Making Better Decisions, Managing Information, and Improving Productivity

Roger Hall, Ph.D. Compass Consultation, Ltd. Hilliard, Ohio

Making Better Decisions, Managing Information, and Improving Productivity

Roger Hall, Ph.D. Compass Consultation, Ltd. Hilliard, Ohio

MAKING BETTER DECISIONS, MANAGING INFORMATION AND IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

A. Brief overview of presentation. Lawyers are hired to make good decisions. Anything that impairs their decision-making can harm their clients. Evidence is piling up that too much information actually reduces decision quality. With an ever-increasingly complex society, with ever-growing demands on our attention, and with ever-accelerating changes in our legal work and laws, our brains are having trouble keeping up. We make mental mistakes when we have too much information that could harm our clients. Identify these decision-making errors to avoid making them when you represent your clients. Learn how some problematic ways of coping can impair your objectivity and professional legal judgment. Learn about cognitive strategies that can help you excel as an attorney. B. Key benefits for attendees. 1. 2. 3. 4. Identify why information overload reduces your capacity to make good decisions for your clients. Learn common mental errors that affect your decision-making. Identify when substance use becomes a problem. Learn practical information management tactics.

INTRODUCTION
Making Better Decisions 1

THE PROBLEM
A. Information overloadinformation fatigue syndrome. 1. 2. There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about. ~ Ashleigh Brilliant We use the analogy of the computer to understand the brain, but we dont realize that our brains arent wired to multitask. (Larry Rosen, Ph.D., Data Smog: Newest Culprit in Brain Drain, APA MONITOR, p. 1, Mar. 1998). Attorneys are knowledge workers. The commodity in which they deal is information. There is a growing body of research that indicates that too much information can lead to emotional distress. Data smog. Symptoms of data smog. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m.
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3.

4. 5.

Increased mistakes. Increased misunderstanding of others. Increased flawed conclusions. Increased foolish decisions. Increased decisional difficultyparalysis of analysis. Increased sleep disorders. Impaired concentration. Weakened immune system. Indigestion. Heart problems. Hypertension. Irritabilitysnap at coworkers. Decreased work productivity.

6.

Data smog and the effect on an attorneys competence. a. The resulting emotional distress can impair the attorneys judgment. One way is by increasing the individuals confidence in his or her judgment without a commensurate increase in competence. Conversely, in some cases, information overload can create indecision (analysis paralysis). When a client seeks counsel from an attorney, he or she can reasonably expect that the attorney will be able to make a decision. Information overload increases mistakes. Coupled with overconfidence, the result can be poor professional practice of law. Information overload prevents attorneys from responding in a timely fashion. As workers who often are responding to crises (caused by a clients errors in judgment), timeliness can reduce conflicts between the client and the attorney. Information overload decreases benevolence. As professionals who are charged with having a benevolent attitude toward clients, this overload can create an adversarial relationship with the client. This is the direct opposite of the intent. Information overload increases irritability. Poor emotional control impairs the professionals level of courtesy and civility. Information overload decreases work productivity. As a professional who bills based on time spent on the case, the attorney who has decreased productivity provides a lower quality of work for a higher cost to the client. These factors all affect the Supreme Courts stated Ideals for Lawyers commitment to the public good, avoiding rudeness, maintaining best judgment, respect, objective and independent advice, and a high level of competence.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

g.

h.

B.

Acceleration of our society. 1. 2. Ever-increasing complexity in our society. Ever-increasing sense of urgencybecause we can, we think we should.
Making Better Decisions 3

3.

Less free time and less sleep increase errors in judgment. As knowledge workers, attorneys are hired because of their good judgment. Anything that impairs that judgment should be avoided.

C.

More choices in our society. Expansion of choices makes thinking more difficult. It distracts from more important thinking tasks. The brain is an efficiency making machine. If an attorney must make 1000 decisions in a day, the less important ones will impair his or her ability to make good decisions on the important issues.

D.

More change in work life. 1. As veteran attorneys look back at the standards of practice 20 to 30 years ago, they regularly volunteer that there has been a change. There is evidence of the following changes that increase errors in judgment: a. b. c. d. Increased flow of work; Increased rate of changes in law; Increasing numbers of law; and Increased standards for due diligence.

2.

ADAPTATION AS A MARKER OF SUCCESS

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. ~ Charles Darwin A. B. Success as an attorney requires that he or she adapt to information overload in order to provide high-quality service to clients. Poor mental adaptation will result in substandard care for clients.

A PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTIC THAT IMPAIRS ABILITY TO CHANGE

A. B. Dogmatism. Dogmatic thinking shuts out additional information. Milton Rokeach.

4 Making Better Decisions

C.

Dogmatism: 1. 2. 3. Impairs the search for informationreduces an attorneys ability to do an adequate search for case related information. Impairs objective advicepotentially impairs an attorneys ability to maintain his or her ethical stance. Impairs judgmentpotentially harms clients if attorneys are unable evaluate a case accurately.

COMMON EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO INFORMATION OVERLOAD

A. Anger. 1. Anyone can become angrythat is easy, but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right waythis is not easy. Aristotle, in NICOMANCHEAN ETHICS, quoted in TIME, Oct. 2, 1995, p. 64. I was angry with my friend I told my wrath, my wrath did end I was angry with my foe I told it not, my wrath did grow. ~ William Blake 3. The anger volcano. a. b. c. 4. When conscience kicks in. When emotional control returns. The measure of success in emotional control.

2.

Saying sorry versus asking forgiveness. a. b. Asking forgiveness as a manifestation of emotional control. Emotional control is necessary for good decision-making in attorneys.

5. 6.

Form versus content of anger. The Supreme Court is concerned with the diminishment of courtesy and civility among attorneys. Lack of emotional control reduces the dignity of law as a profession. Unregulated anger leads to rudeness and a lack of respect. Application of these tactics can regulate the expression of anger.
Making Better Decisions 5

B.

Fear. 1. When times are hard, the last thing you should do is panic. When you panic, your brain shuts down; you stop listening and learning. ~ William Miller, professor emeritus of computer science, Stanford University School of Engineering Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision that something else in more important than fear. ~ Ambrose Redmoon The Milgrim obedience experiments. Powerful social behavior. pressures create conformity to incorrect

2.

3. 4. 5.

As the legitimate authority in many situations, attorneys are called on to act in spite of social conformity pressures to advocate for their clients. a. b. If attorneys do not overcome their fears, they can act in ways that are rude and lacking courtesy to their clients. Attorneys are often professionals whose job is the reduction of fears in clients. As the legitimate leaders in the situation, attorneys can assist their clients in successfully negotiating difficult situations in court, in depositions, or other proceedings.

C.

Sadness. 1. 2. Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression. ~ Dodie Smith. Sadness impairs concentration, decreases memory, and increases lethargy. Each of these diminishes professional competence.

TACTICS FOR REDUCING INFORMATION OVERLOAD

A. The following are practical steps for attorneys to manage their office practices in order to be more effective and render more competent service. Reducing access to information. 1. Sift and trash. Within the limits of your legal responsibilities, not every piece of information is important. Throw some of it away.

B.

6 Making Better Decisions

2.

Set limits. a. b. Decide in advance how long you will research a case. Decide in advance how often you will check your e-mail. Rapid shifts in attention reduce concentration.

3. 4. 5. 6. C.

Respond on your own time. Relax while you wait for the technology. Use the technologies that work for you. Schedule time away from information.

Delegating jobs. As academically successful people, attorneys may over-rely on their intellects to solve problems. This is a potential impairment to success.

D.

Manage your calendar. 1. 2. 3. To-do lists that are longer than 10 items each day will not be completed. Make each to-do item an appointment in your calendar. That way you will set aside time to complete each task. If you dont complete the task in the appointed time, then find another time in the future to complete it and drag it there.

E.

Simplify life outside of work, so that you are at peak mental performance at work. 1. 2. Do less. Set aside time for restrecreation is not rest. a. b. The importance of sleep. Sleep impairment and deficits are major causes in: i. ii. Motor vehicle crashes; and Deficits in judgment.

F.

Work outside of the office. 1. 2. Go to the library or a quiet restaurant (without televisions). There will be fewer interruptions than at work.
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G.

Work during nonstandard times to plow through a project. 1. 2. Early morning, late at night, or on the weekends. Interruptions are your greatest enemy.

DECISION AND JUDGMENT ERRORS RESULTING FROM INFORMATION OVERLOAD

A. Lawyers are entrusted by their clients to make good decisions and execute good judgments. When lawyers judgment and decision-making is impaired, their clients are poorly served. There are four phases of the judgment process. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Encoding and attentionwhat gets paid attention to and how the information is taken in. Memory and storagehow the information is retained in the lawyers brain. Decisionhow the lawyer executes the decision based on the information encoded and stored. Attributionafter the fact, the reason given for the decision or behavior. The explanation as to why something happened. Each of these phases is prone to error. We will look at some of the ways that lawyers will make encoding, memory, decision, and attribution errors.

B.

C.

Encoding and attention errors. 1. Priming. a. The context of the event shapes how you see the event. This is typically unconscious. You dont know how you are encoding the information, you just do. Recently and frequently accessed items come to mind more quickly than ideas that have not been activated. (Fiske & Taylor, 1984, p. 231.)

b.

2.

Apoheniaseeing meaningful patterns in random data. a. The Virgin Mary in a pancake, Jesus on a piece of toast, Winnie the Pooh in the clouds, back masking, and synchronicity. Humans see patterns when none exist.

8 Making Better Decisions

b.

c.

Clients, jurors, judges, and lawyers are all subject to see patterns in evidence that may not be there, because as humans, we see patterns in random data that are not there. Lawyers would be wise to find outside experts to determine if the patterns of data are meaningful or random.

d.

D.

Memory biases. 1. Zeigarnik Effect. Incomplete tasks are remembered. Once the task is complete, the memory for the information disappears. 2. Von Restorff Effect. Events or data that stick out are remembered better than more frequent data. 3. Humor Effect. a. b. Humorous items are nonhumorous ones. recalled more easily than

If a lawyer wants an item to be recalled, he or she would be wise to find a way to make some humorous connection to it.

4.

Fallibility. Items in a persons memory will be forgotten. The memories need not be traumatic, but memory is not iron clad.

5.

Malleability. a. b. Items in a persons memory can be changed by suggestion or by questioning. Giving data in a question can change how a person recalls an event. In fact, in the face of video evidence, a person whose memory has been thus shaped will believe that the video evidence is incorrect.

6.

Stereotypical bias. a. b. Memory is biased toward racial or gender stereotypes. Schacter (1999) reported that black sounding names were more likely to be remembered as the names of criminals.
Making Better Decisions 9

7.

Cross-Race Effect. a. b. Members of one race have greater difficulty recalling members of another race. Jurors may have difficulty distinguishing the source of certain testimony if many of the witnesses are of a different race than theirs.

8.

Picture Superiority Effect. a. b. Concepts are recalled better if they are associated with pictures (Nelson, 1976). Lawyers would be wise to present evidence visually whenever possible.

9.

Next-in-Line Effect. a. If speaking in turns, a person has greater difficulty recalling the content of what individuals before and after the person said. In negotiations and client discussions, you would be wise to take notes to jog your memory for what you want to say because you are likely to forget what someone says right before and right after you speak. Having more than one person in the roomand having one person assigned to listenwill increase the quality of the recall of the conversation.

b.

c.

10.

Leveling and sharpening. a. As a memory is recalled over and over, some details are leveled or fogged out. Other memories become sharper and, in recall, become more important to the event. In reality, they were less important at the time, but the way memory works, they seem more important over time. Likewise, other important facts and details become apparently less important (Koriat, Goldsmith, Pansky, 2000). Witness rehearsal can and will change memory for events and change the relative importance in the clients mind of the details of an event.

b.

10 Making Better Decisions

11.

Choice supportive bias. a. b. We tend to recall better the good results of choices we made than the good results of choices we did not make. The result is that we tend to recall our successes and not our missed opportunities. As a result, we overestimate our decision quality.

F.

The decision phasejudgmental heuristicsmental shortcuts. 1. 2. 3. Cognitive misers. Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize Winner in Economics) and Amos Tversky. The representative heuristic. a. b. c. d. 4. We use an example and infer that it is representative of another object. This heuristic is the basis of most racial and ethnic profiling. Understanding it is important in jury selection. Can be important in setting fees.

Priming and the availability heuristic. a. b. Priming (this is not a heuristic, but it comes into play in this example and is part of social cognition). The availability heuristic. i. ii. iii. Easy to retrieve events are seen as representative of the whole. Sometimes, we misidentify patterns because we are looking for them. To change this mental prime and the availability heuristic is very difficult. (a) (b) First. Second.
Making Better Decisions 11

c.

Application to law. i. ii. Juries are affected by this type of decision-making error. The way an attorney presents evidence can create a more persuasive argument or make the argument look empty. Data must be presented in a way that is easily available to the juror or judge.

5.

The attitude heuristic. Pratkanis and Greenwald. a. b. c. Your attitude affects your decision-making and problem solving. Your attitude puts something in a favorable class or unfavorable class, so you make decisions based on that. The more extreme your position, the more sure you are of the factuality of something (you actually know nothing about). Examples of the attitude heuristic. i. Halo effect. (a) Also the horns effectwe are more likely to believe specific bad data about a person about whom we have a negative attitude unrelated to the accuracy of the data. Physical attractiveness biaswe tend to ascribe positive personal qualities to people who are physically attractive. This bias is limited when applied to women. Up to a certain point, positive personal traits are applied to women, but extremely attractive women are given negative personal attributes. This has consequences to promotion in the workplace. Good-looking people get promoted. If an extremely good-looking woman gets promoted, some will assume it is not based on competence (Etcoff, 2000).

d.

(b)

(c)

(d)

12 Making Better Decisions

ii.

False consensus effect. We overestimate the number of people who agree with us on any issue. As juries work out the issues of guilt or innocence, individual jurors are likely to overestimate how easily the group will come to a decision. When the jury begins to discuss the case, many jurors may become disappointed when they find that what appeared to be an easy decision will be more protracted. Facing this disappointment, some jurors may prematurely concede and go along with the rest of the group. At the same time, since jurors may believe that they do not have to think hard about the case, because other jurors will clearly agree with them, they may not be able to convincingly argue their reasons. In giving counsel to clients, attorneys may overestimate how likely it is that the jury will agree with their position. This impairs the attorneys ability to give objective advice.

6.

The anchoring heuristic. a. The process of estimating some value by starting with some initial value and then adjusting it to the new instance. The way the question is phrased anchors you to a certain estimate. The reference point anchors you to a certain perspective. i. Applies to negotiation. Depending on how the attorney crafts the negotiating position, he or she may be able to avoid detrimental outcomes. If the attorney is negotiating a price for a contract or an amount for a settlement, depending on where he sets the initial amount, that will become the basis for all subsequent judgments. How could this affect the way you form your questions in depositions? How could this affect your clients perceptions of timeliness? Your promise on a time frame sets the anchor for your clients satisfaction and evaluation of your services.
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b.

ii.

iii. iv.

7.

Reference class forecasting. a. When predicting the costs and timeframe of an event, those with an inside view tend to underestimate the costs and overestimate the benefits of an action. They ignore the standard distribution of outcomes. Lawyers would be wise to look in the reference literature of the likelihood of outcomes of certain types of cases. While precedent and famous examples of rulings are important, the statistical history of rulings in a case or negotiation is likely to be a better predictor of the likely outcome.

b.

8.

Loss aversion versus expectation of gain bias. a. b. People are more loss-aversive than gains-expecting. Betting and negotiations. i. How the attorney frames the message will affect the way that the client feels about how the negotiation or outcome went. In negotiations, people will take a risk if it looks like a gain. They will avoid an equally likely event if they construe it as a loss. Clients will prefer to lose nothing than have the potential for gain. In sentencing decisions, clients are likely to take a less favorable outcome, because they want a guarantee that they will not lose. An attorney can assist his or her client make a better decision by outlining this tendency in his or her client.

ii. iii.

9.

Over-confidence bias. We tend to overestimate our abilities and ignore the base rate. a. Attorneys can serve their clients better by outlining the underlying probability of an event. Humans are prone to overestimate their abilities in reference to the base rate. When discussing the probable outcome of a case, an attorney may sell better if he or she thinks he or she is better than the average attorney, but he or she would be wise to tell the client the attorneys success rate on similar cases. This will insure that the client receives objective advice.

b.

14 Making Better Decisions

10.

Over-reactance bias. When faced with bad or good news, we tend to over-react. a. Attorneys would be wise to recognize the base rate of events so that their decisions are not inordinately swayed by emotion. This insures objective advice to the client. Attorneys are trained to think about the worst case scenario. This makes attorneys more likely to over-react to bad news, because they are more likely to think about the way a bad outcome could lead to the worst case scenario.

b.

11.

Disregard for the regression to the mean. a. b. Ignoring the average and assuming that extremely good or extremely bad performance will continue. If a person performed a task well one time, we will assume that the good performance will continue. We fail to realize that they will likely go back to their baseline performance. When advising on business dealings, if your client does well on a particular deal, your client may believe that he or she will have the same margin of profit on future deals and ignore the base rate of his or her lifetime average on margin of profit. As a result, your client may become angry that you arent doing as well for him or her as you did the last time. Wise lawyers will advise about the base rate statistics of deals and profit in advance.

c.

d. G.

The attribution phaseerrors in how we explain events. 1. Actor-observer bias. a. The general idea is that the reasons you attribute for behavior is different if you are the actor (doing the thing) or observing the thing (the observer). Attribution about others negative behavior tends to be characterological rather than situation specific.
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b.

c.

Attributions about self tend to be situation specific and not related to stable traits. i. This has a huge effect in legal debates. We regularly try to attribute behavior, because it gets at responsibility. In some cases, the attribution may have less to do with the merits of the case than it does with the attribution a person makes about the case. In jury cases, the more that an attorney can get the jury to imagine themselves as like or acting as if they were the defendant, the more likely they are to make situational attributions. In such cases, they are likely to gain favorable outcomes for the defendant. In jury cases, the more likely that the attorney can get the jury to be an outside observer of the events of the case, the more likely they are to have a characterological attribution.

ii.

iii.

d.

Global-negative attributions moderate the actor-observer effect. i. In pessimistic people, there is a more powerful effect going on that negates and actually reverses the effect of the actor-observer effect. The attributions tend to be global and negative about self (Freeman & DeWolf, 1992, p. 37). In jury cases, attorneys will be wise to understand the inherent pessimism of the jury pool in order to determine if attributions about self are global and negative. In this case, it may be unwise to have the jury pool imagine themselves as the defendant. Likewise, an overly negative client may take more responsibility for an event that is accurate, because of his or her global and negative attributions.

ii. iii.

iv.

2.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect. a. The effect that people overestimate their ability to do something. I could do that. How hard could it be?

16 Making Better Decisions

b.

The same lack of self-insight makes people skilled in a task underestimate the difficulty of the task for others to complete. Its so easy, why cant you do it? When lawyers are presenting evidence, it is easy for those unskilled at a task to think that it is easier than it is. Likewise, expert witnesses are likely to misapprehend the difficulty of following their conclusions, because it is so easy for them. This is one reason why experts are so hard to understand and are likely to lose their audience.

c.

d. 3.

The Forer Effect (the Barnum Effect). a. The likelihood that bogus psychological data will be believed about a person because it comes from a credible source or printed material, even though the statements are so vague as to apply to anyone. The Fortune Cookie Effect and the Horoscope Effect. The use of psychological experts to describe people based on personality data is subject to this bias.

b. c. 4.

Illusory Superiority Effect. a. Overestimating your own abilities and underestimating your weaknesses. Also called the Lake Wobegon effect where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average. Lawyers should check their base rates of success before believing they are better than they are.

b. 5.

Just world phenomenon. a. b. The world is fundamentally fair, so people get what they deserve. In this belief, decision makers will think that they outcome was deserved by the people who are affected, Because they had it coming, or What else should they expect, given that they had done X?

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DECISIONAL OVERLOAD
A. B. When the number of choices increases, the quality of the decision decreases. When the decider is asked to reflect of the rationale for a decision, the quality of the decision decreases.

This suggests that the quality of a decision in sometimes degraded the more a decision-maker reflects on it. It suggests that logical examination of a decision may in fact decrease its quality. It suggests that emotion plays an important role in high-quality decisions.

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN EFFECTIVE DECISION-MAKING

A. Older models of decision-making suggested that people can be rational decision-makers. In fact, good decisions are logical ones. Janis and Manns book, DECISION MAKING, is posited on this view (Janis & Mann, 1976). More recent examinations of decision-making (Lehrer, 2010) suggest that people are rationalizing rather than rational decision-makers. Lehrer goes on to suggest that decisions devoid of emotion are often worse than those that integrate emotional consequences. Biases in emotions are as likely to decrease decision quality as biases in logic. Awareness of emotional disregulation is an important type of self-awareness to maintain a lawyers ability to provide good advice.

B.

C.

ONE POOR BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE TO STRESS (SUBSTANCE ABUSE)

I always keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snakewhich I also keep handy. ~ W.C. Fields A. Use to abuse continuum.

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Abstinence Recreational Use No use Not necessary

Abuse Is necessary Problems exist Legal (DUI) Financial (begin to deal) Reversible health problems School implodes Work continues for money

Addiction Is necessary Tolerance Withdrawal Craving Problems exist, but to the addict, the only problem is not having the substance Substance is central to life Still recognize the negative consequences. Show good judgment in getting the substance.

No problems No problems Legal Financial Health School Work Relationships Spiritual

Relationships fall Recognize negative apart consequences Spiritual Good judgment bankruptcy Still Recognize the negative consequences. Have poor judgment.

From: Ellingson, Kari (1990). PERSONAL COMMUNICATION. University of Utah. B. If you are concerned about your or someone elses alcohol or drug use, contact Scott Mote, the Director of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program. Phone number: 1-800-348-4343the call is confidential.

C.

OTHER POOR BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO STRESS

A. Compulsive behaviors (compulsive spectrum disorders)activities that are self-reinforcing compulsive behaviors. 1. Shopping. a. Bankruptcy attorneys would be wise to be aware of clients whose compulsive shopping has gotten them in trouble.
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b.

All attorneys will be wise to recognize if their own compulsive shopping impairs their ability to give objective advice to their clients. They may use their own behavior as a baseline and rationalize the extreme behavior of their clients.

2.

Gambling. a. Bankruptcy, criminal, and family attorneys would be wise to recognize the limits of problem gambling versus recreational gambling. If their own gambling is problematic, they may give biased advice to their clients and rationalize a clients behavior. As leaders in the community, attorneys have a commitment to the public good to address problem gambling.

b.

c.

3.

Sex.

Levels of Compulsive Behavior Level of Compulsive Behavior Level 1 Behavior Cultural Standards Depending on behavior, activities are seen as acceptable or tolerable. Some specific behaviors (such as prostitution) are sources of controversy Legal Consequences / Risks Sanctions against those behaviors, when illegal, are ineffectively and randomly enforced. Low priority for enforcement officials generates minimal risk for addict. Victim Public Opinion of Compulsion Public attitudes are characterized by ambivalence or dislike. For some behaviors such as prostitution there is a competing negative hero image of glamorous decadence.

Masturbation, heterosexual relationships, pornography, and prostitution.

These behaviors are perceived as victimless crimes. However, victimization and exploitation are often components.

20 Making Better Decisions

Level 2

Exhibitionism, voyeurism, indecent phone calls, and indecent liberties.

None of these behaviors is acceptable.

Behaviors are regarded as nuisance offenses. Risk is involved since offenders, when observed, are actively prosecuted.

There is always a victim.

Offender is perceived as pathetic and sick, but harmless. Often these behaviors are objects of jokes that dismiss the pain of the sexually compulsive person. Public becomes outraged. Perpetrators are seen by many as subhuman and beyond help.

Level 3

Child molestation, incest, and rape.

Each behavior represents a profound violation of cultural boundaries.

Extreme legal consequences create high risk situations for the sexually compulsive person.

There is always a victim.

Adapted from: Carnes, Patrick (1989). CONTRARY TO LOVE, Comp Care: Minneapolis, MN. pp. 80-81. (Fig 4-1). a. b. Criminal and family attorneys should be well-versed on compulsive sexuality. A stressful work situation combined with a great deal of freedom in time makes this compulsive behavior more likely. Attorneys in solo practices may be vulnerable to this compulsive behavior. In their commitment to the public good and to the trust that clients put in them, engaging in risky sexual behavior will have a negative effect on both the profession and the individual attorney.

c. d.

4.

Over-work. a. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, suggests that work can be very fulfilling. Many people, attorneys included, work very long hours. While work is fulfilling, without rest, an attorneys objectivity becomes impaired.
Making Better Decisions 21

b.

B.

Any fulfilling activity can become compulsive.

22 Making Better Decisions

APPENDIX COGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO MANAGE EMOTIONS AND DISRUPTIVE THOUGHTS

A. Optimism. Martin Seligmanlearned optimism. 1. Three cognitive factors of optimists. (+) Permanence (when) Pervasiveness (where) Personalization (who) 2. permanent universal internal (-) temporary specific external

In order to be at peak mental performance, attorneys must address cognitive impairments that decrease their ability to make objective decisions.

B.

Combat inaccurate thinking by ABCDE method. Albert Ellis. A = Adversity B = Belief C = Consequence (emotional) D = Denial D = Distraction D = Deception (self deception and rationalization) D = Disputation or Debate E = Evidence E = Examined life 1. Only through work and practice of mental discipline can attorneys begin to think accurately. Accurate thinking increases the benefit for the clients. In order to be productive over the course of a career, an attorney must manage his or her thinking. Poor habits of thinking will result in reduced competence in his or her practice.

2.

C.

Long-term perspective. 1. No focus on the present, but on the long-term.

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2.

Overcome of the emotion of the moment with the thoughts about the long-term. a. Attorneys, as they advise their clients, would be wise to think with a long event horizon. It is consistently accurate that a long-term perspective yields better results and is the basis of better decision-making. In order to give their best judgment, attorneys should not focus on simply the immediate outcome, but the long-term potential outcomes. While more difficult, it results in better outcomes for the individual clients and the public good.

b.

c. 3.

Marshmallow story. The delay of gratification is a master skill. The more an attorney can put off the immediate reward, the more successful he or she will be.

D.

A bigger view. A geologic perspective.

REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDED READING

Amen, D.G. (2009). MAGNIFICENT MIND AT ANY AGE: NATURAL WAYS UNLEASH YOUR BRAINS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL. Three Rivers Press. Aronson, Elliot (1999). THE SOCIAL ANIMAL. 8th ed. Worth: New York. Bossidy, L., and Charan, R. (2004). CONFRONTING REALITY: DOING WHAT MATTERS TO GET THINGS RIGHT. Crown Business. Bossidy, L., Charan, R., and Burck, C. (2002). EXECUTION: THE DISCIPLINE OF GETTING THINGS DONE. Crown Business. Boyatzis, R.E., and McKee, A. (2005). RESONANT LEADERSHIP: RENEWING YOURSELF AND CONNECTING WITH OTHERS THROUGH MINDFULNESS, HOPE, AND COMPASSION. Harvard Business School Press. Carnes, Patrick (1989). CONTRARY CompCare: Minneapolis.
TO TO

LOVE: HELPING

THE

SEXUAL ADDICT.

Cialdini, Robert B. (1993). INFLUENCE: SCIENCE HarperCollins: New York.

AND

PRACTICE. 3d ed.
THE

Collins, J. (2001). GOOD TO GREAT: WHY SOME COMPANIES MAKE LEAP...AND OTHERS DONT. Collins Business.
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. (2009). HOW GIVE IN. Jim Collins.

THE

MIGHTY FALL: AND WHY SOME COMPANIES NEVER

TO

Collins, J., and Porras, J.I. (1994). BUILT VISIONARY COMPANIES. HarperBusiness.

LAST: SUCCESSFUL HABITS

OF

OF

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY EXPERIENCE. Harper & Row: New York. . (2004). GOOD BUSINESS: LEADERSHIP, FLOW, MEANING. Penguin (Non-Classics).
AND THE

OPTIMAL
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