Jul 14, 2026 · 15 min · 8 segments
As the year moves into its second half, are you clear on what truly matters for your law firm and where you want to end the year? In this episode, Melissa shares a framework of four anchors you can…
Melissa ShanahanHost
I am gonna walk you through four anchors that you should give some space to so that the back half of this year doesn't just happen to you.
My hope is that this is a useful reflection midsummer before the rest of the year gets away from you.
Ask yourself, "What is the future you're building? What do you want?" Spend time with that question.
Normally, we don't have the space to sit with that question, but even if you've answered it before, maybe at the turn of the year, revisit it, because clarity evolves as you evolve.
Now, when you're determining and you're getting clear about the future you're building, you should, in my opinion, oftentimes include revenue goals, because those are lagging indicators of the success that you are creating.
But if you write down a revenue number, also then write down the profit margin range.
I want you to write down any other conditions that must be true for that future to feel healthy and truly successful for you.
What else must be true? Because it's not about hitting a number for the sake of hitting a number.
Maybe you picture with the future you're building a $2 million firm with a profit margin that's 30 to 35%, and with a steady team, and with you spending most of your time on strategy and leadership rather than production or legal work.
So when you're talking about the future you're building, sitting with this anchor point, and this is why I want you to spend time here with this reflection, it's important because you wanna really paint the picture for yourself.
It's not just about a number, but probably a number is involved with the future you're creating, so don't be afraid to name it.
But you have to put the conditions there as well, because it's going to be different for you than it is for a firm or a law firm owner down the street.
They're gonna care about something a little bit differently, or they'll be thinking about the future they're building differently than you are.
Also, as a note, you wanna avoid, when you're painting the picture of your future, you wanna avoid getting lost in the mechanics of how that revenue or that future will exactly be created.
For instance, if you're thinking that it's gonna take five attorneys in order to paint this vision of your future, okay, you might not be right about that though.
Most of the time we're not right with the elements that are going to have to be in place in order for us to see the things that we really care about.
I am gonna walk you through four anchors that you should give some space to so that the back half of this year doesn't just happen to you.
My hope is that this is a useful reflection midsummer before the rest of the year gets away from you.
Ask yourself, "What is the future you're building? What do you want?" Spend time with that question.
Normally, we don't have the space to sit with that question, but even if you've answered it before, maybe at the turn of the year, revisit it, because clarity evolves as you evolve.
Now, when you're determining and you're getting clear about the future you're building, you should, in my opinion, oftentimes include revenue goals, because those are lagging indicators of the success that you are creating.
But if you write down a revenue number, also then write down the profit margin range.
I want you to write down any other conditions that must be true for that future to feel healthy and truly successful for you.
What else must be true? Because it's not about hitting a number for the sake of hitting a number.
Maybe you picture with the future you're building a $2 million firm with a profit margin that's 30 to 35%, and with a steady team, and with you spending most of your time on strategy and leadership rather than production or legal work.
So when you're talking about the future you're building, sitting with this anchor point, and this is why I want you to spend time here with this reflection, it's important because you wanna really paint the picture for yourself.
It's not just about a number, but probably a number is involved with the future you're creating, so don't be afraid to name it.
But you have to put the conditions there as well, because it's going to be different for you than it is for a firm or a law firm owner down the street.
They're gonna care about something a little bit differently, or they'll be thinking about the future they're building differently than you are.
Also, as a note, you wanna avoid, when you're painting the picture of your future, you wanna avoid getting lost in the mechanics of how that revenue or that future will exactly be created.
For instance, if you're thinking that it's gonna take five attorneys in order to paint this vision of your future, okay, you might not be right about that though.
Most of the time we're not right with the elements that are going to have to be in place in order for us to see the things that we really care about.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
