In preparation for the New Associate trainings I’ve been conducting across the country, we survey partners at each firm to find out what junior attorneys do that makes them great additions, and what they do that frustrates supervising attorneys.
Something I have been seeing consistently from these survey results is that associates are missing deadlines more than ever before.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why in our post-pandemic world there is so much procrastination happening at work, resulting in work products being delivered late.
What I’ve come up with is that many attorneys are worrying instead of working.
Shockingly, when I’ve done polls during virtual Well-Being and Time Management trainings asking associates how much time they spend worrying, many report that it’s 3-4 hours each day!
After reading the 2018 ABA’s National Task Force on Lawyer Well-being report, I enrolled in an 11-month wellness coaching program. I conducted my first Well-being Training in January of 2020. The need for this kind of training skyrocketed during the pandemic and kept me very busy.
But the need is still there, and maybe even greater.
Hearing how much time associates spend worrying is truly heartbreaking. My goal is to teach them how to turn worry-time into work and well-being time.
I’m currently redesigning our Well-being Training to include:
- How to identify the source of their worry-time. For example, are they procrastinating because of perfectionistic tendencies, listening to their inner critic or distracting themselves with social media? Being aware of what their go-to worry-time activities are will be the first step towards trading them in for work time and well-being time.
- How to take proactive ownership over their well-being. I created a list of 18 well-being actions they can choose from to grow the internal reserves that are needed when they don’t feel in control and are most likely to start worrying.
- A self-assessment so they can gain insight into whether they are a Prover or Achiever. A Prover is motivated by fear—fear of failure, fear of not measuring up, and fear of not being seen as successful. As a result, Provers find themselves in a never-ending cycle of doing more, being very hard on themselves, and worrying.
I’m deeply passionate about providing insights and practices to help our valued talent trade in worry-time for work and well-being time so they can thrive, not just survive.
I welcome your thoughts as to what you think is most needed to support your attorneys’ well-being.