A new year often starts with two different sets of intentions: personal resolutions (eating better, sleeping more, and exercising often top this list) and professional goals (bigger numbers, more originations, sharing your expertise on a wider platform). Starting with lists and a promise to get organized with all these efforts, your new year-fresh start plan often goes before you see the end of the first quarter. In addition, these two sets of intentions seemingly fight for your energy and attention: balance the great life with the great career. However, when you reframe the intentions to collectively support your desire to cultivate a healthy career (one that allows for building the thriving practice you want for the life you want to live now), you can launch into the new year with better habits that support both goals.
Cultivating a healthy career is one built for longevity. It is a strong practice that allows you to continue to expand your expertise and experience while nurturing thriving client relationships. It allows you to show up fully as yourself and use your days and time to maintain that coveted balance between professional achievements and your personal well-being.
There is one more thing that puts this whole plan into action. You must decide to start where you are right now. Waiting until you are organized, have earned enough (money, credibility, or time), and feel ready will most likely never happen. Consider this list of habits that are intended to balance your goals of maintaining your personal health, allowing time for work and personal endeavors, and strengthening your career for the long run:
Step one on the checklist starts with building not just a daily “take a breath” plan but learning how to use a power pause throughout your days. When you build in the capacity to pause and ground yourself with a deep breath or two between tasks, emails, priorities, and conversations, your ability to understand the right thing to tackle next will become more refined. A power pause creates the space to balance priorities, recognize when you need fuel or rest, and show up as your best self for client and colleague conversations. Start with one a day and grow from there.
When you think about this habit as knowing (and using) the tools and resources you have to help you do all of your work (at home and at the office) as efficiently and effectively as possible, it helps you get organized enough to get your priorities accomplished. We often get stuck in the quagmire of wanting our organization systems to be perfect before getting started in going after those big goals. The systems to consider might be your inbox management, synthesizing task lists, maintaining a balanced calendar, or tracking your networking efforts. The advanced level of this goal is making sure your tools work together and work for you. Everything else should be deleted, removed, or replaced. Focus on one tool each week.
Nothing sparks a heated conversation like talking about tracking your billable time. This year, instead of thinking of this as the dreaded work chore, make it a game. While this seems like the habit intended for a new attorney, it is often the habit that gets lost in the shuffle of a busy, thriving practice. Hit the reset button and make sure you are capturing your time each day to remember where you focused your energy. Use this data as a way to look back each week and notice where you spend your time and what you might want to change in the coming week.
If I were going to pick one strategy that does the most to cultivate a balanced practice, it would be setting the habit of engaging in consistent conversations. Note that these do not need to be strictly client conversations or those intended to generate business. When you engage with colleagues, your community, and clients consistently, providing reliable discussions and a more fluid engagement, you show up not only for opportunities but also to support (and to be supported). Start by making a list of 10 people who support you and your career and plan to reach out to one each day for the next two work weeks. Keep track of your conversations, and remember to follow up in the coming months.
The idea that everyone knows what you do and will call when they need you is using a “hopeful” strategy to manage your practice. In addition, the thought that you need to be out there each day sharing your expertise is too much to ask for in the midst of a thriving practice. This year, let’s balance this out by setting a specific goal of sharing your experience and expertise either once a month or once a quarter (depending on what’s appropriate for you and your practice). With a simple client alert, you can maximize the exposure by sharing on LinkedIn, in client conversations, and with colleagues wanting to cross-sell and collaborate on business development opportunities. To stay committed to this habit, take ten minutes to brainstorm the topics you want to focus on this year and calendar them according to the commitment you just made.
In a world where the lines between work and home continue to be blurred, it is critical to create a modern version of the commute to (or from) work. The drive time each day is used to allow you time to physically and mentally transition from different parts of your life and create the energy needed to focus on the next priorities. This happens when you have a playlist that transitions you to the next activity, a step away from the desk, or a “clean up party” that you do before walking away from work for time for family and friends at the end of each day. Pick one way you want to enter the workday and one way you want to recognize the end of the day. Practice this until you find the transition routine that supports you and your days. If you ask me, music is a great first start!
With all of these ideas and options to cultivate a strong, thriving practice that supports you and your whole life, it is important not to try and do all of this at once. Pick one habit to start right now before the year gets too far along. Layer one at a time, noticing how it impacts the other areas of your practice and how you can pace your work and priorities to create the 2025 you want and one that is worth celebrating throughout the year!
