The Timesheet Welcomes New Work/Life Balance Columnist Kevin Houchin
We are pleased to announce that Kevin Houchin has joined The Timesheet as our new work/life balance columnist.
Kevin is a lawyer, graphic designer, husband, father and creative spirit. In his law practice, Houchin & Associates P.C., Kevin advises creative people about how to maximize creativity, build businesses, and protect intellectual property. His ideal client relationship is one that sparks a long-term collaboration which enables him to play the role of business and life coach, in addition to attorney and marketing consultant.
A tireless advocate for the creative entrepreneurial business community, Kevin regularly speaks to micro to mid-size businesses, continuing legal education and law school audiences. He is also the author of Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law School and Beyond and the forthcoming book, The Secrets of Creative Business. He writes a regular column for the leading business journal in Northern Colorado and blogs compulsively.
His latest creative venture is the The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business, a unique mentorship program designed to equip, inspire and position lawyers and other entrepreneurs to attract and serve their ideal clients in the information age. From vital flat-fee billing schedules to advanced internet marketing strategies, no subject is left uncovered in this groundbreaking mastermind program.
A native Iowan, Kevin lives with his wife and their three children in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Kevin takes the work/life balance reins from outgoing columnist Julie Fleming, who has regularly shared her insights with Timesheet readers since January 2007. We hope you'll continue following Julie at the Life at the Bar Blog.
Feature Article: Rehab For The Creative Spirit by Kevin Houchin
I've been talking a lot lately to lawyers who are tired . . . just plain sick, tired and exhausted with the daily grind of law.
Admittedly the complaints vary from lawyer to lawyer, but a consistent theme appears to be boredom, frustration, a bitter hatred of 'the box' and a primal urge to explore more creative aspects of their lives. Sound familiar?
If so, let me take a moment to tell you . . .
You're full of it!
You really are. There's no way that I'm the first person to tell you. You can't deny it. You're full of it up to your eyebrows.
Full of creativity, of course. You were born with it. You are made of wonderful, delicious, colorful, smelly, heaping globs of creativity!
As a child, your humanity burned with the divine spirit of creativity. You imagined games. You imagined friends. And, you even created vivid experiences that existed only in your mind but existed nonetheless.
Then, you went to school.
You learned to live by other peoples' rules and their ideas of how and what you "should" be. Walls grew that blocked your view of those wonderful places in your imagination. Those walls grew until finally the creativity of your heart, spirit, and right brain were all but abandoned in favor of subjects that could be objectively tested with multiple-choice exams and computer-graded bubble sheets.
Then, you went to law school.
Your walls were adorned with thorns and you were not even allowed to have ideas of your own. Any creativity you were allowed to display was carefully disguised as nuanced synthesis of precedent (other people's ideas-the older and less original the better).
It felt like you had suddenly become unworthy of being the source of an idea or thought. You felt like a slave to a footnote or maybe like a footnote yourself.
But, you're not in law school anymore. Now, you're the only "source" that really matters. Your senior partner may determine your job status and salary, but you get to decide how much credibility to give those things.
If you're feeling trapped in a job that doesn't allow you to express your creativity, you have the power to change that. You don't have to leave your job to feel more fulfilled. Rather, start chopping through the thorns and breaking down the walls that decades of education have placed around your creative spirit. Trust me, you can do this and still be an effective lawyer. It may even be the secret prerequisite to a happy and satisfied life in the law.
There's no simple seven-step process to recovering your creative spirit. The journey is different for each of us. A simple start is to look for creative opportunities that already surround you. Paint, play music, sail, climb, write, spend time with family, do community service, sing-whatever makes you feel "creative," as long as that something is not work.
Move outside of your head for a while and use your current frustration, overwhelm, boredom or exhaustion as a catalyst for creativity. Give yourself permission to want something more the status quo and go after it full force.
It's time to start living a more creative life. Read articles like these found on The Timesheet, fuel your spark of creativity, and then share your flame. You're full of it!
Kevin Houchin is a lawyer, graphic designer, husband, father and creative spirit. In his law practice, Houchin & Associates P.C., Kevin advises creative people on how to maximize creativity, build businesses, and protect intellectual property. He is also the founder of The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business, a unique mentorship program designed to equip, inspire and position lawyers and other entrepreneurs to attract and serve their ideal clients in the information age. From vital flat-fee billing schedules to advanced internet marketing strategies, no subject is left uncovered in this groundbreaking mastermind program.
Like this cartoon? Send it to friends, clients or colleagues on greeting cards. To order, visit The Billable Hour Card Store.
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You can also purchase original artwork and custom prints (framed or unframed) from Stu.
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Cartoon: Courtoons
by David Mills
Courtoons are the creation of David Mills, an Ohio appellate lawyer who works with litigants and law firms involved in civil and criminal cases in federal courts across the country. Visit David's law firm website at www.MillsFederalAppeals.com
Order in the Court! Quiz Deck, New in Our Games & Books Department
Sure, Black's Law Dictionary is a classic. Looks so impressive sitting there on your bookshelf. But how often do you dust off that heavy tome to refer to it? And of its thousands of obscure Latin and medieval French entries, how many do you really use?
Just as we thought.
Now there's a practical and fun alternative: Order In The Court! A Quiz Deck of Legal Terms. These 48 fact-filled Knowledge Cards are a great source of condensed information—all in a deck the size of a pack of playing cards.
The front of each card asks the meaning of a term commonly used in the legal profession; the answer is provided on the back, in clearly understood terms. Read about the consequences of being served with a subpoena, what offenses can be categorized as contempt of court, what goes on during voir dire, and much more.
You can find Order in the Court! in our Games and Books department.
Video of the Month: Barbri Video—The Virginia Law Libel Show
To watch more hilarious law-related videos from around the web, join us at The Video Venue!
Like this cartoon? Send it to friends, clients or colleagues on greeting cards. To order, visit The Billable Hour Card Store.
Suzan Charlton is a professional cartoonist who is rumored to practice insurance coverage law as a hobby for a major Washington D.C. law firm. Her cartoons cover a wide range of law-related topics, from law school grades to law firm romance.
Song of the Month: My Will
by Bob Noone & the Well Hung Jury
Like this cartoon? Send it to friends, clients or colleagues on greeting cards. To order, visit The Billable Hour Card Store.
Questions about ordering greeting cards from The Billable Hour Card Store? Check out our greeting card FAQs.
Did you know that Jonny licenses his artwork for use in newsletters, presentations, print publications and on websites? He even offers special rates for student and teacher use.
You can also purchase original artwork and custom prints (framed or unframed) from Jonny.
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Take a close look!The dials of our watches and clocks are marked in tenths of an hour—the same way many lawyers, paralegals and law clerks bill for their time.
