Stress & Wellbeing for Lawyers is on the decline which probably comes as no surprise to most.

The latest statistics from The Law Society show:

1. an increase of 30% (46% to 76%) reporting that work goes beyond their contracted hours and impacts on their personal life

2. an increase of 19% (38% to 54%) reporting that they find it difficult to relax in their personal time because of work, and taking more days off due to stress

3. a decrease in life satisfaction, and an increase in unhappiness and anxious feelings (and worse than the UK average). Women and those from Black, Asian and minority background score consistently, and statistically significantly, worse.

We as firm owners & partners want to do better wherever we can. In a world of technology, and communication demands of (unnecessary) urgency it is not easy.

Likewise, as fee-earners we may need to re-learn focus for longer periods of time, stop notifications (even if we don’t look at them they reduce our IQ significantly and it can take 15 minutes to get back into the flow of work), develop self-soothing skills, time management skills, and assertiveness skills to balance some of this.

I often talk about mind or inner work too. If it feels too ‘dangerous’ to be assertive, to relinquish control, to leave work when it doesn’t feel ‘perfect’ (& much much more), then we will not utilise those skills. When coaching I focus on both. I am also bringing in a new nlp/hynotherapy based programme later this year where the impact feels greater.

By coincidence, I am talking about much of this with Realm Recruit on Tuesday 25th April, if you would like to join us, please do.

Simona