What Keeps You from Leaving the Law?
My web designer and I were talking this morning about what keeps me from adding content to this blog regularly. I couldn't figure it out. My web designer said, "You're a perfectionist." That's it exactly. If I can't give you something polished, I'm keeping it to myself.
How about you? What's keeping you from leaving the law? I'll bet it's a similar tendency. The desire (or compulsion, if you're like me) to have the transition be absolutely perfect. A lot of lawyers I talk to would rather dream about it than do it because in their dreams they get to be perfect.
News flash: There are no perfect career transitions. It's often messy and unpredictable. But it sure beats the heck out of a job that makes you miserable.
I just posted a quote on my bulletin board that's doing me some good. Maybe it'll help you too. Be forewarned: it's not profound, it's simple. But it makes me laugh everytime I look at:
"It doesn't have to be perfect."
posted by Monica Parker @ 10:33 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I am now working as a contract attorney. When I am between projects, job searching inside and outside of the law is pretty easy. But long hours and an active fitness schedule deplete my energy when I am working on temporary projects. When a project ends, I have to pick up where I left off, which is not necessarily easy to do but I am making progress.
It's tough to make the sell, at times, to non-legal professionals who think that all lawyers think very linearly.
Thanks for your comment, Joseph. Sounds like you've got quite a schedule; I'm glad to hear you're persevering in spite of it. You'll have to keep us posted.
Re: the lawyers-think-linearly challenge, I've got a few clients who mention that as an issue. I was Googling resume services today to see if there are any that work specifically with career changers. Have you considered (or already taken advantage of) such a service? It sounds like some of them do an excellent job of translating our legal skills into something recognizable and appealing to non-legal employers. That might help with the issue you described. If that's something you might be interested in, let me know.
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