3 things that will help lawyers get lit up by your legal career again
Let's go back in time...
When you first went to law school, it felt so exciting. Like you were starting the first chapter of your life.
Maybe being a lawyer was always a dream of yours.
Or, like me, you had a family member who was an attorney, and it was expected of you.
Either way, it was different than anything you'd ever done before.
You were used to being the smartest person in the room, and school wasn't quite the challenge you needed.
I remember thinking that law school was the most intellectually challenging thing I'd ever done, and I loved it.
I loved the reading, I loved learning to think differently, being around other intelligent people, and let's not forget the epic parties.
Fast forward to today...
The love affair is over.
Instead of feeling excited, you feel lonely and disillusioned.
The practice of law doesn't look like you thought it would.
You spend long days answering emails, staring at a computer, going to meetings.
If you're feeling bitter about the bait and switch of it all, you're not alone.
So, what can you do about it?
You could switch practice areas, look for another firm, another career, self-medicate, travel more... That's the advice I always seen in Facebook groups or other forums.
The reality is that you can change your circumstances, but wherever you go there you are. If you're unhappy here, you'll be unhappy there.
There are certain things you need to do, or you'll never feel satisfied as an attorney.
What do I mean by that? Let's break it down.
Be the kind of lawyer you want to see in the profession
Here are the challenges that I see.
You can’t change anything but yourself.
So many attorneys are frustrated with the culture and lack of respect and civility. We think if that changes we'll be happy.
This is where you go wrong.
Before any changes happy within the legal profession, we have to look deeply within ourselves.
What are your beliefs, values, and priorities?
What actions do you take on a daily basis that are out of step with what matters to you?
Before you make any changes, you have to understand that the reason you feel the way you do is because you're not acting in alignment with your own values.
Take Care of Your Self
There are three ways most lawyers are neglecting themselves.
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We don't set proper boundaries
We people please our way through our career.
We expect perfection from ourselves and everyone else.
How many times do you drop what you're doing to answer an email only to get distracted and lose focus on what you were working on? This shows a lack of boundaries.
If your boss micromanages you, and you never say anything, or you allow your clients to run your cases because you're too afraid if you say something they'll fire you, these are classic examples of people pleasing.
We think we're being nice and doing the right thing when we people please.
You're not.
When you're too busy trying to be nice and stay quiet, you're causing yourself more worry and stress than you realize.
You may not realize it, but people pleasing is part of what causes lawyers to burn out, and so is perfectionism.
Because we're high achievers, lawyers expect ourselves to do everything perfectly.
We think we can't make a mistake, or we'll lose.
In truth, lawyers are only human. We screw up sometimes.
Of course, it feels terrible to mess up, but we must learn how to move past feeling terrible in a healthy way and give ourselves grace.
Take Care of Your Time
The biggest mistake we make is taking time for granted.
Most of us don't have a plan for our days.
Let's see if this sounds familiar.
You go into to work, grab coffee, and sit down at your desk.
The first thing you do is open up Outlook and see what emails you need to respond to.
Then, it's off to a firm meeting.
After that, you might get to spend some time working on a case or two, all the while getting email notifications or text messages.
It's hard to get anything done.
You stay after everyone leaves, so you can focus without distraction.
It's exhausting and repetitive.
Because you don't have a time management plan.
Having a plan lessons the mental load during the day because you know what you're doing and when.
There will always be things that come up and fires that need to be put out.
That's why you must have a strategy in place for how you will handle those and how you will return your focus to important tasks.
This is the approach that I've found to be most useful to help lawyers navigate the struggles of a legal career.
When we practice them, it leads to less mental exhaustion and more ease and fulfillment.
How can you use these tools create a more fulfilling career and lifestyle?