Today, we are digging into something that I encounter with only about 100 percent of my clients. It's the challenge of overwhelm and having too much for any human to do. In this episode, I will unpack a recent client example of overwhelm and then I'm going to conclude with a few basic steps to dismantle your overwhelm before it consumes you.
Watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/A09FSur3NrQ
New episodes every other Wednesday.
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Free coaching consult: https://autumnnoble.as.me/freeconsult
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SHOP THE LAWYER LIFE COLLECTION on Etsy
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Today, we are digging into something that I encounter with only about 100 percent of my clients. It's the challenge of overwhelm and having too much for any human to do. In this episode, I will unpack a recent client example of overwhelm and then I'm going to conclude with a few basic steps to dismantle your overwhelm before it consumes you.
Watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/A09FSur3NrQ
New episodes every other Wednesday.
RELATED TO THIS EPISODE:
Free coaching consult: https://autumnnoble.as.me/freeconsult
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME:
SHOP THE LAWYER LIFE COLLECTION on Etsy
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
You are listening to the lawyer life podcast, episode number 12, overwhelm how to stop the madness for good. Hey everyone. Welcome back to the lawyer life podcast. I am your host, Autumn Noble. I am a practicing attorney as well as the founder Of the lawyer life collective life and career coaching for lawyers in the lawyer life collective.
I support my clients on their lawyering journey by leveraging my experience as a coach and all of my experiences as an attorney, working at firms of all shapes and sizes, building my own practice group, getting the big clients, managing a team, teaching in business and law schools, going in house with the fortune 300 company, building a successful side gig and starting my own firm.
If you want to learn how to build your practice and client base, establish an independence, find more time, get more done, or just generally find more happiness and balance in your [00:01:00]career. Welcome. You are in the right spot. If you are new here, thank you for joining us. Be sure to check out the first few episodes as well as the show notes to get access to additional information about this episode and the work we do in the collective.
If you have been here all along, I so appreciate you and welcome back.
Hello and welcome everyone. Today, we are digging into something that I encounter with only about 100 percent of my clients. It's the challenge and the beauty of overwhelm and having too much for any human to do. One of the primary reasons that my clients struggle with the practice of law is that they often feel like their life is totally out of control.
Their time and their practice is out of their hands and there's this general feeling of helplessness and overwhelm. We often feel like we have no control [00:02:00]and our workload just happens to us. We are on the brink of an epic meltdown and struggling to keep afloat. In those spaces. How do we silence the chaos and harness our own agency to start taking meaningful action in order to explore this massive topic today, we are going to work through an example.
I recently experienced with a client, and then I'm going to conclude with a few basic steps to dismantle your overwhelm before it consumes you. As lawyers, I think that we are just innately overachievers. We take on too much, we play tug of war with our perfectionist tendencies and people pleasing tendencies, never mind the fact that practicing law is a constant battle for time, efficiencies, and production through those ever present billables.
This often leads us deep into the heart of the [00:03:00]land of overwhelm. I actually had a new client start earlier this week, and she came to the session and sort of presented this topic of overwhelm that she wanted to work through. So she came in and she said, I have too much to do. I have these huge projects on my to do list, and I try and schedule time to sit down and focus on them and kind of break them into pieces.
But every time I it down to do it. I'm just totally overwhelmed. My hands shake, my heart races. I just can't convince myself to do it. So I end up totally avoiding it or I end up waiting till the very last minute to do other projects and staying up all night to get them done. And when they do get done, they're not very good.
And I'm really sick of this routine and I'm tired. I don't want to live like this. Does this sound familiar to any of you? I hear this all of the time in, in one shape, form or another. One of [00:04:00]the first things that I do when a client is struggling with overwhelm is I ask them to sort of paint the picture.
for me of what happens when they're feeling that way and they're trying to get themselves to execute on something. They've got a lot to do, but they're not really seeing themselves take any action. So I start with if I was in the office with you and I was watching you, what would I actually see you doing?
Or not doing, for instance, are you checking your email? Kind of obsessively scrolling through your email? Do you step away and go to Starbucks? Do you shop online? Are you frozen in panic or do you go right over to LinkedIn and start passive aggressively applying to jobs? All of those are things that would be a not surprising response.
And I hear them, you know, from various clients from time to time. But for this client, she said, you know, I'm just trying to stay afloat. So she was kind of knee deep in [00:05:00]emails and low hanging fruit kinds of projects, but avoiding the big. Hairy projects in front of her. She was just kind of focusing on these other little things, trying to produce, you know, kind of like that duck whose feet below the water were just paddling really quickly.
That was her MO. So then I asked her, you know, what was it that set off? This pattern for you. Was it a new project? Was it a new email? Did we get some bad feedback? Like, walk me through kind of what led to this feeling of overwhelm and focusing on those smaller tasks. She explained to me that she had gotten staffed on a huge project and that the partner was telling her that she needed to clear her plate of everything else and just focus on this.
Particular new project. Meanwhile, another partner had just given her some pretty harsh feedback on another project. And while she's kind of marinating and that she gets a phone call from her kid's [00:06:00]school, her daughter has a fever and she's got to kind of navigate that. So she's thinking, you know, I have these big projects to do.
I'm supposed to be clearing my plate. I've got to figure out what to do with childcare kind of on and on. And that was the next thing I asked her, you know, what is going through your brain as these circumstances. present themselves to you. What would I hear if I was actually inside your head? So she says to me, I can't clear my schedule.
I have too many other priorities on my plate. I don't have room for this project. I don't like working with you. I think you're kind of a jerk. Um, I told him I was already fully staffed. The partner that just gave me really terrible feedback left out some pretty critical information when he assigned the project.
I seriously can't do this anymore. I just need to focus on my family. I don't have time for this. I just need to get out of here. I'm going to totally freak out. All of those things run through her head when these circumstances kind of present themselves. [00:07:00]To her, so I said to her, okay, if those are all of your worried thoughts, help me understand why any of this is a problem.
Like, what's the real kind of issue here? And she says to me, and kind of matter of factly, like, I have to do this project, but I can't tell him no, and I can't. Push back on him because I sometimes enjoy working with him and I don't want to close that door forever. I also don't want to pull an all nighter.
I've got a sick kid that I need to figure that out and if I push back on him, he's going to freak out and he's just going to pull work from me for good. He's going to think I'm just not cut out for it. And maybe he's right. Maybe I made a mistake in becoming a lawyer. This is just not how I want to live my life anymore.
And that's really the core of the issue for my client. She says, I just feel like I can't leave because we need my income and I have all this student loan debt and it's going to be the same everywhere else I go. So I have to stay here and deal with being treated like this, even though I hate it. I don't want to stop practicing.
I feel stuck in a job and a life that [00:08:00]I don't want. There is really the meat of the issue, and I'll save you all the gory details, but ultimately where all of this ends is that we sort of end up in a van down by the river alone, unfulfilled, hounded by creditors and the laughingstock of our family and the legal community as a whole.
It sounds ridiculous when I say it that way, but all of those thoughts, you can just kind of feel it as I tick through them. I feel it as I tick through them. You can just feel this anxiety coming and you can just tell that that primitive brain is ready to rise up and kind of answer that call and switch into survival and panic mode.
Our heart starts racing and that fight or flight really kicks in. We're terrified that if we can't find a way to do it all and do it well, everything that we've built and everything that we've done is going to fall apart. And with all of those seemingly [00:09:00]very logical fears come the lovely thoughts that go with them.
Maybe I was never meant to do this. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe I'm not cut out for it. Maybe I won't ever figure it out. Maybe I'm not supposed to be a lawyer. Maybe I'll just get fired and then go live in the van down by the river. So we have kind of these persuasive, primitive, survival brain thoughts going on, driving that panic, driving that emotion, but at the same time with those come a lot of self judgment thoughts and a lot of worried thoughts about like, what the hell did I get myself into?
Feeling really stuck. And so kind of this avalanche of thoughts and feelings and panic and primitive brain fight or flight tendencies just kind of start to bury us. I'm hoping this feels very familiar and accessible to all of you. I know for me as I related, I literally feel myself like getting anxious, just kind of imagining that feeling [00:10:00]and recalling moments when I felt that way.
So, if you can access an experience like that that you've had in your life, we can start to kind of unpack, okay, this does happen to me. I can see instances in my life when I do kind of rise up and go down that overwhelm spiral. How do? I dig out of it instead of feeling like crap and freaking out and we can recall in those instances that instead of freaking out and feeling like crap, we just chase any other feel good that we can find shopping, eating, drinking, napping.
Facebook, doing the low hanging fruit projects, getting stuck in our email, hoping that someone, anyone will be happy with our services and give us some good feedback. That's why we're kind of driven to those smaller little projects on our to do list. Like we're just chasing a feel good in the same way that we chase a feel [00:11:00]good when we go to Starbucks or when we eat or when we shop online.
We don't like these feelings of overwhelm. We don't like those thoughts. And so we're trying to chase something else that feels better. That is why we also procrastinate. It's why we avoid and it's why we buffer with all of those things because our heads are full of garbage and drama that feels terrible.
And we just want to self soothe in any way that we know how it's perfectly. Logical. But here's the thing, overwhelm and that kind of avalanche of feelings and thoughts, it's not something that just happens to us. It's not a Mack truck that just picks off pedestrians on the street randomly. It's not something that jumps out of your email into your emotional and nervous system.
It's not implanted in you. It's not lightning. It doesn't just happen. It's something that we actually create [00:12:00]for ourselves. And I will, I will prove this to you. All of those thoughts that my client related to me, that I would have heard if I was in her brain, they feel really terrible. I can't do this anymore.
I'm going to lose my job. I'm never going to get it all done. I don't want to live like this anymore. It just. Feels heavy and gross. Then once our primitive survival brain kicks in, it just piles on more because it starts to see everything on our to do list as a challenge to that survival. That survival brain is like, oh my god, something is happening.
It's a challenge to our livelihood, like something is wrong here. And so now I'm on the defense and now everything that Was on my to do list for maybe a year now our brains like we've got to get that done, too Like everything on that list Suddenly feels like it must get done today And so our survival brain will simply pile on to those already existing [00:13:00]feelings of overwhelm So think back to that last time that you were feeling overwhelmed.
There is usually one trigger and then for some reason we start to panic about every other minuscule thing on our to do list. Suddenly that birthday card that we need to send to our mom is like a make it or break it. Event for the relationship that must be attended to lest our mothers disown us, abandon us and leave us to rot in our van down by the river, right?
Those little bitty things suddenly feel so painful and so essential. That's because our primitive brain has kicked in and that's how, you know, when we start to see those little triggers, that new project, that negative feedback, we started seeing those triggers. Our thoughts about them and our responses to them as separate and distinct events, then we can start to shift away from overwhelm again, because when we start to see those things as distinct, [00:14:00]we can start to see like, this isn't something that just happened.
Like the event occurs, I have thoughts about it, the feelings happen, and that is how this happens. I'm creating it. I have a role in one of those things. From there, we can start making different changes. The feelings that emanate from our overwhelmed thinking, they always feel really terrible. But it's also a really beautiful thing to see that the only reason that we're feeling those crappy emotions and the attendant overwhelm is because of those thoughts.
That we're choosing we're creating that feeling of overwhelm and what's even worse is that once we start feeling overwhelmed, it gave energy to all those really crappy thoughts. It just gets worse. It becomes this kind of mad crescendo as we pile on our own confirmation bias. That confirmation bias is now going to take all of those thoughts and blow them up.
[00:15:00]You're right. You do have too much to do. This is impossible. Your mom is gonna be so mad if you don't send her a thoughtful card for her birthday. Yeah, you need to get that tonight probably and I'm sure that there's no good cards left by the time you get out of here. The store is going to be closed and your mom's It's just going to be pissed that you don't get her something in time.
It's probably going to arrive late. You're right. You probably shouldn't be a lawyer. Do you remember that one time when uncle Joe told you that you just didn't seem like the lawyer type? Maybe he was right. You know, that confirmation bias is going to start culling our whole experience as a human and selecting pieces of evidence to start agreeing with all of the bullshit that's already marinating.
In our brains. So now we're not only overwhelmed and have all these terrible thoughts, but we've really just piled on not only the confirmation bias, but the primitive brain has found a thousand other things to add to our to do list. And we're even more paralyzed with fear. So now we're even [00:16:00]more convinced that we just don't have what it takes to human or lawyer properly.
You can kind of start to see just the way that our brain works and how those initial thoughts Relating to the trigger really kind of set this domino effect in motion So we have to start owning our role in this and this is where the power shift comes in We've given way too much energy to some of those really crappy thoughts and we have to at least Recognize that those thoughts like they're just not helping and no one has Risen up and effectively tackled their to do list from all of the crappy feelings generated by those thoughts.
It just doesn't make sense. It's not possible to do good work and to manage your projects when you're believing that you're not good enough, that you're stuck, that maybe you shouldn't ever become a lawyer in the first place. You're never going to get it all done. [00:17:00]Those thoughts are never going to be conducive to actually getting it done.
So whether or not you agree with me that all of those sentences are just optional thoughts and whether or not you believe they are creating your overwhelm, I think we can all agree that that line of thinking is not helping you get the job done. They are inhibiting your ability to show up. And what you're creating for yourself is the exact opposite of what you're likely wanting.
And so at least we can agree that those thoughts are never going to help us get to the place that we want to be. So we can start recognizing we at least have to choose something different. Maybe we don't believe that those thoughts are what are actually creating the overwhelm. Fine. Whatever floats your boat, but we can all agree that trying to figure out how to navigate this life as a lawyer while letting those thoughts run around like a maniac in our brains, it's just not helpful.[00:18:00]
So we can at least move forward from that space. But here's the thing. Those thoughts are incredibly persuasive, and even though I'm characterizing them as thoughts and opinions, the reason that we gravitate towards them and the reason that we let them run away like maniacs in our brain is because there's a part of us that believes them, and that is why this is hard.
Because we believe we have to do those projects that are given to us. We believe that we can't say no, and we believe in some ways that we are stuck. I don't have any options. I can't do this anymore. I really don't have time. So part of our work... in order to move forward is to start taking away some of the power from those lines of thinking and giving space to the possibility that there might be other truths out there that could be more helpful to us.
[00:19:00]In other words, there might be other thoughts that we could believe that might help us show up in the way that we want to. So we do this in a couple of different steps. When we are swimming in overwhelming thoughts about our workload, it can be really difficult to see the forest for the trees. So given this, my recommendation is very simple.
Before we even begin taking those steps to remedy our to do list, recognize that our thoughts are at least part of the problem. Okay? Whether you believe they're actually creating the overwhelm or not, as I said, let's just recognize that all of that nasty chatter up there is just not helpful. That, that cacophony in your brain is largely what is creating that feeling of overwhelm.
It's not the boss. It's not the work, the surprise projects or the negative feedback. They can't implant those feelings in you. It's not possible. And if you think it is, I would love for you to help me understand how that works. [00:20:00]You are doing it to yourself. And that is the only way I can get myself to understand how overwhelmed.
Even happens. So again, before we start ticking off our action steps, let's just own that. We have some kind of a role in this and being open to the possibility that this is something that we can change and that we have some control over. So step number one, purge our brain. When we recognize that our thinking is at least part of the problem, we have to figure out like what the hell is happening up there that is doing this.
So we write down everything that's stressing you out, all of the projects, all of the things that suddenly feels emergent that must be done today. And we write down all of our worried and crappy thoughts associated with them. Maybe I shouldn't have been a lawyer. That partner thinks I'm an idiot, whatever it is, but we want to write those down as [00:21:00]well.
So then the second step is to lawyer that list. We do this by taking a highlighter and we highlight everything on that list that is factual, demonstrable, provable, that everything, everyone in the world would agree with. This might require you to rewrite some of your statements to make them more factual, like thinking, I've got to send a birthday card to mom today.
We could rewrite that to, Mom's birthday is next week, period. For everything on your list that is one of those thoughts, an opinion, or a story, or something that not everyone would agree with, it's not a fact, cross out those that are not helpful. And leave only those that are helpful to your ultimate goal, getting out of the overwhelm and actually getting something done.
And let me tell you a little secret, [00:22:00]99. 9 of your thoughts on that list, they're not going to be helpful. Eliminate them. Literally cross them out and right next to them. Not helpful. I want to believe this. Not helpful. At the end of that little exercise, you might end up with a little list that sounds like this.
Mom's birthday is next week. I haven't bought a card for mom. Partner X gave me a new project. I have two projects I plan to finish today. I had planned to leave work at four. My daughter's school says she has a fever. Pretty simple, pretty straightforward, distilled down to just facts. Step three, we're going to get really brutally honest.
So next to each thing on that list, we're going to write a deadline, but only true And factual deadlines. This is going to help you really [00:23:00]silence what your primitive brain is doing when it tells you that everything has to get done today. It's going to really bring you back to the facts of that statement.
Is that true? It's also going to help you get clear on your priorities. When a partner emails you and says we really need to get this out today, that is not a real deadline. It's a preference, a request, a hope. For purposes of this exercise, we note that project's deadline as TBD. Because here's the thing, when we're feeling overwhelmed, we want to really understand, are there clear deadlines pressing on me right now?
Are there things actually happening in my life that I should be stressing about and I should be focusing on? From that headspace, there's not a lot of room for all of those, wouldn't it be nice to take kind of projects. They just muddy the waters. And if at the end of this, we're [00:24:00]left with only projects that are listed as wouldn't it be nice, then we can kind of circle back on those.
But for now, at this point, we want to really know what do I have to be freaking out about, what actually needs to get done today, yesterday, and what just feels like it needs to. Okay. Next step four, we're going to get all of the facts. So for all of those projects, whose deadlines are TBD, or even if we have 10 projects that all have a deadline of yesterday, we need to develop a communication strategy with the goal being additional fact finding.
We need to determine whether or not this is a real deadline, or if there's flexibility in how we prioritize that particular. Item, this might require you to contact the partner or the client and express to them where this request falls on your plate and your other more factual deadlines. [00:25:00]You can let them know that ultimately your goal is to do a good job.
And give every project the attention that it requires, but given everything else on your plate, you're concerned you won't be able to give it the attention it deserves. So we're really going to be vulnerable and kind of share some of that truth here as part of our communication strategy and trying to get clear and factual about the deadlines.
Be honest and focus on the goal. We want to find a way to do good work for everyone, and we don't want to give any projects short shrift unless there's absolutely no alternative. Your brain's going to want to tell you there are no alternatives. This all has to get done today, but what we're trying to do is challenge that and really see like, are there other facts out there that I'm not aware of?
I don't want to listen to that part of my brain telling me that unless I really know that it's true. In order to do that, you're going to have to take some additional steps. [00:26:00]Step five, eliminate and prioritize. Whenever we start to think there's too much work to do, that brain is going to pile on as we've talked about.
We have to stop this avalanche of to do's right in its tracks. So, if after completing your list and assigning fact based deadlines to every item, you still have a TBD or unclear project deadline, that project gets moved to a new list, and that list is called, wouldn't it be nice? Maybe for a rainy day.
Sunshine and margarita is kind of a day. I don't know, but it gets moved to another list. We're going to take everything that our brain piled on in that worried state and we're just going to put it somewhere else. Unless and until we get some different clarity around that particular deadline. We all have those nagging projects that [00:27:00]we put off and we put off and once things get heated, we suddenly make that project a massive career making priority.
We have to stop doing that. We can't let overwhelm create an avalanche of tasks, know what projects are priorities and which ones are not in this moment. And then we move on and really kind of own and recognize we don't have to do this all today. I've been putting that project off for six months. I can put it off for another day so that I don't have a meltdown.
Instead, we prioritize real deadlines and prioritize your wouldn't it be nice list on another day. Step six, recognize your limits. At this point in the game, we should have a list of factual projects with factual deadlines. From there, all we have to do is ask, is it humanly possible? To do all of this in the time that I have available today, and that's it.[00:28:00]
It doesn't have to result in a major meltdown. It's a simple evaluation and analysis. The point of these steps in this process is to move away from fight or flight responses into a project manager. Roll and stop acting like a chicken with its head cut off project management is going to instead focus on Finding the best way to get the job done, which might mean letting in support Do not allow yourself to believe that there's no way to get help or support.
I often hear my clients Tell me there's no one who's able to help everyone else is super busy. My paralegal isn't any help It's not worth the effort My secretary can't do this Those statements only keep you stuck and they really make you a victim of your own to do list. Don't believe that any of those statements are true unless and until you have asked for and allowed in support.[00:29:00]
You do not and should not have to do it all on your own. When we do that, we rob our clients of getting the best service possible. We all know how that plays out when we try and do it all on our own. Instead, we can choose to show up with clarity as a project manager and not as a victim. And PS, if you haven't listened to the episode on the drama triangle, this is your sign.
We get really deep into this idea of how am I showing up? Am I being a victim in this scenario? And that victim mentality is often at play in this whole cycle of overwhelm. But I digress. You will be a better lawyer and a better teammate if you learn to recognize your limits and ask for help when you need it.
If you want to believe that there's no help available for you and it's just not worth the effort to engage your paralegal, I challenge you to investigate the truth of that statement. [00:30:00]If you want to believe that there's no help available to you, prove it to yourself first. You owe it to your sanity. Step seven, and this is the last step.
Debrief, once the dust settles, it's that whole idea that an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure, even before the workload heats up, there are things that you can do to take control over your practice and the projects that keep coming at you in order to do that, you have to decide what you want your practice to look like.
Are there certain things that you don't want to do? Are there certain clients that you don't want to work with? Are there certain partners you want to avoid? Is there an area of law you want to explore more? If you don't know where you want to go, You allow yourself to be at the mercy of everyone around you and where they want your practice to go and what they want you to [00:31:00]do with your time.
That often sets us up for overload and overwhelm because we're kind of like a sitting duck, just waiting for people to drop a bunch of stuff on us. And I understand that early in your career, it might not feel like you have the opportunity to do that. But here's the thing. If your plate is full, With work that you like at some point, there's not going to be any room for others to give you other work.
So no matter how early you are in your career, if you pursue someone and say, I really like working with you, I really like your clients. I like the kind of work. I want to learn more about that. And they fill your plate. There's not a whole lot that anyone else can do about it because at the end of the day, there's only so much time you have available to actually do the work, assuming you're employing healthy boundaries, setting priorities and good time management practices.
And so no matter where you are in your career, you do have the opportunity to have [00:32:00]those open and honest conversations and take steps to control the type of work that you get in hopes that that kind of work you do want will fill your plate because no one can argue with that. Once it's done, once you have the work, if someone else doesn't like it, there's going to have to be a conversation, As opposed to sitting back and letting people bury you and whatever they think makes sense for you early on in my practice within the first year of my practice, I had a partner who told me that she wanted me to work only on her projects within her subspecialty, and she didn't want me to expand my work to the other.
Types of subspecialties within our practice area. She really wanted me to kind of mimic her practice in her specialty with her clients. Now, I was only a first year associate and I [00:33:00]didn't know a whole lot about the practice area to begin with, but I did know that I didn't like working with her and I didn't like her types of clients and I didn't like the way that she operated and I did have good enough understanding of the larger practice area to know, like, I don't really want to be pigeonholed right out of the gate.
I'm kind of interested in all of the areas of our practice, and I don't want to kind of handicap myself right out of the gate. So I actually organized a meeting with the practice group chair, and I said to him, I want to Get a good understanding of every part of our practice. I want to know every facet and every subspecialty in the same way that you do.
And he appreciated that and he seemed to respect that I had clarity around what I was wanting to do and from there he spoke to the other partners on the team and made it clear that I would be working [00:34:00]with everybody. So I got what I wanted. Had it not been for that moment and that request, I would never have had the skill set that I needed to move on from that firm and found my own practice group serving all areas.
That one conversation, that first year of my practice set me up to be a practice group chair, to build a practice in that area because I had a general understanding of all of it. I share this with you because no matter where you are in your practice, we can make decisions about where we want our practice to go.
If you are willing to do that, I ask you just to make a decision and commit to it. It doesn't have to be forever. Maybe you commit to it for six months. Maybe you commit for a year. You can always change your mind later. This is intended to allow you to focus your efforts, but it's also [00:35:00]intended to insulate you from project Overload.
That's not to say that six months into the future, you could change your mind and change your focus and communicate that maybe we spend six months focusing on this and six months focusing on that, whatever it may be, but it's going to dictate the type of work on your plate and it's going to help you protect your energy because it's going to protect your workflow.
And where it's coming from and where your efforts are going to be focused and it's going to clearly communicate to everyone around you what your goal is for that timeframe. You can always change it later, but it's absolutely going to help you try and limit the type of work that you're getting and insulate yourself from being bombarded from every direction.
When you identify where you want your practice to go and the type of work that you like, and you voice that to the people around you, you also kind of implicitly establish an order of priority for your work. [00:36:00]You permit those partners that you want to work with to see you as their go to, and it will be understood that they get first priority over your time and sends a message to others like.
Keep your busy work away from this associate who's focusing on my area and find somebody else. To do otherwise is to allow ourselves to kind of float unmoored, being kind of bounced around between practice areas because we present ourselves as being willing to take work from everybody and that can largely contribute to simply having too much.
On our plate. So rather than waiting in fear that you're going to get buried in work that you don't want to do, or don't have time to do, you can instead seek out a stream of work that you actually want and continually work to keep that plate full from the people that you want to work with. If you find that you are often vacillating between totally drowning in work and just treading [00:37:00]water, I urge you, if you hear nothing, More from today's episode.
Consider your role in that avalanche of feelings. Recognize that your thinking is playing a part in this. Recognize that your patterning and the thoughts that you choose over and over and over again are creating part of those feelings and get to work watching and questioning those worried thoughts.
You're a lawyer. People pay you to argue. Put that fancy degree to work and start challenging some of those ridiculous statements in your head. If you need more support than that, take advantage of a free coaching session. There's a link in the show notes and let's get your head right and stop blaming the circumstances around you for those feelings of overwhelm.
Getting to the root of our overwhelm is the first step and utilizing the steps outlined in this episode is going to start helping you get clear. What actually is on my plate? What do I actually have to do today? [00:38:00]But once we silence that chaos in our brains, we have to start shifting over into managing and strategizing around our projects and our to do list.
That Is what we will explore in our next episode. All right, my friends, that is all for this week's topic. As I mentioned in our next episode, we will explore some time management tools to help you do just that. We hope to see you there.
Thanks so much for being here again this week. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to leave us a rave review on your podcast, listening platform. I would be so grateful. And don't forget this week's Joe notes are packed with additional information on this topic and an opportunity to schedule that free coaching session or to sign up for a monthly newsletter.
Talk with hot topics and resources to support you on your lawyering journey. If I [00:39:00]had to isolate one particular topic that is a constant theme in nearly every coaching session that I have It is overwhelm in time Management, we will just skim the surface in these podcasts if that is something that you are consistently challenged with I urge you to reach out schedule a coaching consult And take advantage of those introductory rates.
Year end is coming and things are going to get more challenging. Be prepared to tackle your to do list and prevent overwhelm as we approach 2024. As always, thanks for listening and thanks for sharing with your friends.