You would think that I had nothing good to say about the legal profession.
Not true.
You don’t spend nearly 20 years of your life committed to the cause for nothing.
But, in hindsight, I have to ask if I made the most of my time.
You will have detected a common theme if you have read this blog for any length of time. In order to change, become more successful and enjoy what you do, you have to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. In short, you have to go to work on your practice, and focus less on the process of doing the work.
Of course, it is easier said than done.
Any conditioning (dare I say brainwashing) is hard to break. Your success as you perceive it is governed by the numbers. But in the end that leaves you bereft. You just know that your potential is not being realised.
Planning for growth has become practically meaningless: who can predict the market?
But what of you?
How much time do you spend thinking about your career, your weaknesses or the bits of your practice that could be leveraged?
Partners are poor teachers. They direct their attention at repeating the past (let that sink in). They are not good at cultivating a habit of new.
If you want to make the most of your career, life and achieve a level of equanimity then you have go to work on your career.
Stand back for just a moment.
Ask yourself, what really floats my boat? And how do I achieve a situation where I am doing more of the stuff that will keep me sustained in the profession.
You will see at this time of year lots of planning posts, but planning for what? The same?
Over the next few weeks give yourself space to THINK. Keep a journal and start writing down whatever comes into your mind (you may want to keep this private right now). And see if a pattern emerges.
The purpose?
To explore what is really going on in your life, and to build a picture of what the near future holds for you (and your family).
It may not feel or look very different, but in this exercise you may just find the essence of you, and what you have to do to make more of your life, career and ability.
If all this sounds a bit ethereal, then fine but make sure in your thinking time that you understand that doing more of the same, no matter how hard you try, will not give you the fulfilment that you need.