Tow the Line (Part 2)
In Part 1 we explored some direct questions about coming to terms with what we don’t like about our current reality.
Now that we laid some ground work in ‘figuring out what hurts’, we can start to look at opportunity and potentially see old things in new ways.
Life is about balance.
Working in the Legal Industry may seem at odds with this a lot of the time, but the most successful people are truly successful not because of status or financial gain (though they are most certainly a result of it) but because they are free, in control and have created a healthy balance.
Taking charge or taking back the things we need to be able to achieve this balance is not a call to war. It really calls for the wisdom of not creating the battle in your mind in the first place. Alternatively, it’s about making peace with what you answered in Part 1 and reserving your energy for forward movement in a new direction.
So let’s go through some horizon scanning to see how we can build forward.
Take a blank canvas (digital or physical), a quiet space and some time and answer the following questions:
Painting a picture of my future
Based on your answer to the question in Part 1 “what you firmly decided not to tolerate this year”, Describe three core characteristics about the “perfect” version of what you would want instead?
Be mindful to focus on building the ideal and separate the anxiety of what you don’t want with the excitement of what it could look like as you build it in your mind.
The three core characteristics about my “perfect” version replacing what I will not tolerate are:
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2.
3.
Find 5 of the closest examples of your core characteristics of your “perfect version” in the Market.
Depending on what your core characteristics are, you will be looking for outcomes or results that match, a brand or type of messaging that reflects what you want, a journey or insight that you believe would be part of your story, or a product or process that would bring you closer to that perfect version. Take note that some of the things you seek will be qualitative, some will be quantitative. However ALL of it will be subjectively yours.
The 5 closest examples of the core characteristic’s I’ve found in the Market are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
If you were to harmonize your “perfect version” with the other elements of your broader life, where would it sit?
This exercise is about placing this “perfect version” within the context of your broader life. There are two ways to do this and both are encouraged:
List your ‘compartments in life’ (e.g. work, home, family, recreation, beliefs, service) in order of importance. Essentially you’re creating a hierarchy in order to allocate your time and attention appropriately.
Draw your ‘compartments in life’ as circles on a page and draw links between them describing each link drawn. The more important or fundamental each circle is the closer to the center it should be. Perhaps you have a circle which should clearly be in the center for you. Again, this is a way for you to understand how your ‘perfect version’ sits within the entire context of your life.
With this third exercise then you start to create awareness around how much time and energy you are spending compared to what you consider more important.
Finally, take the 5 closest examples of core characteristics you’ve identified and match them with the allocation of time and resources you wish to give within the context of your whole life and draw a 3 step plan of action for how you will be approaching solutions, either directly or through expert support to achieve them.
The point of this two part series was simple.
We asked: are you towing the line and is it sustainable?
If not, through a simple set of questions and exercises which empower you to take charge of change and find clarity in how to move forward.
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As always, the future of law is in our hands 🔥
Q.
Photo by Sebastien Gabriel on Unsplash