Automate Your Life

Automate your life

The best part of computers is automation.

Automation is great because it is a time saver — I can do something once, and program it to happen automatically in the future. It’s also great because it prevents me from forgetting things.

Most of my bills are automated, in particular the important bills like automobile insurance and life insurance. I don’t want to be driving down the road uninsured. To the extent I can’t automate the payment of a bill, I can set an automatic reminder in my electronic calendar (you can use Google Calendar if you don’t have an office electronic reminder system).

These reminders show up on my computer and my phone, and they can remind me about statutes of limitation, bill payments, and just reminders about tasks that I need to get done.

The key to automation is getting the right information in the beginning. When a new case comes in, it has to be analyzed to determine what the statute of limitations is, whether there are any notice requirements (local, state or federal government, for example), and then regular deadlines to get certain things done (send out letters to the client, order medical records, check to make sure medical records were ordered, etc.).

The same holds true for cases in litigation — diary everything in the scheduling order, and diary deadlines like motions responses in such a way that you are reminded of them at specific intervals, and so you get it done well before the deadline.

The best part of automation is sleep. As in, if you have a well-run machine at the office, you’re less likely to worry about work back at the office, and more likely to catch better zzz’s.