Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/1161185
ingindex.sharecare.com/about/), includes five common elements people need to thrive: physical, social, community, pur- pose, and financial. Between you and you, how satisfied are you in the different areas of your life? Using the below circle of life exercise, place a dot close to the middle for low satisfaction and close to the outside of the circle for high satisfaction. Next. Create your daily practice. We'll be talking about this in depth in this season of our Lawyer Life Podcast, but you can start by simply deciding what your wellness goals are. What's one thing you want more of in your life? And one thing you want less of ? Create a daily practice of three five-minute rituals that create momentum in the direction you'd like to go, address- ing those specific goals at the start, middle and end of your day. For example, desiring less anxiety could mean diffusing an es- sential oil while you get ready for work, or meditating for five minutes before every- one is awake. Desiring more energy could mean getting on a supplement protocol, or changing your breakfast routine. De- siring more meaningful connection with your loved ones could mean calendering a 5-minute no distraction check in every day at the same time. You can't get it wrong, unless you don't start at all. at's it. Easy right? e trick is to do it, every day. What would happen if individual lawyers invested in themselves even a small portion of the dedication we invest in our clients and colleagues? We started working in the realm of well-being out of altruism, personal experi- ence, and for at least one of us, a persistent obsession with all things wellness (you can guess which one of us). We wanted better outcomes for ourselves, our colleagues, and our clients. So the more of you that are on board with what we're advocating here, the better. We would rather you not experience a crisis to trigger this process. It's possible. You have a law practice. You're going to need a wellness practice too. Wellness is unquestionably mainstream – it's everywhere we look: consumer goods, me- dia, the corporate world, and yes, even in law. At many law firms and law schools, wellness is now baked in to the programming. e stats on lawyer wellness don't seem to be changing, though. Anecdotal evidence abounds (https://lawandstyle.ca/law/cov- er-story-the-mental-health-crisis-in-law/), despite years of attempts to catalyze a shi. is stagnation in the legal industry can make efforts to improve on the high rate of maladies amongst lawyers seem futile. Aer all, the billable hour still reigns, right? Given the importance to law firms of human capital, and the strikingly high in- cidence of physical and mental illness in the profession, it would make good sense for law firms to become the gold standard when it comes to cultivating well-being in the workplace. Although those efforts are underway, the reality is that there is only so much an organization can do when it comes to something as personal as wellbe- ing. So, we want to add to the conversation in a way that doesn't put all of the owner- ship for this issue on the professional devel- opment folks, who have been doing most of the heavy liing here to date. We acknowl- edge that there's a varied level of commit- ment across organizations, systemic ques- tions about the law firm business model, and evolving career choices for lawyers. It would make good sense for law firms to become the gold standard on well-being in the workplace Next stop on the wellness shift: You But, the necessary shi isn't going to happen even with the best wellness pro- grams - yet. Why? ere's a big fat missing piece. It's us. It's you. It's likely easier to con- vince most lawyers to buy a $50 water bottle than to take three deep breaths a day. Why? A few reasons: 1) We showed up like this. We're high achievers who care about success and are ac- customed to external validation. 2) When we add high pressure, work vol- ume, fierce competition, and financial pres- sure, it's recipe for stress - both physical and mental. 3) Personal growth, particularly to people whose existing strategies are "working" (e.g. lawyers are high functioning/successful) is difficult. It can seem slow, futile, and self- indulgent. But individual changes are easier to make than organizational ones, and they are an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to evolving as a professional community. Daily practices that are shockingly small can have an immediate impact on wellbe- ing, and an even greater cumulative effect. We offer two simple exercises, the only requirement being to start where you're at. First, take stock of your wellness holis- tically. Health, according to the Gallup- Sharecare wellbeing index (https://wellbe- By Darlene Tonelli By Rachel Schipper COLUMNS "YOU HAVE A LAW PRACTICE. YOU'RE GOING TO NEED A WELLNESS PRACTICE TOO". 16 LEXPERT MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2019