Find work and a life beyond the billable hour.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
Dear Jennifer, I’m three years out of school. I lasted 18 months at my big law job, where they inexplicably
