My Latest Workshop Venture and Being Thankful

I'm taking a short break from my serial, "See Monica Practice Law," but it'll be back.

I just had to tell you how excited I am about this new workshop I've created. I'm working with a select, intimate group of lawyers who want to leave the law but are struggling to find alternative careers. It's a boot camp actually--3 months of in-person group coaching where the participants identify career possibilities, explore them, make a selection, and then create an action plan to pursue their chosen careers. We'll follow up the boot camp with 3 months of one-one-one telephone coaching to keep them on track.

We met for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and the energy and excitement in the room were palpable! While I can't provide any details about the meetings (they're confidential), it's an incredible group and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with them. I personally selected this group to test-run the workshop but if you live in Atlanta (or nearby) and would like the chance to participate when I unveil this program in 2007, please keep an eye on this blog (and my site, LeavingTheLaw.com) for your chance to apply.

Now the other reason I wanted to post is to talk about Thanksgiving or, specifically, the season of being thankful. I often hear unhappy lawyers say that they should be grateful that they have jobs. That they have good salaries that pay for the roof over their heads, the food on their tables, and the clothes on their backs. Absolutely, that's something to be grateful for.

What does not make sense to me is taking that gratitude and using it as a weapon against yourself. What these lawyers say next is that it's ungrateful then to be unhappy and to want to leave the law.

Here's what else we have to be thankful for: that we have the opportunity to make choices, that we can choose work that's fulfilling. That if we want to leave the law to pursue work that's meaningful to us, we live in a time and country ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," remember) where we can do that.

So, of course, be grateful for your job. And know that if you choose to do something else with your J.D., something that engages you, you'll be even more grateful next Thanksgiving!

See Monica Practice Law (Continued)

The serial continues…

Title: See Monica Practice Law

Part I: Monica At The Big Firm

Installment 4: 1st Year Associate, 11 Months and Counting

I’m going to do this. I’m going to leave the practice of law and do negotiation training. A little crazy but also really exciting.

It’s a little crazy for a few reasons:

(1) I don’t have much money saved. About 3 months worth of living expenses. But I am living with my older brother rent-free and I can try to scale back on expenses a bit more. Plus, I think my parents could help me out if I needed it.

(2) As I said, my friends who do negotiation training can’t make any promises about the amount of work they can give me. But they know I’m going to be available full-time, so I think if they’ve got work, they’ll think of me. I hope.

At least I’ll be busy in January, teaching the Negotiation Workshop back at Harvard Law and I’m slotted to work on a project for the Citadel doing negotiation/communication/leadership training at the Citadel this fall. So, I’ve got some work.

(3) I’m sure some folks would argue I haven’t really given practicing law a fair shot. I mean I’ve only been at the firm one year. But I just don’t think I can do this anymore. I’ve tried really hard to shift my thinking—be grateful for this job, the work will probably get more interesting as you advance, just stick it out for a few years and pay down your loans, stop being such a whiny baby—but nothing’s worked. It’s getting harder and harder to get up and come in this office every day.

I’ve been reading all these books that say something like, if you take a leap of faith, doors will open. I hope and pray they’re right. This is scary.

But it’s also really exciting. Maybe it sounds silly but I’ve got this vision of myself waking up on a Monday morning. The sky is bright blue, and birds are chirping. I stretch happily knowing that I’m not coming in to the office but working out of my home and doing work that I love.

And just think, this will be my life in a matter of weeks.