The Essential Associate: Step Up, Stand Out, and Rise to the Top as a Young Lawyer by Jay Harrington

Author:Jay Harrington [Harrington, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-04T18:30:00+00:00

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THE PRACTICE OF LAW

An Essential Summary and Action Steps

1. If you want to become an Essential Associate and experience success over the long-term, you need to find some semblance of balance now, and not hope for it later. Otherwise, the job will own you instead of you owning your job. You can give everything to a legal career and achieve success (depending on what your definition of “success” is), but living a truly rich life requires a more balanced approach.

2. Think about your legal career the way top athletes think about theirs. They work in intervals, with bouts of intense training followed by periods of rest and recovery. This allows their bodies to adapt to the stress of exercise and grow stronger. The same is true of how you must work as a lawyer. It can’t be all intensity all of the time. If your goal is to make partner at a law firm some years from now, look ahead and figure out how to build time for recovery into your schedule. You need to take care of your mind and your body if you want them to function at the peak levels required to be a top performer. If you don’t, you’ll burn out.

3. As a busy, young lawyer, it’s easy to get into an unhealthy routine—

far easier than it is to get back into a healthy one. Schedule time for exercise. Prioritize sleep. Adopt a mindfulness practice. Not only will this improve your health, but it will improve your performance as well.

4. Limit your alcohol consumption, especially at networking and client events, which are anxiety-inducing environments. It’s easy to 121

THE ESSENTIAL ASSOCIATE

fall back on a few drinks to take the edge off, but if you consume too much, you’re setting yourself up for problems. Have a plan going in—set a two-drink limit for yourself.

5. A legal career can become all-encompassing if you let it. Find something—a hobby, interest, or activity—outside of the office and carve out time for it. Humans are creatures of habit, and if your habit is work, then it will become harder to break the habit as you progress in your career. When you find something you love outside of work, you’ll become more efficient and effective with your time in the office.

6. Don’t increase your stress, complicate your life, and reduce your options by overspending.

7. Take time to appreciate all of the hard work you’re putting in. Don’t expect anyone else to recognize your achievements, so be mindful of the progress you’re making, and celebrate your small wins.

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