Doing Well in a Bad Economy

The key to success in a downturn is to be flexible. You may be a great technician in your particular practice area; but if the marketplace does not need your services, then you better be ready to adapt.

Are You Addicted to Success?

That's a diagnosis offered in today's WSJ (subscription req.) Maybe our culture puts too much emphasis on professional achievement.

While there is nothing wrong in striving for high levels of achievement, the problem arises when achievement becomes your principal source of self esteem. And in the current economic climate, it is easy to NOT be successful.

If you haven't been laid off, your workload may be slow. If your plate is full, maybe your colleagues are not that busy. If you are responsible for generating work at your firm, you are probably finding it harder to generate billings (unless you happen to be involved in providing legal services that relate in some way to advising distressed companies or individuals).

In the long run, I think the current economic crisis will force more lawyers to reevaluate their priorities (e.g. why did I go to law school? what do I really want to do with my life? how can I use the added free time to improve my relationships with my friends, children, spouse and family?) I've long believed that striving for balance is important in both good times and bad. I've written about this many times including a piece I called Striving for Professional Mediocrity.

Personally, I've rediscovered cooking and my wife and I are eating better. I spend more time with our children, our dog gets more exercise, I'm following up with old friends more frequently and I'm taking care of little annoying car and house related projects that have been on the back burner for a long time. It's not that I'm not working hard (in many ways, I'm focusing more energy than ever on identifying business opportunities). But I'm trying to focus more on other parts of my life to derive self esteem.

Yesterday, I played a great squash match. So what are you doing to build self esteem during these challenging times? Hint: focus on areas of your life where you have more control!

Don't Repress Your Feelings

My BCG colleagues and I have been trying to offer suggestions to help lawyers get through the current recession. For some tips that we have all missed, here is my latest post on BCG's Lateral Attorney Report.

Be Successful at Something

I am pleased to report that CounseltoCounsel has been selected again for the ABA's Blawg 100 (the top 100 websites by lawyers, for lawyers as determined by the editors of the ABA Journal). If you would like to vote for CounseltoCounsel for best in the Careers category, please click here and scroll down.

Things have been pretty slow in the recruiting business these last few months. For me, blogging has been a way to feel successful at something that I enjoy. It was nice to be recognized by the ABA particularly at a time when my work has slowed considerably.

If your work has slowed down or if you are unfortunate enough to be in the job market already, it is easy to fall into a depressed stupor. But keeping a positive attitude is important as you look for work (or while you ride out a slow down in your department). One way to keep up your spirits is to make sure to carve out time to do something you enjoy.

There are many ways to do this. What is most important is that you find ways to reinforce your own self worth by doing something and being successful at it. For some, this might be doing volunteer work (helping the homeless, providing pro bono legal services to an arts organization). For others, it might be playing music with friends, writing poetry, visiting museums, reading spy novels, running or playing tennis.

For me, it is spending time with my children (I really enjoy cheering them on when they play sports or perform in a play or concert). And it is also writing this blog. So go do something that you enjoy and be successful at it. Your success may not necessarily put food on the table; but it will feed your ego and ensure that you keep a positive outlook when it is most important to project optimism.

Finding Opportunity in Times of Trouble

Lawyers have a tendency to see a glass that is half empty. It is a useful trait if you want to be a good manager of risk. But it can be crippling at a time when change is in the air. If you are finding yourself focusing too much on bad economic news and simply waiting for "the inevitable", here are some suggestions from a sales trainer on how to get out of a mindset of negativity. While these suggestions are aimed at anyone who has to sell for a living, they have great relevance for lawyers.

My favorite suggestion is "2. Hang around with people who think differently". If you find that everyone around you is passively waiting for more work to land on their desk (i.e. because the market for legal services "stinks" right now), then maybe it is time to hang out with other associates. Group negativity is contagious and if you are not careful, it is easy to join in the collective the collective chorus of whining.