Whether you’re here because confidence is something you’ve been struggling with, or whether confidence is something you feel is inherent to who you are and often take for granted, this is a topic that runs central to our professional work and personal lives, and it’s a core skill that we can all benefit from improving. 

 

If you were to bridge the confidence gap between where you are now and where you could be, you would make powerful decisions, carry yourself differently, do things you’ve been holding yourself back from doing, and create even greater impact through your work. And this is a possibility I’m inviting you to entertain this week.

 

Busyness is an interesting topic. As a lawyer, I guarantee you’ve experienced feeling busy. In fact, busyness is a comfortable trap people in all kinds of industries have fallen into. It may feel uncomfortable to be busy in the moment, but so many of us wear it like a badge of honor because it means we have stuff going on and it makes us feel important, which naturally we all love.

 

However, while being busy is not only socially acceptable but often openly encouraged, behind this life of busyness are lots of little excuses and benefits that keep us trapped in a cycle of busy that allows us to ignore other areas of our life. So, even if you’re not actively trying to address how busy you are, it’s important to see how the side effects are showing up in your life.

 

In a profession like law where we’re so reliant on our cognitive function to advocate for other people, and so much value is placed on productivity over self-care, it can feel like there’s no space for mental health practices that take care of your brain. If you feel like this seems woo-woo and that there’s no place for it in your practice, you’re not alone, and I think you’ll feel differently by the end of this episode.

 

Alysia Davies is a lawyer with 10 years of legal experience, having practiced as a civil litigator and clerked for the Chief Justice of Federal Court here in Canada. She’s since made the transition to becoming a registered social worker and counselor through The Member Assistance Program, which serves all lawyers, paralegals, students, and judges, and she’s here to raise awareness of how mental health is showing up in your practice, and how to advocate for your brain health. 

 

In the work that I do with lawyers, boundaries is a topic that comes up all the time, especially around saying no. I’m sure you can think of a time in your professional or personal life when you’ve said yes to something and then immediately regretted it. Maybe you knew you didn’t want to say yes, you weren’t committed or attached to the project, or perhaps you were already overworked, but you said yes, and now you harbor some resentment.

 

Saying no can feel incredibly uncomfortable, so I’m giving you some ideas you can use going forward next time you’re asked to take part in something you’d really prefer to say no to, without worrying about burning any bridges along the way.

 

I met this week’s guest five years ago when she handed me a business card and told me she was setting up shop. What she’s achieved since then is incredible, so if you’re a lawyer who knows you’re destined for more, you need to listen to my interview with Sara Forte. She’s walking us through her journey and all the pivots she had to make to create a work life she loves.

 

After many years of traditional law practice, in 2016 Sara launched Forte Workplace Law, a boutique labour and employment firm that has grown from a solo practice to a team of 14. In 2021, Sara launched Not Your Average Law Job™, an online project shining a light on happy lawyers and their wild and wonderful legal practices. I loved this conversation, and I know you’re going to love it too.

 

The culture many of us live in values productivity over rest. We learn this from our family of origin, from law school, and from the organizations we work with and for. But, if you’re like many of my clients, prioritizing work over intentional rest doesn’t actually make you more productive. It just leads to burnout.

 

How can you show up as your best professional self while still honoring your personal needs? Contrary to what we’re taught, you don’t have to choose one over the other. You can incorporate intentional rest into your day-to-day and show up as your best self as a lawyer. 

 

I’m always looking for new ways to help you style a career that works for you. So, whether that means going down a different path as a lawyer, starting a private practice, or moving out of law altogether, my guest on today’s show has some valuable and unique insights to share about this process of developing a career that works for you.

 

My guest this week is Estelle Winsett, a lawyer turned Director of Professional Development, but she also happens to wear multiple other hats, figuratively and literally. She is a style coach, a mother, she comes from a family of lawyers, and she’s curated her own career with intention, creativity, and courage, and we’re talking about all of those things.

 

This week’s episode is in celebration of milestones in both my personal and professional life. I’m turning 45 in a few days, and this time of year also marks five years since I first decided to move away from a traditional legal practice to start my coaching practice. Whether you too are looking to make a transition, or you’re hoping to find more joy and fulfillment in your life and career, this episode is for you.

 

The last five years have made for so many incredible stories I could share with you based on my personal experience, my professional transformations, and the wins my clients have experienced from our work together. While I can’t cover all of it in one podcast episode, I’m distilling the top five lessons that I think are important to keep in mind while you’re building your practice and thinking about your future. 

 

As you know, this podcast is all about helping you find joy in your practice. The true secret here is falling in love with the process of reaching your goals, which sounds great on paper, but is realistically hard to do when we’re swept up in the daily hustle and bustle of our lives both inside and outside of our careers.

 

I know you’re here because you want to find more fulfillment and create meaning and impact through your work. This requires tapping into your internal motivations and getting into a creative, purposeful, and confident state as you work towards your goals. I know you want to feel excited and motivated about the trajectory of your future, and to do all of that, casting a compelling vision of it is essential. 

 

Do you ever feel like you’re not in the right job? Are you in a high-coveted position you thought you wanted, one that you worked so hard for, where you’ve got through the initial growing pains, and yet, instead of feeling accomplished or satisfied, you find yourself feeling increasingly out of place?

 

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and a question I hear frequently from my clients. Like any profession, we want to feel excited to get started and involved in our work. But what I’m seeing often is lawyers whose jobs feel heavy or bring up dread. They’re familiar with their work and have solid relationships in place, but they find themselves feeling disengaged or uninterested, and they start wondering what’s wrong with them.