Gary Burger’s second job is as a dive master at Bonne Terre Mine. He spent last weekend leading some great divers from all over the country. Bonne Terre is an amazing resource and a unique diving experience. Click here for a video by the TODAY SHOW on the mine. In the video, Gary is the diver with the yellow hose, blue dry suit and grey fins.

One lesson Gary says he’s learned from cave diving is that if you ever have a problem in a dive, you solve that problem before you proceed on. Failure to address problems before you go forward, lead to further complications and further task loading. A seeming innocuous problem (like a tangled reel, small air leak, low battery on your light) can cascade into more and worse problems.

Apply this to life and law. Sit down and solve the problem before you move forward. I often tell younger lawyers to make your hardest phone call first-tackle the hardest (oldest) case first and solve the bigger problems. Then you can move forward. The problems in a case that you don’t address and deal with will only get worse later on. If you think the other side won’t figure it out or it won’t affect you, you are usually wrong.