The Lawyer’s Morning Ritual
One of the best things about being an attorney, that goes to court, is running into other attorneys that you love to interact with. Our careers can be so social this way. I had the pleasure and sheer delight in running into an attorney that I had not seen in some time. We laughed and regaled one another with our old war stories of when we were on opposing sides of crazy cases. When I asked this attorney about what they were up to now, they told me that they had just transitioned to going solo again. When I asked why, they told me something that has stuck with me. They said that they knew that they had to switch gears from their firm and go solo again when they couldn’t even enjoy their morning ritual anymore. You see, this attorney’s morning ritual was very simple. They got up. Got ready for work. And on their way to the job, they always got a steaming hot cup of coffee as they started their day running from county to county. This attorney knew it was time to move on when that one morning ritual, their coffee at the start of the morning, started to fail to give them any type of satisfaction.
It wasn’t until I had this conversation with this attorney that I realized that not only did I actually have a morning ritual, but how much this ritual was important to me regarding my day as an attorney. I think what we do as attorneys to gear up for our workday can be unique because the nature of our work. We have to prepare to take on whatever problem presents itself and come up with solutions, sometimes on the spot. Especially if you are a trial attorney that is often in court. We have to be prepared for our clients presenting us with catastrophes (or what they feel are catastrophes) and finding ways to calm those anxieties and attend to them. We need to be prepared for the possibility (often times strong possibility) that the Judge we appear in front of totally dismisses in an instant the argument you have been working on for weeks. We also have to prepare for the waiting game; as sometimes we get all hyped up for something and then, we wait around for it NOT to happen. We take on so much as attorneys we need something at the beginning of our days to prepare us. I find that if I am not able to work through my morning ritual each day to gear up for my day, it makes a real difference in how my day will go and I how I will feel afterward.
So, taking to heart what my colleague said about their morning cup of joe and how it fit into their morning ritual, I decided to lay out what exactly IS my morning ritual and why the things I do to gear up for my legal workday matter to me.
Michelle’s Morning Ritual:
- Pre-set Alarm Goes Off — I then snooze for 30 minutes to slowly get myself out of bed and up.
- Get Up — I make my bed every single morning, without fail. If I don’t make my bed every morning (including weekends) I start to itch like I am going into dependency withdrawal. This is very important, clearly.
- Head to the bathroom — Need I say more?
- Say Good Morning to My Partner – We say good morning to one another every single day and start to chit-chat about what our days will be like and what we have to do. Even if this exchange takes one minute, my partner and I do it. We also come together on our relative schedules and coordinate who has time that day to do what for our family.
- Exercise — Whether I get on my stationary bike at home or go outside for a run/walk (see post Sanity Savior), I exercise 5 days a week in the morning. It has become so much a part of my ritual that if I don’t get some amount of exercise, even if it is for 15 minutes, then I feel like I am catching up throughout the rest of the day.
- Shower and Get Dressed — Now, I do like to put effort into my appearance. Before I became a lawyer, I was so enamored of how polished the attorneys I saw looked. I always wanted to aspire to dress that way. So I actually carve out time to get dressed. I don’t like to do it in a hurry. But, I have gotten dressed down to a science where I don’t take very long to do it. I am not as good as others who lay out their clothes every night before they go to bed. However, I have the great fortune of a walk in closet (which my DIY-self made with my partner!) that I have organized and clean regularly. So it is easy for me to pan my closet for what I want to wear and pull out those items I choose (and accessorize too…we must accessorize!!)
- Take Kid to School – Now that I am in private practice, I have the luxury of always being able to take my child to school (unless I have to leave early to go to some far off county). This is a step that I love to do. My parents worked tirelessly and often didn’t take me to school. So, I think this has become a much cherished part of my morning ritual that I do my darndest to complete every morning.
- Get a Latte (not in the mug featured above!!)— Yeah, yeah…I know how much of a waste of money the morning latte ritual has been castigated for, however if I am in the mood for a latte, I get one for myself. Like my colleague, I try to hold fast to those very simple pleasures that we can afford ourselves at the top of our day.
- Get to the Office – I have a nice commute to the office. I actually like the fact that it takes time for me to get to my office, and that it is not right around the corner. It gives me physical distance from my work life that I appreciate. On my drive, I listen to podcasts that are either inspirational or storytelling just to try and decompress and calm myself before I walk into the whirlwind that is work.
- Gab with Everyone in the Office — The first thing I do when I get into the office is not sit steely at my computer and start looking through emails. I really like to engage and talk to my law partner and our office staff first. For me, I found that I do this every morning, regardless as to if I am on task to get into a meeting first thing or run to court. I do it because I like to engage with the people around me first thing, and it reminds me a lot of why I do what I do. We talk and laugh about things that we experienced or interesting tid-bits about our evenings or weekends beforehand. It also gives me a minute to cool any anxiety I may have about any tasks I need to complete that day and gives me perspective.
There you have it, the morning ritual. There are, of course, some deviations here and there, but for the most part, these are the things I do each morning to prepare myself for my day as an attorney. What do you do every morning ?
