How to achieve better work-life balance as a lawyer
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Start making more time for yourself and your family by building balance into your home with these tips: Turn off. At the end of your workday, mute your notifications and disconnect. Use this time to be present with your... Take care of yourself. Health and happiness are the foundation for lawyer ...
Feb 28, 2022 · How to achieve better work-life balance as a lawyer Think about your personal and professional goals. The individualistic nature of lawyer work-life balance makes your... Be true to your personal and professional needs. Perhaps you’ve identified that you work better at home. Or maybe the... Build a ...
Jan 19, 2022 · Optimize your work schedule. Get up early, do most of your work in the morning, and then go out in the afternoon, when... Identify the things that bring you joy. Do these things on an everyday basis, and don’t let whatever or absolutely... …
Mar 19, 2019 · Paths to Better Work-Life Balance Telecommuting, flextime, part-time, and job sharing are four different alternative work arrangement options that have been implemented in firms across the nation. Telecommuting involves allowing attorneys to choose a couple of days out of the week to work from home.
Being a Lawyer Pros | Being a Lawyer Cons |
---|---|
Lawyers can earn really good money | Lawyers often work long hours |
Being a lawyer implies excellent career options | Stress can be enormous |
Lawyers can work in many different jobs | Being a lawyer may affect your family life |
The Cambridge Dictionary defines work-life balance as “the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy. ”.
Lawyers are notorious for their long hours and demanding workload. Our 2018 Legal Trends Report found that 75% of lawyers frequently or always work outside of business hours, and 39% of lawyers say that those extended hours have taken a toll on their personal lives.
Time outside of work and the office tend to be spent preparing for a trial, commuting, caring for children or other dependents, waiting to be called at a motion calendar, and more. You’ll quickly realize that your personal time will no longer feel like your own—and it’s not enough.
Making time for self-care can minimize the effects of lawyer burnout. While self-care will look different for everyone, getting adequate sleep, eating nutritious foods, and movement are essential elements in taking care of yourself. Taking time away from work is also necessary.
Numerous studies have revealed that mindfulness and meditation can reduce anxiety and rewire your brain’s “fight or flight” responses, allowing you to remain grounded in stressful situations.
The prevalence of mental health and substance abuse issues are well documented in the legal industry. Numerous studies have revealed that mindfulness and meditation can reduce anxiety and rewire your brain’s “fight or flight” responses, allowing you to remain grounded in stressful situations. With regular practice, you can gain the skills to cross-examine negative thoughts, think more positively, and operate from a clear, centered place.
Let’s face it, a big part of the destruction of the work/life balance in the legal profession is because of smartphones and constant connectivity. At this point, you might be rolling your eyes thinking that if it were up to you, you would gladly get rid of the stupid machine. But it’s not up to you.
If you have to devote most of your time to your law practice, you need to be wise about how you spend the rest of it. Also, there is a point at which your time becomes more valuable than your money.
This tip might seem counterintuitive. If you are already pressed for time, how will a longer commute help? While the commute might be longer, biking to work can actually save you time overall—and help you get in shape too.
The problem is that law school embeds a “no boundaries” mindset about the practice of law. Big exam tomorrow? Big load of assignments? Work until the wee hours, pull all-nighters and take amphetamines to keep going. Then go out for some celebratory, stress-relieving drinks afterward.
Successful lawyers learn new ways to operate their firms so they can keep building their practices while having (or recovering) a life.
Most lawyers are cheap. They have a cash-flow mentality: “We can’t afford that.” They think of cost first and desired result … well, rarely. So even as they address any one of these six steps, they will tend to reduce their decision to the lowest — or cheapest — level.
For the past 25 years, I’ve been deeply invested in showing lawyers how to create better practices and lower their levels of pain and frustration. I share the detailed advice on how to implement those six steps for success, here.
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Here are the top 8 habits that destroy work-life balance for lawyers, and some tips for bringing your life back into harmony: 1. Being Disorganized. Success in legal is about being productive —but productivity drops drastically when you are disorganized.
A good work-life balance can increase productivity, create a happier work environment, lower absenteeism, and increase the overall health of employees.
As a whole, legal professionals are intelligent, ambitious, assertive, and creative types who understand the importance of working hard. They don’t sit around waiting for an opportunity to knock—they chase it. Many in the legal field strive to earn the best assignments and hustle to land the best cases.
Oftentimes when employees get overworked or stressed, they turn to unhealthy eating and sleeping habits —these habits will only worsen the situation. Do what you can to limit your intake of things like alcohol, fast-food, caffeine, and other unhealthy things that often accompany stressful situations.
The average American checks their phone 96 times every day. That’s a 20% increase from just 2 years ago, and the trend is only expected to rise. The average worker checks their email 36 times every hour.