#211: Math vs. Mindset: Why Lawyers Need To Identify The Cause

Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to Life & Law. This is your host, Heather Moulder, and today we are going to cover a concept that I have long thought about (and am finally covering). It's something that's been on my mind practically every season. Because this type of stuff comes up on occasion with clients. 

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And it frankly came up several times in the last year. So when I was planning for season five, this one was a, "Heather, you've been thinking about it forever. It keeps coming up again and again recently. We've got to cover it."

It's about math vs. mindset.

When To Pause So You Can Identify Math vs. Mindset

So let's set the stage.

Collections are down. Billable hours of a prior rockstar attorney are lower than usual. Consults aren't converting into clients. Growth feels sluggish, like you've plateaued.

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In these types of moments, you really feel the pressure. The pressure to fix things, the pressure to take action, any action. And when you feel this way, you're most likely to assume you need more of the same. Spend more time on marketing, which is the same marketing you've been doing, right? Increase ad spend for more sales calls. Push yourself harder without ever asking, "What's going on here?".

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So that you can fix the root cause of your problem.

Now, these assumptions aren't always wrong, but sometimes they really are. And sometimes, maybe they're just incomplete.

When they're wrong assumptions completely, obviously, that's going to lead you to the wrong fix. And even if they're incomplete, maybe it's only a partial problem, that's not going to lead you to where you ultimately want to be. What should you do?

Identifying Math vs. Mindset Problems

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Number one, identify whether you have a math or a mindset problem, or maybe a little bit of both, because the fix is definitely going to be different depending on what's going on. And often we assume it's a math problem when it could be a mindset problem, or is a combo of math and mindset. So let's get clear about what I mean by math versus mindset problems.

The Differences Between Math and Mindset Problems

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Math problems are external, quantitative, often logistical or structural. So...

• Less time available.
• Ad spend was cut. Therefore, less calls are coming in.
• Fewer leads or opportunities are coming in as a result of an external factor, such as economic issues that impact your industry.

Those would be pure math problems.

Mindset problems? Internal, qualitative, emotional, or cognitive.

• Self-doubt that has you second-guessing and procrastinating.
• [03:44] Neediness or over-attachment to outcomes, which changes how you show up to things.
• Not asking for help when you need it because you don't want to be seen as not knowing or being good enough.

These are mindset problems. Now, the thing to know about mindset problems is that at first blush, they can look like math problems. But when you start digging a little bit deeper, you might realize it's not math but mindset or a combo of the two.

Diagnosing Math vs. Mindset

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So let's go through three examples to illustrate the difference and how to diagnose what's really going on so you can get the correct solution.

Mindset-Only Example

First is the closing slump. That's mindset, not math.

"Heather, collections are down. I'm getting a lot of pressure to close more, but I've always closed well, so I don't know what else to do."

So we went through the actual numbers. Yes, she had closed well in the past. Over 80% of her consults had closed... Until about four months prior.

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The closing rate had dropped drastically, so we needed to get behind why. Now, just before that slump hit, she had closed a couple of clients that turned out not to be great fits. So she started questioning herself. She started doubting herself. She started doubting her own process, which then had her showing up to her calls feeling less confident. She hesitated. She second-guessed. She came off less certain.

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She had a mindset problem, y'all, not a math one. The fix was to refine the call strategy to help her uncover red flags earlier, which brought back her confidence. She could go into these calls confident that she knew how to uncover these red flags, and she was much less likely to get these types of clients.

And guess what? She immediately went back to her previous close rate and then even improved upon it within a couple of months.

Example of Math and Mindset

Second one, the dual problem, math and mindset.

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A lawyer was panicked over fewer clients. She wasn't sure why and came to me feeling like an imposter. She thought it was all her fault. Here's what we found when we dug deeper. Her firm had been cutting back on ad spend, so there were actually fewer leads coming in. That was not her decision or her doing.

Once we realized this, we had to plan around a conversation she would have with marketing to try to increase ad spend in her area because that was a pure math problem that could be rectified in that way.

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Second problem: mindset. That drop led her to have a more scarce mindset. So whenever she did have calls come in, she was feeling pressured to deliver more and more and more, which made her feel kind of needy on her consults and impacted how she showed up.

She realized she hadn't shown up as fully. She wasn't listening. She was having all this chatter going on in her mind every time she had a sales call. So once she realized what was going on,

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She was able to put the plan together for that conversation with marketing, have it, get the budget increased, and then she went in knowing, "Oh, I know how to do this. This is really what was going on." So we fixed her mindset problem by fixing the math problem. But had we not identified both of those, we probably would not have fixed anything.

Want Help With These Types of Issues? ELEVATE IS OPEN

Any of this resonating with you today?

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Please know that these are common issues, these types of problems. The examples I'm using today are from real client situations. So no, you are not alone. And you know what? You don't have to keep doing this alone, either.

Doors for my business development mastermind, ELEVATE, are now officially open. ELEVATE is designed for high-achieving attorneys who are ready to take control of your law practice and life through real strategy, real support, and results that actually fit the practice and life you want.

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Although doors are open, they will not be for long. And I won't be offering this group experience for another year once they close. Learn more and apply for Elevate at lifeandlawpodcast.com. Click the Elevate banner at the top of the page, and it'll take you directly to it.

All right.

Examples Where It's Easy To Assume Mindset (Yet Might Not Be)

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Let's get into another scenario. An associate with low billables. So, you have an associate who was a star associate, always had great billables, always collected well, but billables are down. And frankly, the work product's not quite the same. It's easier to assume lack of initiative, laziness, something's really wrong, they're leaving. There's all these assumptions that go through our minds, right?

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Well, it could be there's a personal or family crisis going on at home, and it's left them less time, less energy. That's semi-math actually because they have less ability from external things. Now, semi-math, semi-mindset, right? Because their mentality has been impacted by the math problem. It's helpful to know those things because the fix could be

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"Hey, do you need a leave of absence? Or do you need a time period for more formally reduced hours so that we can still support you, you can still work, but as you can during this time period?" It tells you that you can solve some of the math problems, which will help with the mindset piece.

Another scenario. They're available. They have time. They should be working more. But they're not speaking up to ask.

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And they're doing that because they feel like they're weak if they ask, that maybe they shouldn't. They should try to find it themselves, but they can't figure it out. Well, that's a mindset problem.

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And it's a mindset problem that you, as a leader, as their manager, need to address, right? By talking to them about, look, you need to come to me. I can't always know until the end of the month. I'm busy too. So come ask when you're not busy. Come tell me you need help. Here's why this is okay.

And then maybe scheduling some regular check-ins, as the good leader you are, to showcase that it's all right. We're going to talk about these things. And I expect that these things are going to come up.

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So the lesson for today? You need to know the difference between math vs. mindset because it really does matter. If you don't understand the root causes, you might have the wrong quote-unquote fix, which wastes time, wastes energy, and frankly, hurts team morale, hurts culture. Anytime the numbers are down, you're not bringing in enough energy, someone's not billing enough, you need to ask yourself, "What's really going on?".

Is there a math problem or is there a mindset problem? And dig deep. Ask some questions. Identify what the math really is and whether there are any mindset issues behind the math. Because the answer to these questions will identify the right fix to your problem.

All right, that is it for today. Bye for now.