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GPSolo eReport

GPSolo eReport September 2024

My Three-Step Daily Approach to Avoiding Burnout

Christopher Earley

Summary

  • Meditation has helped the author become a better parent, spouse, and lawyer.
  • Journaling gives him perspective when he needs a reminder of the fact that he is trending in the right direction in his career and in his personal life.
  • Militant time management helps him get more done in less time, which means he can work less, make more money, and experience less stress.
My Three-Step Daily Approach to Avoiding Burnout
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We lawyers have a lot of demands on our shoulders. We have clients, staff, opposing counsel, and judges who keep us all very busy and expect a great deal from us. Our bar card brings with it big responsibilities, and we are expected to spin many plates at the same time. Many of us also have families. There are only so many hours in the day to handle all our responsibilities. The pressure of being a lawyer is real, and sadly, our profession has a disproportionately high rate of anxiety, depression, addiction, and suicide compared to other professions. I come from a family riddled with addiction and even homelessness. As a result, I experienced trauma at a very young age. This brought with it a tendency to catastrophize everything. That way of thinking and looking at the world only became worse after I became an attorney because we are trained as lawyers to hunt for and expect problems. I was getting burned out for the first 15 years of my career as an attorney. A few years ago, I decided to prioritize my mental health so that I don’t crash and burn out from all the stress. Here are three ways that I intentionally structure my day so that this wonderful but very hard profession does not overwhelm me.

Meditation

If there is such a thing as a magic bullet, I found it in meditation. One morning three years ago, I was brushing my teeth, and, out of nowhere, it occurred to me that I had missed a statute of limitations. A violent lightning bolt of stress coursed through my body. My catastrophic brain immediately thought I was going to get sued and disbarred. That night, I decided to try meditation. Since then, I have never stopped meditating, and it has made me a much calmer person, as well as a more resilient lawyer. Meditation allows you to sit and observe that thoughts are constantly coming into and out of your head. However, we don’t have to attach to our thoughts. This allows us to become more grounded, mindful, and present. Meditation has helped me become a better parent, spouse, and lawyer. I encourage you to give it a try if you need to create some needed space for yourself. The key is to stick with it because that is how you start to see results.

Journaling

A few years ago, I also began journaling each morning. For me, this is just a few minutes each morning spent writing a paragraph or two about the day before. I record how the day went and how I felt during the day. The act of putting pen to paper is a daily habit that relaxes me. It also allows me to see my progress over time. That gives me perspective when I get discouraged and need a reminder of the fact that I am trending in the right direction in my career and my personal life. And, like meditation, it allows me to center myself in the present and be more mindful.

Time Management

I believe failing to manage one’s time as an attorney can potentially lead to burnout. The tactics I use to manage my time are calendar blocking, batching tasks, not taking unscheduled phone calls, hiring really good people, and delegating as much as possible. The better and more militant you manage your time, the less likely you are to experience overwhelm and burnout. What works really well for me is to think of my time as an investor. I ask myself, “Will this particular expenditure of my time bring me a good return on my investment?” This one approach alone has significantly improved my personal time management. When you get dialed in with your time management, you will get more done in less time, and that means you can work less and make more money. Perhaps most importantly, militant time management will substantially reduce your stress and will make you a happier and more fulfilled lawyer.

If you have other ideas and tips on how lawyers can prevent burnout, please email me at [email protected] and let me know because I’d love to connect with you.

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