I like excitement, novelty, change, and drama. If I had to pick one word to describe the thing that drives me, it would be “innovation.” In fact, I attended a pretty dumb retreat once and had to pick a word. That was my word.

I like the new stuff.

I buy a new phone every six months. I switch laptops about that often. I download one or two apps on a slow day. I have to keep a particular task list to remind myself to cancel all the subscription software, services, publications, websites, etc. that I pay for each day.

I live in hotels. I rarely stay in one place for more than a couple of weeks. A month is a long stay for us. We go, go, go. Change is our normal.

I’m Addicted to the Next New Thing

I’m a junkie for the new. I can barely finish writing this sentence because of the pull of nearby shiny objects. (At the moment, it’s a kitten here in the breakfast room of our hotel in Langkawi, Malaysia.)

It’s a miracle that I’m still married to my first wife after 26 years. I’m not sure how we were able to make that happen, but here we are.

It’s a miracle that I’ve worked in the same law firm, also for 26 years.

But there’s a reason I’ve stuck around. (I mean at the law firm. I still don’t understand how I was lucky enough to stay married, and I’ll save figuring that out for another day.)

I realized something early on as a result of observing others. I looked at successful lawyers and contrasted them with other lawyers who seemed to be moving sideways much of the time.

I noticed that many lawyers hopped around, switching jobs, practice areas, geographic locations, etc. Many of us change teams like we change our underwear. We change marketing approaches every time something new comes along. We alter our management tactics when the next business book comes out.

The hyperkinetic approach of some lawyers didn’t appear to result in much success. Eventually, I reverse-engineered the career path of the lawyers who looked like they were winning and realized that they had a different approach from those who kept changing their paths.

Change for the sake of change seems to simply result in more change, not progress. Much of the change isn’t positive. That was an unpleasant realization for me. I really, really like change.

Smart, Successful Lawyers Do It Differently

I noticed that some lawyers had a sticktoitiveness approach. They persisted. They didn’t change when the economic winds blew from a different direction. They didn’t change when they ran into a challenging obstacle. They didn’t change when they encountered a new shiny object. They just kept moving along—forward, upward, and toward the objective.

These lawyers knew where they were going, and they didn’t let anything, external or internal, get in their way. They just showed up and did what needed doing. Maybe they don’t need the change? Maybe they don’t require novelty? Maybe they’re oblivious, unaware, or lacking in observational skills? I don’t know. All I know is that they stick to it.

The lawyers who stick to it aren’t always doing anything I consider exciting. They aren’t that much fun for me to chat with over lunch about the latest marketing approaches or the cool new technology. They don’t play my innovation game. They just keep cranking forward and sticking to their plan.

These stick-to-it lawyers aren’t always brilliant. They aren’t always interesting. They aren’t always the life of the party.

But they see it. These lawyers know where they’re going. They have a vision. They have something they want to do, need to do, and care about doing, and they are fully committed.

These lawyers believe that sticking to the vision gets them where they seek to go—eventually. They’re confident in their ability to make a plan, commit to the plan, and reap the rewards.

They’ve learned that it’s often the boring, routine, systemized crap that gets them where they’re going.

It’s not the shiny object. It’s the routine, day-to-day legal work, marketing work, and management.

It’s the one-to-one meetings with each member of your team. They’re not always interesting. Plus you’ve always got a pressing deadline that makes it hard to keep the appointment. Often there’s a sunny day that’s pulling at you to leave early and do the meeting “next week.”

But they do it anyway. They stick to it.

It’s the 34 lunches with the accountant from down the hall spread out over eight years. You dread hearing the story again about the business owner who keeps his records in a shoebox. You’re going to have to take amphetamines to stay alert.

But it gets done.

It’s the clunky, boring, piece of crap computer using the outdated software (but it gets the job done) that you use to get the words written in the right order. You use it not because it’s cool, but because it’s functional.

When the going gets tough, they keep going. They do not get distracted by the Facebook advertising, the latest phone system, the brand new legal publication everybody is talking about, or the recent book on the 27-second workweek. Shiny objects don’t distract them from the objective.

You ask yourself, “Why does Rosen keep talking about the need to avoid ‘shiny objects’?” You want to know why I won’t move on, let it go, and discuss something shiny. Why do I keep forcing you back to basics? You want to know why I keep shoving this crap down your throat. I hear you. I feel you. I understand you.

It’s because I understand you and how you think. I know how you drift from emergency to emergency, opportunity to opportunity, and cool new thing to cool new thing. That’s why I push you to stay the course. It’s because I understand you that I ask you to keep doing the work day in and day out. It’s because I understand you that I try so hard to reinforce the fundamentals.

The fundamentals are what works. They are how you win. They are how you end up at the finish line sooner rather than later, and you find yourself standing there with a big bag of whatever you’re seeking.

Most of Us Want the Same Things

Each of us has different goals, different visions, and different ideas about how we want to spend our lives. But, over and over again, from nearly everyone I encounter in our arena, there is a goal of having enough money put away that we can have choices, options, and freedom to do what we wish. I hear that message loud and clear from most lawyers.

The persistent lawyers I know have the financial freedom they require. They’re squirreling it away in stocks, bonds, and real estate. They’re consistent about taking money off the table as they plug away. They’re building the foundation they require to do whatever they like. They’ve built momentum, and they keep the flywheel spinning.

It’s persistence that gets you where you seek to go. It’s the vision, the day-by-day execution of that vision, and the commitment to persist even when the goal looks blurry and far away.

Here’s How to Get Them

Here are my 11 tips/suggestion/ideas/thoughts for how you can pull this off, make this happen, and get where you want to go.

1. Write it down.

How can you stay on the path and keep moving toward the destination if you’ve lost track of where you’re going? I harangue Rosen Institute members endlessly about writing down their vision. But many don’t have the vision to write down. They’re stuck in the day-to-day or have assumed there is only one vision: the one they believe all the other lawyers are seeing. (Trust me—most of those other lawyers aren’t seeing it either.)

How can you keep going if you don’t know where you’re going? You can’t. You won’t. You’ll jump from project to project and drift from point A to point B and back to point A again. Your actions take you no closer to point Z. It’s like you’re circling round and round in a traffic circle and never leave pick a road to follow.

Writing it down forces you to make decisions. It forces you to pick one thing and abandon the others. It makes you focus on what matters to you. It gives you something to guide you when you get lost. It’s essential.

2. Recognize the pull.

See it when it’s happening. Become aware of your need for switching gears and mixing it up. Watch yourself and figure out what pushes you to the next thing. Is it the struggle? Is this thing hard? Is it the lack of gratification? Is it a lack of vision? Do you have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees? Acknowledging that you’re struggling is a big part of continuing on the journey.

3. Treat each step as a project.

It’s possible to stay on the same path without doing the same exact thing each day. A journey can be broken down into its parts, and the parts can be explored and experienced as something new and different. Getting each part handled moves you closer to the goal without it feeling as if you have déjà vu every day of the week.

4. Read The Dip.

Seth Godin, who has an epic case of sticktoitiveness, wrote a short book that delves into this arena. The Dip helps you decide whether sticking to it is the right choice when you’ve reached the point of quitting. Sticking to it isn’t always the right way to go, but it’s critical that you appreciate that success is nearly always preceded by the urge to walk away. The Dip is often the phase that comes just before things turn and head in the right direction.

5. Absorb the 10,000-hour lesson.

In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell explained the 10,000-hour rule. He claims that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. Others have disputed his claim. Of course, there is no right answer to the question of how long it takes to achieve mastery.

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But it’s clear that practice and experience make a difference. Expect it to take some time. Don’t expect instant, extraordinary, remarkable results. Life rarely works that way, and it probably won’t happen that way this time. Give yourself permission to get good at something before expecting to reap the rewards.

6. Delegate it.

Sometimes the tedium is just too tedious. No rule says you have to have your hands on each piece for every step of the way. Bring others into your vision. Train them, include them, and bring them along. Inevitably, there are parts of the project that involve work that doesn’t meet your needs but that meets the needs of others on your team. Let them help.

7. Take breaks.

Sustaining momentum requires recharging. Step away, get away, and be away mentally and physically. Head for an island or the mountains or wherever you need to go to recharge. Make your breaks part of your plan. Don’t wait to need the holiday; plan it ahead of time and make it part of the system for achieving your goals. Tiny breaks during the day and big breaks for weeks at a time are an important element of any long-term activity.

8. Gamify it.

Do what you’ve got to do to get the energy going. For some of us, it’s about going faster. For others, it’s about being more accurate and precise. Some like to count dollars. Some tally client satisfaction survey scores.

Games work, and you need to find the particular rules that make this game work for you. A game helps us break the big objective into smaller, day-to-day, bite-sized chunks. Winning is fun. It releases the right chemicals in our brains. We quickly forget that we built a game we could win so we could feel good about our work and we just notice that it feels good.

9. See the scoreboard.

Track your progress visually. Find a way to show yourself how it’s going. Use the score to make adjustments as you continue to move forward. I get daily reports from three different members of my team. Those folks spend a few minutes gathering the data I need to help keep myself on track.

10. Stop rationalizing.

I’m watching a lawyer now who’s trying to build her network, adding massive content to her website, and exploring online advertising. She committed to building the network about a year ago and had a party and did some lunches. Then, within weeks, she was spending time on the website. Three months later, she became obsessed with the online ads.

In her mind, it’s all part of building the practice, so it’s okay that she’s pulled away by every shiny object that wanders through her field of vision.

But it’s not okay because she abandons the last project when she shifts to the next project. She wrote some great content for her website but forgot to post it. She met some new people but didn’t maintain the relationships. You get the idea. It’s easy enough to rationalize any diversion into being “part of the project” if you just back up far enough. After all, all of life is part of the project when you’re trying to justify your actions. I’m with you. I can rationalize with the best of them.

11. Remember why.

There’s a reason we’re doing what we’re doing. For some of us, our vision is rooted in justice. We want to make a difference for someone. For others, our vision is rooted in providing for our families. We want to fulfill our obligations and give our children something better. For some, the vision is rooted in making a difference that matters deeply. Everyone has their own “why” that is driving their particular plan for the future.

You’ve got to keep your “why” present in your day. Maybe a picture sitting on your desk reminds you of what you’re all about. Maybe there’s a song that brings it all flooding back. Maybe there are words included in your written vision that remind you to stay the course even when you feel the resistance of the obstacles.

Each of us has personal triggers that remind us why we’re doing what we’re doing. Those triggers usually are, and certainly need to be, loaded with emotion. Keep that emotion handy. There will be days—many days—when you need to dig deep to remind yourself of the “why” so you can make it through the day and persist in your effort.

Get Back on Track

We all drift. We all find ourselves off on a tangent. That’s to be expected. It’s normal.

The questions you’ve got to ask yourself (and the questions I find myself asking myself) are, Is this part of the plan? Am I advancing the vision? Am I moving closer to the goal?

Too often, we’re doing what we’re doing because it’s novel, entertaining, and fun. It’s a distracting, shiny object that pulls us away—far away—from our objective. Our brains pull us away from the target even when we see the target clearly. This is hard work.

It’s time to get back on track. It’s time to put the distraction in the “someday/maybe” folder (or the shredder). It’s time to review the written vision, write down the next steps, and execute. Persistence pays off. Sticktoitiveness is rewarding. Our vision makes sense. Bringing it to fruition, day by day, will bring us the rewards we hope for and expect.