During this Thanksgiving week, I am taking some time to reflect on my life. Obviously, part of this reflection includes my job – a large part. As a result, I realize how thankful I am to be doing what I love. Every day, I get to help smart, driven law firm partners find more life happiness and career satisfaction. As a former practicing lawyer, I am well aware of the jokes comparing attorneys to sharks and reptiles – or worse. While there may be some bad apples out there, the lawyers I know do not fit the stereotypes. Most are hardworking and kind people. Accordingly, these lawyers drive my passion which can be reduced to a simple phrase – successful lawyers deserve to be happy too. Therefore, I am most thankful when I can help improve the life of a candidate.
What is Happiness?
When it comes to a career, is there really such a thing as happiness? Surely, there are aspects of any job that are irritating. But besides irritations, is your job making you miserable? As Confucius said – Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. With much appreciation, this is how I feel about my job. However, unfortunately, I see too many lawyers who do not feel the same way. In fact, there is a rampant mental health crisis in the legal profession. This truly saddens me. So much so, it is my mission to help solve the problem of lawyer unhappiness from the top down – one lawyer at a time.
Health Comes First
The most important thing for successful lawyers is health – both physical and mental. To function in a high-stress job, a lawyer needs to be firing on all cylinders. Take care of the body and the mind will follow. Therefore, even with your time stresses, try to eat right and get some exercise. Take some of your valuable time to focus on yourself.
What Can You Do?
Once you are taking care of yourself, analyze what other factors are the cause of your unhappiness. If the causes come from your current job or firm, address them. Perhaps you need more support to delegate work and free up time. Or maybe your firm’s culture is toxic which causes you anxiety. Of course, some solutions are in your control while others are not.
If the situation at your current law firm is hopeless, you can find happiness elsewhere. Every time we find the right exact perfect fit for a rainmaker that person is:
- Happier
- Accomplishes more
- Works more effortlessly
- Becomes a better example, supervisor, mentor, and lawyer
Make an Improvement
Being unhappy and unhealthy will negatively impact the quality of your work. Recently, I saw a quote from Steve Jobs that really amplifies this point. He said – The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. I agree, don’t settle – let me help you.
In the meantime, for Thanksgiving, I thank my candidates for trusting me with their happiness. I thank my family for allowing me to spend the long hours doing what I love. And I thank my friends for their support.
I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!