You are the best in the world at something. No other person has lived your life, acquired your skills, has your talents, or is capable of delivering your unique formula to the world.
For a little help with direction, I joyfully offer the following four books: The Art of Work, Pivot, Body of Work, and Life After Law.
Be prepared for your career anxiety to melt away. Immersing yourselves in these masterpieces will make you answer the deep questions, and will prod you to analyze your skills, talents, passion, and purpose.
I’m ecstatic to see that my fire to improve burns hotter than ever. I’m grateful to have learned the myriads of directions that other lawyers have taken to beautifully apply their law degrees, both inside and outside of the law. The last thing we should feel is trapped. Our core skills of analysis, advocacy, counseling, and research are ridiculously transferable to any life pursuit. These skills are a massive, competitive advantage, if leveraged properly.
I find extreme joy in helping other lawyers find slightly different angles to maximize their potential. It’s because I’m experiencing the same journey myself. And I’ve put more than the “10,000 hours” into my practice to make me qualified to discuss this. Even if I hadn’t put in the 10,000 hours, I’d still provide you with value. And that’s all that matters. I love the law, and will never leave it. Nor do I anticipate ever leaving my wonderful consumer practice, which took me a decade to build. But it’s time for massive improvement—a reinvention perhaps—in order to make the greatest, positive impact.
Lawyers are such good thinkers and researchers; It would be supremely unfortunate to neglect these skills when it comes to creating our own body of work.
Speaking of “body of work,” I share the below quote taken from Body of Work, authored by Pamela Slim:
"We are made to create. We feel useful when we create. We release our “stuckness” when we create. We reinvent our lives, tell new stories, and rebuild our communities when we create. We reclaim our esteem, our muse, and our hope when we create.
It is why your particular work mode does not matter. If you are creating something of value and personal meaning, does it really matter if you are self-employed, freelancing, or employed by a corporation or nonprofit?
The act of creating is what sets us free, what gives our life meaning. And it is what will put us back on our personal and collective path to greatness."
For me, reading and creating informational content has rescued me from the mental anguish caused by career anxiety. And it just so happens that those are the skills that have distinguished me in the first place. We’re all taking different roads in our journeys of becoming. Some roads zig zag. Some are circles. Some are temporary dead ends. They are all fine as long as we keep our eyes open and arrive our intended destination: our best selves.