Scroll down to read along with the imperfect transcript
This episode promises to be a game-changer for legal professionals seeking a healthier, more successful, and fulfilling career. Listen in to discover the secrets to thriving in your legal career.
As a leader in the legal wellness movement, I’m excited to share insights that will transform your approach to work and life. In this episode, we delve into the critical link between sleep, ethics, and success in the legal field.
Key Takeaways from the Episode
1. Sleep is Your Superpower: Learn why quality sleep is the key to unlocking your full potential as a legal professional.
2. Strategic Breaks for Maximum Performance: Uncover the Australian study-backed strategy for boosting productivity with just 5 minutes of unstructured breaks.
3. Wellness Beyond Workouts: Explore a holistic approach to wellness that goes beyond physical activity, focusing on sleep, sustenance, sports, and sustainable emotional exchanges.
4. Breaking the Stress Cycle: Understand how to break free from the stress cycle ingrained in legal training and create a life that’s both successful and joyful.
5. Legal Defense Starts with Self-Care: Gain insights into why a good night’s sleep is your best defense against burnout, unreasonable clients, and opposition in the legal world.
Select Quotes from the Episode
“You can’t think properly without sleep. You can’t argue properly without sleep. You can’t write properly without sleep. You can’t speak properly without sleep.”
“The best defense you have against opposing counsel is literally to get a good night’s rest.”
“This is what I do every single day, helping lawyers create structures and routines and lives that can be joyful and thriving – and sleep is most often the first step.”
Your Next Step
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Imperfect Transcript from this Episode
Alright, so let’s talk about what we came here to talk about: why you can never be ethical when you’re tired and exhausted. When we’re sworn in, we take an oath. YOU took an oath. That you’ll conduct yourself at all times with fairness, integrity, and civility. Well, when you’re exhausted, that can’t possibly happen. Your temper will flare, you’ll let someone get under your skin, and you’ll show up in the exact opposite way you want to show up. You won’t be able to be a competent and ethical attorney, because you won’t be your most well.
Our word is our BOND. And if we’re not taking care of ourselves, getting enough sleep and rest, making sure our sustenance and nutrition and hydration are up to snuff, moving our bodies each day even if it’s not a specific sport per se or for hours each day, and ensuring we are nurturing and protecting our sustainable emotional exchanges – that S.E.X. that we really need to be emotionally whole – we’re asking for trouble.
First things first, let me just say that the ONE single most important thing you can do for your health is SLEEP. If you haven’t read the book, “Why We Sleep” yet, then I highly encourage you to grab it. I’ll link it in the show notes. You have no idea what your brain and body needs from you. You can’t think properly without sleep. You can’t argue properly without sleep. You can’t write properly without sleep. You can’t speak properly without sleep.
Sleep is the KEY to your health. And when we talk about wellness, most people talk about sports and moving your body, and yes, that’s important but it doesn’t have to be all at once. In fact, there was an Australian study done recently that just 5 minutes of an unstructured break every 20 minutes actually helps you think better and perform better. And this is one of the tools I teach my clients, about how you structure your days, how you time block and manage your time and energy. So you can perform at your very best. And when we’re exhausted, when we’re tired, we are not at our best. And we know this intellectually, of course, but emotionally, we won’t do it. Why? Because we fear failure, rejection, judgment, being ostracized or told we’re lazy or not meeting expectations (remember those from episode 2?) … when you’re not taking care of yourself, your reputation precedes you – you’re tired and exhausted, and so you are easy to win over in court, or easy to bully into giving in. The best defense you have against opposing counsel is literally to get a good night’s rest. The nature of the practice can be so overwhelming (so much paperwork, constant opposition, unreasonable clients) and no, we can’t change people, and I don’t know that those things can change, but YOU can change in how you respond to those outside factors. You can try to turn it off as much as possible as soon as you walk out of the office, but if you’re exhausted, it will catch up with you. You will burn out. And hten you’re going ot be in worse shape than when you started. You know this, intellectually. That’s not the problem. We learned how to stress in Law School – it taught us to stay up late, be the best, be ultra-competitive and excel even at the expense of your health. But you can break that cycle. You don’t have to be so stressed that you have horrible tension headaches and feel stressed and lethargic and zone out.
There was a longitudinal study in Britain a while back, where they determined that people who got 7 hours or less of sleep each night – NOT ON AVERAGE, BUT EACH NIGHT – were substantially more likely to develop early onset dementia and Alzheimer’s. And I know you don’t want that diagnosis, so the easiest thing you can do TODAY is to start sleeping more. I personally get 9-10 hours a day – not a night, necessarily, because often, I will nap during the day for 20-30 minutes – and if I sleep 8, 8 and a half hours, then I can add to my rest during the day. Now, if you’re one of those lovely people who say they can’t nap, or there’s no time for naps, I’ve got a workaround for you – just let me know and I can help you work around that, okay?
Sooooo, sleep. Sustenance. Sports. And S.E.X. – sustainable emotional exchanges. Focus first on SLEEP – add 15 minutes to your sleep TONIGHT – get into bed 30 minutes earlier, let yourself rest before you get tired. Don’t wait until you’re exhausted, because that will get you wide eyes as soon as you turn off the lights and a wake up call at 3 am staring at the ceiling. It’ll take a while to get into a rhythm, but your brain needs that sleep every single night. Trying to catch up on sleep over the weekends will NOT repair the damage of not sleeping properly every night. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This is what I do every single day, helping lawyers create structures and routines and lives that can be joyful and thriving – and sleep is most often the first step.