Everybody Has a Plan . . .
By Life as a lawyer can be a battle. Clients are demanding. Opposing counsel can be adversarial. And sometimes the greatest burden we carry is the one we put on ourselves: to work harder, be better, and achieve more. Years ago, I learned knowing how to practice law was not enough. In order to thrive – to be not only successful, but happy – a lawyer’s skill set had to include mental focus, and yes, professional vitality.
How do we do that in a profession filled with adversity and risk, where one slip can spell doom, both for your clients and your career? For the answer, indulge me in a lesson I learned from my past career as a journalist.
In the spring of 2016, I spent several weeks at the United States Naval Academy reporting a story about the boxing program there. Boxing is not only embedded in the culture of the Naval Academy, it’s a core requirement: all Midshipmen – male and female – are required to learn to box as soon as they arrive at Annapolis. Why? The Naval Academy uses boxing as a laboratory where they can put students in an environment of controlled stress forcing them to draw on their own resources and capabilities to think, strategize, and plan, all while withstanding an opponent trying to knock you down.
I’ve never boxed, but my time at the Naval Academy taught me the importance of having resources to tap into when adversity inevitably surfaces. For the past several years, one of those resources has been the Professional Vitality Committee. The name is a mouthful, but each year the members of the committee draw on our collective experiences at different stages of life and careers to promote health and vitality within our profession. We do that by publishing articles, producing Continuing Legal Education Programs, and maintaining our seminal guide, Retire? Reset? Reinvent? Planning for the Next Stage of Your Law Practice, to help lawyers with major career changes, including selling or winding down a practice.
Since its inception in 2019, the work the Committee produces has armed lawyers across the state with resources not only to develop and maintain their individual well-being, but also to find the fun and enjoyment of being a legal professional fighting through risk, stress, and anxiety to bring about what can be life-changing results for our clients’ lives.
As the great oracle and philosopher Mike Tyson once said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” While that doesn’t literally happen in our profession, I bet you’ve felt the figurative blow a few times. Having resources to draw on when that happens is critical to not only to withstanding that adversity, but also overcoming the fear of it happening again.
If that’s something that can help you, check out our resources, or join our cause. It’s our own version of the sweet science, but one that fortunately doesn’t require boxing gloves.