All They’ve Sown Was a Song: A Pandemic Soundtrack for Unhappy Lawyers

July 21, 2020 Pandemic Notes for Lawyers

When no one knows how anything will turn out, you can feel freer to follow your inner wisdom without a cloud of guilt and doubt hanging over you. Your inner wisdom has always been more likely to be the right answer for you; now more than ever, you can free yourself from justifying the dreams borne of that inner wisdom.
Connect with whatever inspires you–the Indigo Girls, or something else altogether—and use that to dream big, and act big.

Being Different in Law’s Perfection-Obsessed Culture

July 2, 2020 Black, Asian, Latinx, and LGBTQ Lawyers Really Matter

The legal industry as a whole must fix its fetish with perfection. In the end, calling out colleagues on their weaponized perfectionism benefits everyone, especially lawyers who are different from the norm. It doesn’t require money to address. You don’t need anyone’s permission. It’s a step you can take within the next week.

Top 3 Limiting Beliefs Most Lawyers Cling To—Do You?

February 29, 2020 legal career advice / Uncategorized

People often mistake their thoughts and beliefs as actual truths. Yet it’s often not so. Our beliefs are not necessarily the gospel from on high, let alone the entire truth. But so many lawyers fervently believe that work can’t be fun, that they can’t make money doing something they love, or that they have no marketable skills aside from law.

Who’s Designing Your Life, You or Your Law Job?

January 30, 2020 lawyer work/life balance

Whatever your career stage, it’s not too late to design your life. How do you want it to look? Discerning that answer is crucial to designing a satisfying life & career. Or, go ahead and shove the question aside, and let the forces around you shape your life instead.

5 Simple Ways to Ratchet Down Lawyer Anxiety—But You Won’t Like Them

January 16, 2020 lawyers and anxiety

World and national events. have heightened our anxiety, for sure. But the bigger problem may be that our work tools dictate a frenzied mental pace–one that far outstrips our actual ability to deal with that pace. All those little islands of downtime that we used to have–waiting rooms, lines, the commute–are now filled with chatter and productivity. Without downtime, our brains get stressed, and we get anxious.

Are You Burned Out a Little or a Lot? A Checklist for Lawyers

December 13, 2019 lawyers and anxiety

The toxicity of law culture runs so deep that most firms score at least 10 out of 13 factors that lead to employee burnout. What about yours?

Get Out: Loathing my Job, Lonely Without Friends & Hobbies

November 12, 2019 Get Out

Job ads that make you clenched or depressed? Stop entertaining those ideas for your next gig. Regardless of pay or how much sense they make on paper, they don’t make sense for YOU.

Get Out: I Hate People!

October 24, 2019 Get Out

Sick of people? Telecommuting might be a good plan. Beware, though! If you don’t understand the source of your misanthropy –unmet introvert needs? poor boundaries?–you’ll still be unhappy with work, no matter where it is. Even if you telecommute, you’re going to be dealing with people.

Get Out: Old, Burned Out, Few Skills

October 9, 2019 Get Out

Will this be easy? No. But neither is living with your stress level. Stress kills us by triggering health problems that might have lain dormant. Plus it robs us of joy. Who wouldn’t want to trade poor health and misery for a chance at something much better?

Get Out: Artist in a Lawyer Suit

September 26, 2019 Get Out

Dear Jennifer, I’m three years out of school. I lasted 18 months at my big law job, where they inexplicably