Self-doubt appears all the time for the lawyers I work with. And for myself personally, entering into a new phase in my practice is bringing up some of the feelings we’re discussing today. So if self-doubt is something you are dealing with, you’re in the right place.

When we set out to create something new or take on a new job, even when we’re feeling inspired, it can be a terrifying experience. We’re transitioning into something unfamiliar, there’s risk involved, and this can lead to a lot of self-doubt. But in this episode, I’m sharing my process for moving out of self-doubt and towards a mindset where we’re excited to take decisive action and have the self-belief to say, “Just leave it with me.”

The inspiration for this episode came from I call I had a couple of years ago. I was speaking to a lawyer who wanted to create a practice that she loved, and she said, “I just want it to be wildly successful.” So what does that mean, to be wildly successful?

The amazing thing about creating a practice that is wildly successful is that it’s completely subjective and 100% up to you what that looks like. This may be something you’ve never given much thought to. But today’s podcast episode is all about exactly how to define what that means for you and your career.

Today’s topic is particularly pertinent to anybody who is their own boss. You could be a partner in a law firm or a sole practitioner, but even if you’re an employee who reports to others, you still have a boss-employee relationship with yourself, so you owe it to yourself to be the best boss you possibly can. 

There are so many challenges we face in making decisions from a place of being the boss of ourselves. So, in this episode, I’m inviting you to consider how you show up and treat yourself as your boss, and to ask yourself where you might need to make some changes.

The inspiration for today’s podcast came from something I saw on social media recently. A friend of mine had posted a before-and-after image of her shelf. She’d been decluttering her home (something she’d been trying to do for years) and shared how she hired someone to help her in this process.

And while I was daydreaming about how lovely it would be to have someone come into my house and do the same, I started to see the parallels between decluttering our physical spaces and decluttering mentally. And in today’s episode, I’m discussing all things clutter, how it might be showing up in your life, and what you can do about it.

As lawyers, integrity holds a very special position not just in our professional work but also in our personal existence. We are expected to conduct ourselves with a certain level of integrity, both in our work and personal lives. But what does integrity mean to you?

Integrity can mean different things to different people. It is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, or it can be the state of being whole or undivided. For you, it might be living in accordance with your values or the level of honesty you have in your communication with yourself and others.

As lawyers, we live in a culture of judgment. But judgment in itself is not a bad thing, it is only when you take on the practice of imposing it on yourself or others that it begins to hold you back. It is so important to look at how we are using judgment in our lives and find a way to deal with it in a more productive way.

For some people, self-judgment might be obvious. But for others, it may show up more subtly and inconspicuously. There are so many consequences of judging yourself harshly, but there are also alternative options available to you, so I’m showing you what you can do if this sounds familiar to you in this week’s episode.

Are there decisions you need to make in your life where you find yourself turning to other people, wanting them to decide it for you? Do you find yourself in your practice putting other peoples’ commitments before your own? There is a power to be derived from making a decision and setting non-negotiable standards, and I’m exploring this further this week.

When you make a decision, it ultimately has to come from within you and requires that you take 100% responsibility for the outcome. If you are fearful of this, it may be time to consider where you aren’t fully committing or taking action in one direction or the other, and asking yourself why that is. Addressing where you are and where you want to be is crucial in decision-making, and will help you gain clarity and move forward in your life.