Earlier this year the desktop computer that I had been using
for way too long died. Most of my data
was backed up (thankfully) but I soon learned that my billing software was
hopelessly out of date and could not be brought back to life. What this means, besides dragging me into the
21st century, is that it forced me to take a long hard look at my
accounts receivable. In layman's terms,
I had to carefully review those former clients who have owed me money for a
long, long time. Some of these debts go
back to the turn of the century. Every account came with a story and much like the
occasion of Festivus, brought about "the airing of grievances". I carried a lot of animosity towards many of
these people who, for whatever reason chose not to pay me.
A funny thing happened when I was setting up
my new billing system, I postponed entering my really old accounts
receivable. I figured that I would get
these accounts entered eventually but I was more concerned with getting my
current clients set up properly. What I
discovered was that a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I quit worrying about these debts and these
people who will never pay me and more importantly, I quit being angry about it. I have neither forgiven nor forgotten, but I’m
not angry. Hopefully, I've learned some lessons in the 34 years I've been
doing this. This seems like a good
metaphor going into this new year. I
know that I can be a better and more efficient lawyer if I can get over being
angry or out of sorts about every perceived injustice. It's good advice for some of my clients too. You can either spend a lot of money trying to
make someone else’s life miserable
because of some injustice or you can try to look ahead and move forward. I hope I can remind myself of this every day.
