Happy New Year! It's eight days late but better late than never.
Before I write about the topic at hand, I must address the fact that I have been absent for about six weeks. There were several reasons for this - first, I was very, very busy with a variety of projects. Then, at the end of the year, I burnt out for about 10 days in a way that left me unable to do much else beyond rest. It was a lesson for me and I will address it in my "lessons learned" section below.
A new year is always an opportunity to review the last year, learn the lessons, and apply them to and plan for the next year.
I learned a lot of big and small lessons last year. Here are the highlights:
- Bet on yourself. The entirety of 2022 was a bet on myself and my law firm. I invested in courses in entrepreneurship and spent money I didn't have to learn how to be an entrepreneur. Without those courses, I would not have known how to upgrade my LinkedIn profile, how to develop my website and my brand, and how to do targeting business development. It was not easy but it was worth it to see the end result of my law firm website and to have settled on a recognizable pink-based brand (despite advice to the contrary to steer clear of pink!) What has been even more amazing was to see the opportunities that having a recognizable brand and blogging regularly led to - like teaching on Maven.com (my first cohort is on February 13th for two weeks) and some other interesting opportunities that are coming up. While some people have advised me, "Being an entrepreneur is too hard, why don't you get a job?", I love rising to the challenge of building a global law firm built on nearly 20 years of international legal experience. The stakes are high, but it is worth it.
- Mindset shift. Becoming an entrepreneur after years of being an employee took a hot minute. I remember the first time I realized that there was no salary check coming at the end of the month and I, therefore, had to hustle to get some clients. Being responsible for your own enterprise, your own funding, your own everything can be daunting. But it can also be inspiring because you are now in charge of your path and your future. I know that I will treat myself better than most of the companies that have employed me in the past.
- Saying "no" can lead to growth. Until August 2022, I sometimes found myself doing easy jobs that I could do with my eyes closed but which sapped me of all energy and joy of living. I would work hard and commit, but I did not get any intellectual satisfaction. No job is easy, but I have found that the"easy" path is not the best path. Last summer, I finally stopped doing those "easy but mindnumbing" gigs where I did not learn anything, wasn't that interested, or that were underpaid. When I said no to the "easy but boring" gigs, bigger, better clients, and more interesting clients started to appear with greater regularity. I said no and it wasn't the end of the world. This also applied to my personal life where I said no to people and events that did not speak to my soul.
- Do the work. It's true. Being an entrepreneur means the buck stops with you. No one has the vision you have for your company but you. No one will come along and do the work to get going unless you hire someone to do it for you.
- Rest, Exercise, & Fun. I got Covid in the spring of 2022. I was sick from April to June. It was a forced rest although I worked remotely despite being sick. When I recovered in June, I got a tennis permit from the NYC Parks and started playing tennis with other New Yorkers from June to November. It was a lot of fun, I got a lot of exercise, I spent a lot of time on my bike and on the tennis courts, and I was outdoors instead of behind my desk and in front of my computer. As an entrepreneur, I could afford the time to savor the summertime on my terms.
- Optimize scheduling. By the end of the year, I was spent. The last 10 days of 2022 saw me flat out. I had overdone it and was not unable to do anything. Despite being a workhorse, I had reached my limit and had to rest, even though there were still things I had to do and wanted to do. While resting, I reflected upon the fact that I could have avoided burning out so completely at the end of 2022 had I scheduled some more downtime instead of working all the time.
I am sure there are a lot of other things I learned in 2022, but those are the main lessons I learned last year.
2023 already feels different to me. In part, because it has already been a lot more social than 2022 was for me. Here is what I have set my sights on for 2023:
- Back to the gym. Before March 2020 when the Covid pandemic began, I had a gym routine and had plonked down the $300 per month to join Equinox in NYC, which I used - along with the gym in my building on Wall Street. I used both gyms regularly until they closed down abruptly because of the pandemic. I like gym life - not just because it keeps you fit and healthy, but because it is a great social outlet and I have always made great friends at the gym. So last week, I joined a brand new gym (Lifetime Fitness) that is opening in NYC in mid-January. I cannot wait.
- Travel. My passport expired in December. I had not used it since February 2019. In a few weeks, I will have my new passport in my hands and I will be using it both for business development trips and pleasure trips.
- The Commercially Savvy Lawyer Bootcamp on Maven. A chance interaction on Twitter last year found me invited to teach a cohort on Maven, a newish online learning platform. The first cohort starts on February 13th, 2023 - watch this space. And please join me if you want to sharpen up your contract negotiation and drafting skills!
- Scaling my law firm and becoming international. Careful planning, relentless business development, and relationship building will necessarily reap growth.
- Finishing my passion projects. I have a few passion projects that have been pending for a long time. In 2023, I will prioritize completing those passion projects (my films, my books, and some other similar enterprises) so I can start other projects on my list.
- Reading. As a child, I was a voracious reader. I had stacks of books on my bedside table that I would read for hours before I finally slept. It is easy as an adult and now with social media to slip into going online rather than cracking open a book. I have quite a library and I am determined to read everything in it.
- No more wasted time. I cannot say that I do not feel angry and bitter about the last three years of Covid lockdown. For half of that time, I was alone on Wall Street. For the remainder of that time, I was at my mother's house. Before that, I was living a full and exciting life in Qatar as a senior lawyer with travel to exciting destinations at my fingertips. I had great plans for my new life in NYC (home, actually.) And it all changed on a dime - the world may never be the same, but I will never take anything for granted anymore. Time is indeed our most valuable asset and we must use it wisely and productively.
Let us pray that 2023 is a peaceful, abundant, and prosperous year for everyone the world over.