Page 18 - January 2020 BarJournal

EXTRA FEATURE

READY SET GOAL!

HOW TO RESTRUCTURE YOUR 2020 GOALS TO FIND

PEACE AND BALANCE IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW AND
AVOID ETHICAL ISSUES, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION

BY NATALIE THOMAS

2020 is upon us and everyone is talking about can help you to avoid depression, anxiety, and job, without a thought for the right job. The push
New Year’s resolutions. While we all may have even ethical issues. to please partners and try to fit in more work
some personal goals to improve something Why do so many people fail at their goals? despite exhaustion. All of these pressures can
outside of our careers, it is important that we all So many of us hear everyone talking about their cause us to act without first thinking of what we
take this time and re-address our 2020 business resolutions or goals that sound like this: “Get truly need to do. If you don’t have an end goal in
and career goals. We all spent a lot of time and more paying clients,” “Get a job,” “Spend more mind, you will make crucial mistakes.
energy achieving big goals of going to law school time with my family in 2020,” “Settle more cases”
and passing the bar. Those steps were laid out for ... and so on. These goals are well-intended but Setting EPIC goals
you, now it’s up to you to lay out the goals and terrible goals; they leave us asking how? Why? What exactly do you do to avoid all the pitfalls of
steps for the rest of your career. When? Just as good goals can help you avoid the common January resolution and goal setting
If you failed to meet your goals in 2019 or depression and ethical issues, a bad goal can buzz? In short, set better goals!
your energy to accomplish them didn’t even last motivate us to cut corners, have less effective But first, you have to take time to pause and
through January, you have to restructure how you marketing, work too quickly on cases, fail to consider what it is you truly want to achieve in
set goals in order to see any significant change for put the time in that we need, or take a job that 2020. You have a blank canvas to craft the year
2020. The reality is that as solo practice attorneys, is wholly misfit with our long term career goals. and successes you really want to achieve. To do
young lawyers, or even lawyers in medium to Young lawyers fall prey to poor goals very this, take some time to try to clear your mind and
large firms, goals are the key to avoiding so many frequently. The push for young solos to open a consider exactly what you want to be feeling at this
problems we face as attorneys. You have to set law firm, do more than a year before, and grow time in 2021. If you need help with this feel free to
effective goals and execute on them. Setting great their practice is high. The anxiety a newly barred reach out to me. Once you know exactly what you
goals and breaking them down into action steps attorney feels when they just really need to get a want, use that as a basis for your great goal.

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