? So my wanting to eat candy, that I'm not craving the habit, okay? They're craving what I am craving, what the habit gives me, okay? Nobody craves checking email. They just don't. They crave certainty, okay? Nobody craves social media. What you crave is stimulation. You don't really crave alcohol, right? You crave some sort of relief that the alcohol gives you. This is one. Another one of my weaknesses. No one craves money. They crave what money represents. Freedom, security, status, options. I like the options. The craving is the emotional fuel behind the behavior. I'm going to say that again. The craving is the emotional fuel behind the behavior. After that, you have your response, okay? Remember ccrr, two C's, two R's, Q. Craving response. This is the habit itself, okay? So this is the habit. This is the action that you take. This is the thing that you do. You pick up your phone, you open your email, you go to the gym. Most, I mean, I don't think most people feel that they. That's how they respond. But that's a. That's a healthy response. They pick up the candy bar, they open the bag of chips. They avoid the difficult conversation. Maybe talk to some of you. You or you. Maybe you make the sales call, okay? You call, you follow up on that lead. Maybe you review those numbers that you should have been using. You. You were supposed to look at. And so you finally do it or maybe eat the cookie. You. You perform that behavior. It's what you do. And so you take that action and you've now created that habit. Habit. And the reason why you do that is the next part. That's the reward. That's why you're doing it, okay? This is the payoff. This is the benefit that you're getting from this. And this is why your. This is so important. Like, this is the. The reason your brain remembers the habit. This is the reason your brain remembers the habit and decides whether it's worth Repeating, okay? The reason your brain remembers the habit and decides whether it's worth repeating, okay, that is that. That you're. You're feeding that habit by giving it this reward. And once the reward is received, the cycle starts all over again, okay? Go back to Q. Craving response, reward, okay? Over and over and over again in all parts of your life. Okay? Really important. And here's why this matters, in my opinion, okay? Most people spend their lives trying to change the response to it, okay? The response part of it. That is instead of. They. They. They. They want to focus, so you. You want to focus on the behavior, okay? Most people tell themselves, I just need more discipline. You know, I. I've done that. I do. I do it. Still do it. I need more motivation or I need more willpower so I don't pick up that candy, right? So sometimes I'll do that. But most often, that's not the problem. The problem is that most people, including myself, don't. Don't understand the rest of the loop. Okay? So let's. Let's give you an example. Let's say that you are stressed. So you got. Stress is the cue. You feel the stress coming on, okay? So you are craving some sort of relief from that. So the cue. You cued it with the stress. You got a big trial coming up, okay? So now you're craving some sort of relief. You want to distract your mind from it. So that's the craving, right? You're craving some sort of relief. You grab your phone and you start scrolling social media. That is your response. And so you get a little distraction and you feel better for a few minutes, and that's your reward, okay? So you feel a little better because you had this response. And then your reward is that you were distracted and you feel better for a few minutes. That's. That's the key part of this one. There's just a few minutes. Now, tomorrow, when you're stressed again, what happens? Okay? Your brain remembers it. You know what? Hey, last time this happened, social media really helped here. And so then loop repeats. So the problem wasn't the phone. The problem was is part of the loop or the problem is the loop. I'm sorry. And here's where it gets really interesting. The people who create really just great results aren't necessarily more disciplined. Okay? You think it's discipline? It's not discipline. Many times what they've done is they've simply designed better habit loops. Okay? That's why. And it's funny, I never understood this part. So Jason so teaches this like me to reward myself. That's why on my calendar at 3pm on Friday, relish time, I pull up my counter. I'm looking over here now for those of you watching. So it's got. I've got my. I go and I get to go basically have a coffee by myself and go through these list of questions and all that, and why. Why I'm rewarding myself and all that. It never really made sense why we were doing that. I really. I know I like it. And I also have a reward where I get. I have other multiple rewards throughout the year that I get to give myself based on different benchmarks and everything else. But it never really made sense to me as to why. Why I do that. But now I get this. Now that I've kind of dug into this a little bit more, I have a much better understanding as to why. And so, And I do think that we. We think about people just being more disciplined, and it's just better, better, better habit loops. So, like, if you think about, like a successful law firm owner, okay, just get that person in your mind. Hopefully, you know what? Hopefully you're thinking of yourself. But right now, I want you to think about another successful law firm owner just for a second. And so think about that person. When they feel uncertainty, maybe their response is, okay, I need to review the numbers. That's a healthy response. When they feel some sort of frustration, maybe the response is, I need to go solve a few of these problems that we have on our plate. Maybe the. On our opportunities list. Let's go knock it out our. Our opportunities list here. And maybe some of my frustration will go away. Or maybe they're feeling overwhelmed. There's so much going on. Maybe the response is, hey, I need to delegate. I got too much stuff on my. My plate. My. My reaction needs to be delegate. Okay? That's a healthy response. The cue was the same in all the scenarios, okay? The cued never changed. The craving is the same. Okay? That's what's so crazy about this. The cue's the same. The craving is the same, but the response is different. Okay? And because the response is different, the results become different. And this is one of the. Probably the biggest lessons for law firm owners, and especially especially us as lawyers, because the way we are, the way our brains think, we're constantly chasing outcomes. We want more cases, we want more revenue, we want that big settlement. We want better systems, better employees, we want less stress, we want more freedom. But the reality is, is that the outcomes are really just the lagging indicator habits are the leading indicators. And I talk about lagging and leading indicators and other. In other episodes, the way Jason S. Puts them, product and process goals, or process and product goals so that I'm consistent in those. But the, the outcome is just the scoreboard. Okay? The habit is the game. The process is the game. You, you don't. And this is the key part of the, the Atomic Habit habits book. You don't rise to the level of your goals. This is a big, big theme of that book. You, you fall to the level of your systems and this is just a system. That process loop is the system. And when you really understand that, you stop obsessing over your goals. You're still going to have goals. Don't get me wrong, you're still going to have your goals, but you're going to stop obsessing over them and you're going to start obsessing over your processes and your habits. That's what you're going to obsess over. One of my favorite ideas from James Clear is that lasting change comes from identity. So I'm going to talk about that for a second. Most people say, and I had a coaching call with someone yesterday and it was really funny because I want to talk about this with him yesterday and his identity is on point already. It's, he's just nailing it already. It was just so, it was so cool. So I get to talk about today because I was going to talk about with him yesterday and I didn't even really have this lesson with him yesterday. So it was really cool because I was going through some questions with him and he was already just, boom, had it on point. It was like the first question. It was awesome. But when it comes to identity, most people say, you know, I want to work out. I want to read more. I want to, I want a better law firm. I want to get more cases. I want to become a better leader. And. But what high performers, the way they think is that they focus on the identity part of it. They say, I'm a reader. Okay, I'm an athlete, I'm a leader. Notice the difference. It's not I want to become a better leader. It's I'm a leader. And the way I. When I'm talking to my kids, sometimes what I'll say is if they say, let's say that they said I want to become a better leader, I change it for them. Or like, I'll say, what's a better way of putting that? I'm working on becoming a better reader that is better than. Than I want to become a better leader. It's saying that I'm work. I'm actually actively working on it. I do like even more I'm a good reader. Like saying I'm a good reader. Even though let's say you were not currently a good reader. If you're a lawyer, I hope you're a good reader.
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Okay.
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I really do. But let's say that you. Let's just pretend. Let's go back to your five year old self and say you want to become. It's far better to say I'm a. I'm a good reader. It really is. It's. It's going to build that confidence in you. It's going to. Your. Your habits are going to follow that. So but if make it more for more applicable to a law firm. I'm a good leader. Right. I am a successful entrepreneur. Better self talk or another. Here's not I'm the type of person who follows through. Okay. Every action becomes a vote for the person they're becoming. That's one thing is a really cool part of his book. Every workout casts a vote. Every difficult conversation casts a vote. Every sales call casts a vote. Every time you avoid something that casts the vote too. The question isn't what are you doing? The better question is who are you becoming? What are you voting for? Where are you placing your votes? Because your habit retelling that story every single day whether you realize it or not. Okay, and here's the part I want you to really think about today. What if you performed a habit audit? Like what if you said hey, what if, what if you looked at one habit that's helping you and one habit that's hurting you. Okay? So you're looking at all your habits you have and for the good at good habit ask what's, what's the cue? What's the craving? What's the response? What's the reward? Then do the same thing for the bad habit. Okay? And once you've identified those loops, don't try to over overhaul your entire life. Just change the, the one response. Keep the same cue, keep the same reward. But see, change the response. And so maybe that stress leads to a workout instead of scrolling. Maybe the anxiety leads to planning instead of some sort of avoidance that you're doing. If you're getting frustration, maybe you can be able. You can change that to problem solving instead of complaining about it. Okay? Just small changes, little bitty changes and you're just repeating those consistently throughout your entire life. And What I'm going to do, I'm actually, I'm going to put this on my wall. I'm going to put this on my wall. Because I, I, this is such a huge thing in, in my opinion, but because you want to take these small changes, repeat those consistent consistently, and that's how transformation actually happens. It's not in giant breakthroughs. Rarely in life is it because of a giant breakthrough. It's not in some dramatic moment. Okay, like Jerry Maguire. Right. Who's coming with me? But it's, it's done through small decisions made over and over and over again. There's this quote that from Aristotle that I really like. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. And it's so, it's interesting. Like, Aristotle nailed it long ago. Nailed it long, long time ago. And I think it's 100, right? Your future isn't hiding in some big opportunity that's coming next year. And that's what's, that's what's funny is like, that's what I feel like. Everyone talks about these big opportunities. I've got this big opportunity. I've got this big opportunity. It's coming up, you know, I've got this really opportunity to do this thing. It, that's not what it is. It's hiding in the habits you're, you're repeating today. The things you're doing right now. That, that is, that's how you're creating it, okay? The life that you want, the business that you want, the marriage that you want, the health, any kind of impact you want to have on society, it's all sitting on the side, other side of a few habit loops. That's it. Like, this isn't a big thing that you have to change in your life. That's why they're so cool about this. That's why I'm so amped up about this. It's not in this big, massive thing. It's in little bitty changes that you're going to be able to make that make a substantial impact. So I, I am gonna just challenge. I want to challenge you today. Okay? Take 10 minutes. Identify one habit that's helping you, one that's hurting you. Map out the loop. Cue carving. Sorry. Cue craving. Response, reward. And then ask yourself just the simple question, what response do I need to change? Because your, your future isn't determined by your intentions. Oh, intentions, man. I've had a lot to say about intentions over the years. Your future isn't determined by your intentions. Is determined by your habits and the action you take. Okay. And your habits. Those are determined by the loops you're running every single day. So go do that. That's my challenge to you. That's all I have for you today. Make sure you check out Becca's list. Becca's List. I co to find the best vendors for you and your law firm. Check out maxlawcon.com for the conference dates and information. It's in October in Atlanta. We would love to see you there. If you're interested in joining association, go to maximum lawyer.com thanks for watching, everybody and listening. Have a great day.
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You know that feeling when you leave a conversation with someone and suddenly your brain is firing on all cylinders again? That's Max Lacon. This October in Atlanta, you'll be surrounded by law firm owners who are building smarter businesses, dialing in their systems, growing their teams, using AI, improving intake, marketing, and finances. All of it. The conversations, ideas and people in this room will push you to think bigger about what's possible for your firm. And honestly, there's just something different about being around people who are actually doing the thing. Go to maxlockcon.com and grab your ticket today.