We have all heard the saying, “A lawyer’s time and advice are his stock and trade.” Nothing could be truer. Keeping track of our time and placing value on that time in the marketplace is the practice of law. Time is a finite resource, and how we use it is an important indicator of our priorities. In this short article, I want to share my thoughts about how developing a new relationship with time through consistent mindfulness practice can radically change your life for the better.
Lawyers are notoriously detail-oriented, high-performance people who set goals, achieve them, and then move on to the next one. Some of us have been mindless in fashioning our careers such that we rarely get to do exactly what we want to do each day. There are so many distractions, shiny objects, and things that can take us away from our purpose. We have an endless list of things to do, clients who have high expectations of us, and people who tread on our boundaries. Sometimes, we don’t know how to say no. The train is moving so fast that we often don’t know how to slow it down. The high levels of stress reported by members of the profession and the number of lawyers leaving the law are evidence of this unfortunate fact.
The practice of mindfulness offers one way to free yourself from the destructive obsession with busyness. You will gain more energy, more focus, more patience, more concentration, better sleep, and more bandwidth to deal with your client’s problems daily and find satisfaction in life.
I’ve come up with seven strategies to integrate mindful practices into time management and lead you to greater productivity and overall well-being. Try them all or just one or two and explore the concepts to get yourself out of the busy rut and really start enjoying each day deeply. Each strategy has a premise, practices, and benefits. Make them yours.
1. Shift from Time Management to Energy Management
Premise
Traditional time management focuses on squeezing more tasks into the day, but it doesn’t account for the natural ebbs and flows of your energy levels. Mindfulness encourages you to work with your energy, optimizing productivity during peak times and resting during low-energy periods.
Practices
- Mindful breaks. Instead of powering through work until exhaustion, incorporate mindful breaks to recharge. For example, if you notice your energy dipping in the afternoon, take a ten-minute walk outside or practice deep breathing to reset.
- Energy mapping. Start your day with a quick body scan meditation to assess your energy levels. Use this information to plan your day. For instance, schedule demanding tasks such as drafting legal briefs or strategizing in the morning when your focus is sharpest and reserve administrative work for afternoons when your energy naturally wanes. If you are all out of empathy by 3:00 pm, don’t meet clients after 3:00 pm—just do other tasks.
Benefits
By aligning your work with your natural energy cycles, you enhance your efficiency and effectiveness, ultimately leading to increased productivity and a more balanced relationship with time.
2. Reframe Stress as a Time Thief
Premise
Stress and anxiety consume mental bandwidth, slowing down your thought processes and clouding judgment. This often leads to procrastination or inefficient work, robbing you of valuable time.
Practices
- Mindful meditation. Dedicate ten minutes in the morning to a mindfulness practice that focuses on breath awareness. For instance, before starting your workday, sit quietly, close your eyes, and take deep breaths, focusing on the sensation of air entering and leaving your body. This can set a calm tone for the day and reduce the reactive patterns that stress creates.
- Mindful transitions. Use mindful breathing during transitions between meetings or tasks to reset. For example, if you just finished a tense client call, take a few deep breaths before jumping into your next task. This helps prevent the stress created by one task from bleeding into the next.
Benefits
By mitigating stress, you can approach each task with a clear and focused mind, reducing errors, enhancing decision-making, and saving time that would otherwise be lost to anxiety-driven distractions.
3. Increase Focus with Mindful Task Management
Premise
Multitasking divides your attention and reduces efficiency. Mindfulness teaches single-tasking, allowing you to complete tasks faster and with higher quality.
Practices
- Mindful task batching. Group similar tasks together to maintain a consistent mental flow. For example, batch all your client emails and respond to them in one dedicated, 30-minute block rather than interrupting your workflow throughout the day.
- Focused work blocks. Work for 25 minutes, then spend five minutes doing a short mindfulness exercise such as stretching, mindful breathing, or simply looking away from your screen and focusing on something in your office that brings you calm, such as a plant or a piece of art. I use the walks down to the restroom and interactions with the neighbors in my building to build in some little breaks during the day.
Benefits
Lawyers often face complex tasks that require deep focus. By minimizing context switching, you stay deeply engaged in your work, leading to higher productivity and fewer mistakes.
4. Cultivate Presence to Enhance Client Relationships
Premise
Being fully present during interactions improves communication and builds trust, preventing time-wasting misunderstandings and creating stronger professional relationships. Learning to be honest about your expectations and what you can and can’t do for clients is a huge benefit to both of you.
Practices
- Pre-meeting mindfulness. Before meeting with a client, spend a minute closing your eyes, taking deep breaths, and setting the intention to be fully present. This brief mindfulness check-in helps you to enter the meeting with focus and an open mind.
- Active listening. Practice mindful listening by giving your full attention to the person speaking without planning your response while they talk. For example, in a deposition, this attentiveness can help you catch nuances in testimony that you might otherwise miss.
Benefits
Presence leads to more effective communication, fewer misunderstandings, and better outcomes in negotiations and client relationships, ultimately saving time and boosting client satisfaction.
