Looking to start 2022 on the right foot? Take our advice

At the ABA Journal, we love to produce magazine features like the 50 startup tips to get your practice off the ground. But we also think that it's important to provide a platform for the experience and wisdom of legal professionals year-round. Here are our favorite columns from 2021 in our Your Voice, Mind Your Business and On Well-Being sections, with advice for improving your practice and your personal life in 2022.

Dec 23, 2021 12:16 PM CST

How to integrate well-being throughout your organization

If lawyers know the challenges to well-being, and they have been presented with ideas and strategies to improve wellness within their organizations, what stands in the way of creating systemic change?

Oct 1, 2021 3:20 AM CDT

Are you living your values? Use the ‘Bull’s-Eye’ exercise to check these 4 areas of your life

One exercise that I have found useful and have often shared for getting clarity around what is really important in life is the “Bull’s-Eye” values-clarification exercise, designed by Swedish psychotherapist Tobias Lundgren.

Aug 1, 2021 2:10 AM CDT

Depleting reserves can lead to burnout

Law practice should not require you to sacrifice your health—the most obvious reason for that being that your well-being is the cornerstone of being a good lawyer.

Jun 1, 2021 2:10 AM CDT

Walking meditation is a step toward calm

“Having a strong mindfulness practice as a foundation has helped me get through these difficulties,” writes lawyer and author Jeena Cho. “This isn’t to suggest that mindfulness has somehow shielded me from experiencing grief or trauma. What it has allowed is a way for me to process it so that the grief isn’t the only experience my mind is paying attention to.”

Apr 1, 2021 2:30 AM CDT

How to release self-destructive thoughts and cultivate optimism

During this period of COVID-19, when so many of our norms have been disrupted and the future is uncertain, it is an understatement to say there is a lot to feel anxious about.

Feb 1, 2021 1:50 AM CST

3 strategies to reframe your negative mindset

While the negativity bias may be useful in helping lawyers spot potential pitfalls in their clients’ cases, it can also impact lawyer well-being. The good news is that there are many practices for combating the negativity bias and increasing happiness and resilience.

Oct 1, 2020 2:40 AM CDT

New implicit-bias tool offers insight and answers

Despite evidence that diverse workplaces perform better and lead to better financial results, the legal profession has been slow to respond. Conscious and unconscious biases are baked into the system through hiring, how career-enhancing work is assigned and how lawyers are evaluated and compensated.

Jun 1, 2020 1:35 AM CDT

How lawyers can manage stress and cortisol levels during the COVID-19 crisis

It is not the practice of law that is unhealthy; it is how we respond to the day-to-day stressors that are inherent in the profession that makes the difference, says lawyer James Gray Robinson.

Apr 22, 2020 8:00 AM CDT

How to advance mindfulness in the workplace

The benefits of mindfulness and meditation are well-documented and studied: They reduce stress and anxiety, improve attention and memory, and promote self-regulation and empathy, writes lawyer and author Jeena Cho.

Apr 1, 2020 2:30 AM CDT

When caring costs you: Lawyers can experience vicarious trauma from work

Feb 1, 2020 1:15 AM CST

Adults need screen-time limits too

While there is no easy answer for how to live mindfully in the hyperconnected digital world, there are some practices we can incorporate into our lives to create a healthier relationship with digital technology.

Nov 1, 2019 3:20 AM CDT

No magical cure for anxiety, but with persistence, you can train your mind to relax

Jeena Cho says there are three strategies and lessons that she found invaluable in working with anxiety.

Sep 1, 2019 2:40 AM CDT

Navigating ‘introvert hell’: You don’t have to be hard-charging to be an impactful legal networker

Instead of forcing extroversion in high-pressure networking scenarios that naturally drain our energy and cause unnecessary internal conflict, introverts can be powerful connectors by recognizing and capitalizing on our inherent strengths.

Jul 1, 2019 2:00 AM CDT

How to mindfully navigate a career transition

Navigating a career transition is often a messy and complicated journey. Lawyers tend to strongly identify who they are with what they do. Here are some mindful practices that may help to guide you and make a more easeful transition.

Jul 1, 2019 1:50 AM CDT