People-ing

This year for the holidays, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about relationships and our interactions with other people in our lives. The holidays often conjure up tense emotions and thoughts about family members and friends. Rather than looking forward to spending time with those we love, we often spend time re-hashing old fights and salting old wounds. How to deal.

Fairy Tales and Happy Endings

Recently, I had a client ask me:  Have you ever had a client that achieves all their goals and is just living the dream and happy?

She wanted me to say
Yes! I have made her life a dream. I can solve
ALL of your problems too, I promise. I can make you happy. I can make your life
happy.

But that wasn’t the truth. There is no happy ending. There is no happily ever after.

Normalcy and Money

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the word “normal.” What is normal? Why do we care? Who decides what is normal?

How to Build Your Practice

When I was mid-level associate, I was recruited by another firm to build and chair a new practice group in my specialty. It was a huge task and brought with it some pretty monumental challenges. After a period of 6 years, I had successfully created a thriving practice group with three partners, an associate, summer clerks and a paralegal. Small, yes, but we took the firm from zero to millions of dollars in revenue in that practice area in just a few years. Because of that experience, young attorneys often sought me out for advice on how to build their own practice or niche.

The following are my ramblings for building a thriving practice. Take them as you will. Everyone’s experience will be different.

The Power of IDK

Why do people refuse to acknowledge when they don’t know something?

Because they are trying to manipulate you.

Hear me out.

Compensation and Ostriches. An Homage to Year-End

With the year-end coming up, our calendars are filled with year-end tasks and planning for next year. When I was a partner at a law firm, this time of year brought with it not only business planning and budgeting for my practice group but also planning and budgeting for me personally. This was the time of year that everyone started whispering and hosting hushed conversations behind closed doors. The topic?

Compensation.

Holi-daze

Why do we often reach for a glass of wine or another piece of cake when we are feeling stressed or had a bad day? Why is it so ingrained in our culture that having a glass of wine at the end of the day is how to best find relief from the day’s stress? 

Our Chaotic Lives

I started pursuing meditation as a means to find more peace in my work and home life. As any overachiever personality would do, I downloaded three meditation timers and ordered 10 meditation books and manuals. I wasn’t just going to meditate; I was going to be the BEST meditator. (Move over, Siddhartha.)

Other Humans – How to Deal

So many of our day-to-day problems and stressors all boil down to one nasty little word: SHOULD. I should be nicer to my spouse. I should answer my phone when my brother calls. My boss should be more appreciative of me. My husband should take out the trash. My parents should respect my approach to parenting. I am willing to wager that if each of us could cut that nasty word out of our lives and changed nothing else, we would be markedly happier.

Where do these “shoulds” come from?

Triage versus Prioritizing

For better or worse, most days spent in corporate legal practice start off with good intentions and big plans about all the things we will accomplish that day. Then the train derails and we spend most of the day “putting out fires” and ignoring all of those best laid plans. While some of this may be the result of real client emergencies, more often than not, there is no real emergency.