Start a notebook where you record all the stupid shit you do that you don’t want to repeat.

It was August 2011, and I was talking to small business owners that would let me buy them coffee.

A few weeks before, I had finished taking the California Bar exam. And I was twiddling my thumbs for nearly four months between the exam and the results.

I knew that my goal was to open my own law practice as soon as I passed. (Which is exactly what I did, I found out I passed in late November 2011. I was admitted to the California Bar on December 2 and opened my law practice on December 5.)

So while I was impatiently waiting, I was picking the brains of lawyers who ran their own practices and small business owners I admired.

I came to each meeting armed with a list of questions. And one of the final ones was,

What do you do now in your business, that you wish you had started sooner?

That day I was meeting with a friend who ran a business near my home in the Mission District of San Francisco. He had been running a tattoo parlor for almost a decade. (And we were having beer, not coffee.)

When I asked him this question he said,

Start a notebook where you record all the stupid shit you do that you don’t want to repeat. And then every day write in it or read it.

I ran into him the day after I passed the bar and he handed me a present. Inside was a Moleskine notebook. And on the inside cover, there was a note, “Congrats! Here’s your own “Shit I’ll never do again” book. Fill it up.”

Almost six years later, I’ve got a couple “Shit I’ll never do again” notebooks. These notebooks are full of:

• things I hope to never repeat
• stupid mistakes I’ve made
• lessons I’ve learned

Sometimes when I read those early entries, it’s painful. There are some experiments in there that were destined to fail.

And I’m sure six years from now when I read some of my recent entries; I’ll shake my head. And wonder why I ever thought that was a good idea.

I credit much of the progress I made my first year in business to this notebook.

Because the act of reflecting and writing these lessons ingrained them into me. There were times that I started to do something and the image of those pages popped into my mind. That image gave me pause, so I could stop and correct course.

This notebook has helped me be a better lawyer and business woman.

And while it has helped many parts of my business, it’s made the biggest impact on my client relationships.

When misunderstandings arose, I took the time to figure out what caused it. When all hell broke loose, I reflected on where it started and how I could prevent it from happening again.

Because it has become my blueprint for what and how I need to change to improve.

The entries in this notebook allow me to:

• see what situations arise often and brainstorm solutions
• understand why I felt under-appreciated and where I needed to set boundaries
• identify where misunderstandings arose and ideas on how to explain things better

And that’s why this notebook has been so powerful for me. This notebook has directly improved every aspect of working with my clients.

One place that it’s made a huge impact is with the contract I give clients.

I’m one of those nerds that find contracts exciting. They are my jam. But I know that my clients don’t feel the same way.

And this notebook has helped me treat my contract as a living document. One that’s updated, changed and modified based on things I learn and client feedback.

Contracts shouldn’t be written and then used robotically. You shouldn’t be filling in blanks. Or never update them once you create them.

Your contract should stay current with your business, what you learn, and client feedback.

And anytime you have a project that leaves you feeling used or unappreciated, you should decide if a tweak to your contract would help.

• Did this happen because you failed to enforce part of your contract?
• Is this something that your contract doesn’t cover?
• Is this something you contract covers vaguely?
• Do you need to change how you talk about your contract with clients?

I encourage you to change your mindset around your client contract. And to think about it as a living, breathing document. One that changes and grows as your business does. And in turn, will make sure that you won’t have to repeat the same mistakes again.

How does it make you feel to think about contracts as living breathing documents?