Last week we talked about small changes. Now it’s time to talk about BIG, MAJOR CHANGES. This means changing careers, partners, life style, friends, or just about any scarey, major decision that you are facing.
Everyone who has lived any kind of life has had to face a major change. Remember how afraid you were to go from grammar school to middle school? then to high school? We faced each change with some degree of dread and excitement. Now that we are all grown up we would like to face change with more excitement than dread when a change is in order. But how do we do that?
Well, I certainly don’t have all the answers, but a great part of my job as a coach is to ease lawyers through major changes in their careers and lives. For instance, one of the most dramatic shifts come when the lawyer has found that they are not practicing the kind of law that makes him or her happy and contented. It is even harder to face this kind of change when the wrong area of law for that attorney is making good money.
Someone who doesn’t like to speak in public or go to court should not be a trial lawyer. An attorney that hates detail should not try to fit themselves into tax law or even wills and probate. So how does the attorney find out about what would need to change to make them more content?
*Taking the Myers-Briggs Temperament tests can tell someone a lot about what is their natural inclination towards the type of work that would make them happy.
- Or the attorney can look very closely at what classes in law school they loved and what they hated.
- Taking a close inventory of the present practice can lead to ideas how it might be changed to better suit the attorney.
- Visualizing is a great technique for this kind of change. The lawyer can cook up a scene of exactly what he or she would like to be doing every day and see if any other area of law fits this.
Then comes the BIG DECISION. The question becomes how to go about making this change. Careful planning and marshaling the resources is the next step.
This is only one Big Change that an attorney might encounter. How about when he or she needs to change their life style? What is drugs and alcohol are draining his or her energy and creating a life that is not what they imagined. This is where a great support group of friends can be helpful. What, then, will make certain that this BIG CHANGE can happen?
LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT NEXT WEEK…..CAN YOU THINK OF ANY AREA THAT YOU NEED TO MAKE A BIG CHANGE. IF SO, SHARE IT OR AT LEAST, WRITE IT DOWN. WHO KNOWS, YOU MIGHT JUST MAKE THAT DECISION TO CHANGE!