I recently heard the actor and comedian, Steve Martin, on the Charlie Rose show to discuss his memoir, Born Standing Up. During the interview, Martin talked about his process of becoming a success in comedy, and Rose asked him if he had any advice for aspiring comedians. Martin responded, “Nobody ever takes note [of my advice], because it’s not the answer they wanted to hear. What they want to hear is “Here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script,’… but I always say, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’”
Martin’s advice describes what is called career capital. Intentionally building up expertise in a given vocation over time. Indeed, it took Martin ten years of purposeful improvement before he became a smash success. This idea of developing your skills and knowledge through an extended period of hard work is known as career capital.
Author Cal Newport wrote an excellent book on this very subject, aptly titled So Good They Can’t Ignore You, which I highly recommend. Newport says career capital is built by committing to a craftsman mindset. Your focus is on getting really good at what you do. You strive to obtain mastery in a given subject. When you see an expert surgeon, skilled musician, or brilliant attorney, you know what I mean. If you truly want to excel in your work, get really, really good at it. This is the single best thing you can do for your career.
As you gain more career capital, you will get more autonomy and more interesting work. You become more valuable. You will spend less time doing the monotonous work and more time doing more interesting work. Studies show that as lawyers gain more experience, they become happier and more satisfied. And typically this also means higher pay.
If you want to build career capital, start with a training and education program. Your number one job is to become the best version of what you are capable of as an attorney. Take personal responsibility for getting the right training, education, and experience. Do this at the beginning of your practice and throughout your career. It’s never too late to start.
In fact, next to being ethical, the single most important thing you can do as a lawyer is to formulate and implement a very purposeful education and training plan to acquire all the necessary knowledge and skills. There are internet articles, books, and seminars replete with information for almost every type of legal career. Take the time to identify the key skills and knowledge you need to be excellent in your area of specialty. Take a moment right now to ask yourself what are the top 5 skills in my particular specialty?
Don’t wait; get started now. Take twenty minutes every single day for training and education. Be motivated to become a better lawyer. If you do that five days per week, you’ll soon get so good that clients and other counsel won’t be able to ignore you. Then watch your career take off.