I wish I had known…that taking time off is often more about what you really need than what you think you should want
Last week, I talked about how getting used to billing your time, as an integral part of law firm life, takes time and that it can be difficult to find time for that ever precious and often elusive “time off.” Today on “I wish I had known” I am discussing how taking time off from your work life may be more about what you really need than what you think you should want…and how that is actually okay. What I thought then: As I mentioned in my post last week, I used to have a fantasy about the warm and sunny beach vacations that I would take with my luxurious 4 weeks off from law firm life. (If you recall, we did the math and in a 52-week year, if you take 4 weeks off and bill for the remaining 48 weeks, you can theoretically bill 37.5 hours per week and still “clear” an 1800 hour billing goal per year.) As I discussed, that 4 weeks off often vanishes – with sick time, CLEs and other time-shredding or mundane and uninspiring activities – faster than you can say “Sandals Resort.” When I was able to squeak out a long weekend (or even just a full weekend) here and there, I found myself a bit disillusioned with the fact that I didn’t have enough time off for that warm and sunny beach vacation I had fantasized about. I recall flying home on the red eye from California once, where I had just finished a combined work/playcation for about 5 days – 3 days of which was work and 2 days of which was play (and then, there was of course the weekend, so I technically had 4 full days off). I remember as our plane was coming into approach in the middle of winter in Minnesota (from California, just to make the re-entry into “life” a little extra painful), I had this sinking feeling that I really hadn’t gotten enough “down time.” I was already thinking about work and everything that I had left behind at the office and everything I was going to have to do to “dig out” from taking any time off at all (even though it was just two days plus the weekend). And it made me instantly feel like having a pity party. Poor me, I thought. Other people that I know (who are not attorneys) get to take real time off. And when they take time off, they get to leave their work behind. They aren’t thinking about it the whole time (like I did/do). They get a real vacation from it all. Total relaxation. “Must be nice,” I snidely thought to myself. What I know now: Here is what I have realized about time off, when you are an attorney. It is actually quite okay that we tend to sneak in our time off, a little here and a little there. Whole weekends. Four day weekends. It is okay that we have an almost impossible time unplugging from our work life for “vacations.” What I realized about myself – and I think this is true of many of us – is that I really like the challenges of our profession. There are many reasons that we attorneys are attracted to the profession in...
read moreI wish I had known…the networking game-changer
Last week on “If I had known,” I discussed my personal evolution through viewing networking as intimidating and contrived, to embracing it as not only a necessary part of career building, but also one I can approach in my own way. This week I take it one step further and explain the networking game-changer that I discovered during this process. Remember this from last week’s post? “I was afraid that I just didn’t have the right skills to build a network.” Anyone had the same thoughts? Maybe you’re there right now, avoiding many activities because you fear that your time won’t be well-spent, that you don’t have the right personality to be in those rooms of people, handing out cards and giving your elevator pitch numerous times. Guess what – I was there too. So what changed? What has allowed me to build a strong network of colleagues, such that I know at least one person at every event I attend, and generally have someone I can contact with a question about almost anything (law-related, given my profession). What did I do, or change, to make networking not only successful, but enjoyable? My own mindset. Now I can’t say it was completely strategic. I have only in the past year started researching mindset and the science behind positive psychology (see The Happiness Advantage, for some interesting reading). But somewhere along the line I decided that I could become a good networker. It’s not natural to me like it is for some people, but I made up my mind to develop this skill. I found many great articles and resources while I was consciously working on improving my networking skills. There is a lot of great advice out there, but more important than any particular information or tip was my decision to not only spend time honing this skill, but to believe that it was something that I could do. It took some trial and error to find what worked for me. And it took practice. But as I reflect on this process, I have learned that conquering any challenge – whether it’s developing a critical professional skill (like networking), starting a new business, running a marathon, losing weight – it always begins with the mind. The first step is always to decide that you can. Stay tuned for my post next week: now that you’ve (I hope) decided that great networking skills are within your reach, in my next post I’ll provide some easy action steps to get started building or expanding your network. Lynn Walters dedicates her work to the support and encouragement of lawyers at all career stages. Having practiced as an attorney for over ten years, Lynn knows the variety of challenges that lawyers face. Lynn is passionate about hearing the stories of fellow lawyers and having real conversations about achieving success within the profession. Profile | Email | LinkedIn | Google Plus | JD Mentor...
read moreI wish I had known…that making the adjustment to billing your time takes time
Most attorneys and law students know that tracking and billing time will be a fundamental part of their careers. Today on “If I would have known then” I am discussing the evolution from understanding your billable hour requirement in theory to accepting it as a part of life at a law firm and learning to structure your life around this system. What I thought then: When I started at my first law firm, I was told that my billable goal would be 1800 hours per year and I did the math. I realized that if I conservatively subtracted 4 weeks off of a 52 week year (so, 48 weeks, for those of you out there that are not good at math), I ONLY had to bill 37.5 hours per week to meet that goal. Awesome! Because, as if I would take off 4 full weeks of work, and yay…I could have 4 full weeks off and still meet this goal. I thought….GREAT! Piece…of…cake! Vacation on a warm sunny beach, here I come! Because I am finally making a decent income that is not all going to paying my rent, books and tuition. And I could use a vacation after 4 years of full-time working plus law school, plus studying nearly all summer for the bar exam, plus waiting to find out that I passed, plus hoping against hope that I would actually get hired by a decent law firm…well, you get the idea. I needed that vacation! But, I digress… Backing up, I had become accustomed to working in my first “real” job (as a scientist at a household name corporation) for well over 40 hours per week, so this was going to be easy-peasy. And for the first two years that I was a law student (part-time at 11 credits per semester, mind you), I was working this over full-time job (which was a ton of work). Again, I thought…this 37.5 hour billable goal will be a BREEZE, compared to that very difficult time management season. Surprise! Not so! What I know now: Billing 37.5 hours per week – which does equal 4 weeks off in a year for a goal of 1800 hours – sounds do-able. On paper, and in a mythical land we’ll call Oz, 37.5 hours per week absolutely can be accomplished. But then life happens. You need to take CLE credits to stay licensed. In an ideal world you will have perfectly mapped out your 15 credits per year that you will take to get them all entered within the 3-year reporting window. Then that does not happen. You work when the work needs to be done and it doesn’t flow smoothly and evenly. Sometimes work is slow. And because you hadn’t really been organized to plan for that, you don’t have time to book a vacation last-minute. So you hang around the office looking for something to do. Then you start asking other partners if they have work. And they all do. At the same time. And it needs to be done tomorrow. Problem solved! Now you are billing a ton of time. But you have no time off. Then there are holidays, and sick time (you will get sick, because you will get stressed by a variety of things, including trying to...
read moreI wish I had known…anyone can build a good network with time and patience
This post marks the beginning of our series at JD Mentor highlighting “what we wish we had known” when we started practicing law. We will be writing candidly about the lessons we have learned about law practice, law firm life, and the legal profession in general. We hope that this series will serve those entering the profession as well as those navigating their first years of practice. If you have a “I wish I had known” story that you would like to share, please contact us. I wish I had known when I started practicing…that networking is best approached as a long term goal, especially for introverts. I heard it many times, “the way things happen is through your network.” Jobs, new opportunities, leadership positions, growth, clients. I knew I needed to network. I knew I needed a network. But the whole idea just felt so fake to me. After I graduated, I let most of my law school relationships lapse. I didn’t stay in touch with very many people. If we weren’t particularly close in law school, taking an interest in where my classmates had landed and how their jobs were going seemed contrived and superficial. I was interested in hearing what people were doing, but it still felt awkward to reach out to people I hadn’t known all that well even when we saw each other every day. I just couldn’t get up the motivation to “re-connect” with classmates when there hadn’t really been a significant “connection” in the first place. And I was afraid that I just didn’t have the right skills to build a network. I’m an introvert. I am at my best when having a real conversation with someone I am genuinely interested in. To be clear, I am always interested in hearing someone’s story, but I want to hear the real deal, not the polished, shiny version. I am generally not as interested in (or very good at) doing the idle chat dance with someone I met five minutes ago, biding my time until I can hand over my business card and run through my elevator speech. It just doesn’t work for me. I want deeper relationships. I want to not only help the people in my network understand me and what I’m all about, I want to understand them as well. But this seemed like it would take so much time, and I was frustrated and overwhelmed with the idea that I needed a network of people yesterday. I scolded myself for not having done things the right way. The way the career experts said to. And sometimes I just thought I wasn’t even cut out to do networking the “right” way. So now what? Had I screwed up my legal career already? Anyone out there having the same thoughts? Maybe you find networking intimidating or too time consuming. Whatever your reason for not making it a priority, I want you to know that it is not too late. And perhaps more importantly, networking looks different for different people. Here’s what I know now… I wish I had realized back then that building a network is a lot like saving for retirement or training for a marathon. In other words, building a network is a long-term goal. So it is ok to...
read moreTop 5 Unique Benefits from Taking a JD Mentor Workshop
We know there are many resources competing for attention from both new and experienced lawyers. We have designed JD Mentor workshops to complement other methods of education, while remaining a unique learning experience. Here are the top 5 ways we are different from other offerings you might see: 1. Intimate setting. We intentionally limit the size of our workshops to allow each attendee the time and space to contribute both questions and comments for discussion by the group. 2. Real conversations. At JD Mentor, we are committed to making our workshops a place where attendees can let down their guards and be honest with one another. Through their example and encouragement, the leaders of each workshop will facilitate honest and open discussion of key topics. 3. The inside scoop. At a JD Mentor workshop, attendees are provided with unique, candid perspectives from experienced attorneys who are committed primarily to the growth of their colleagues. 4. True connections. JD Mentor workshops offer attendees the time and setting to get to know one another and share challenges and ideas, creating genuine connections that surpass regular networking relationships. 5. Big picture discussion. Every JD Mentor workshop concludes with a discussion of how the information provided will clarify and advance long-term goals, allowing attendees the opportunity to immediately put their new information to work in pursuit of their ultimate ambitions. Interested in learning more? Check out our Workshops page for information about our current offerings and sign up for updates to stay informed as we add additional courses to our...
read moreAnnouncing: a new resource for emerging lawyers
Just in time for lawyers who have committed to trying new things and growing in their practices in 2015, we are excited to announce the launch of JD Mentor. JD Mentor is a workshop-based initiative, exclusively designed to support lawyers at every stage of their careers. We are currently focused on the development of basic workshops to support new lawyers as they finish law school and step into their first official roles as practicing attorneys. Our first workshop will take place on January 20, 2015, with more to follow shortly thereafter. Future plans include the development of specialized workshops devoted to specific practice areas and particular areas of interest for practicing lawyers. An online version of the JD Mentor workshops may also be available by the end of 2015. We are looking forward to serving our local legal community—and beyond—as we work to develop resources that respond to the challenges we have experienced in our own years of practice. We hope you will follow us in this journey. We look forward to meeting so many great lawyers this year! Happy 2015, and here’s to a fabulous year! Jen & Lynn Founders of JD...
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