It's the New Year: Four Quick Questions to Help You Determine if Your Career is on Course
By Dan Binstock
Most attorneys will agree that besides their families and their health, their careers are probably the most important aspect of their lives. If, however, you are like most attorneys, you probably spent more time working on your last project than you spent during the entire last year thinking about your career direction.
Aside from the heavy partying, New Years is the time of the year that resolutions and future-looking goals come to the forefront. Indeed, this is one of the main reasons that lateral hiring spikes during the first thee months of each new year. During the first few weeks in January, I regularly get calls from attorneys saying, "I've made a New Year's resolution to finally seek out a better job."
If you look at the most successful and satisfied attorneys, many of them are "planners" with regard to their careers. These attorneys understand that their careers are businesses. They have ongoing business plans that are regularly analyzed, updated, and changed when necessary. Indeed, career planning is so beneficial that many law firms are requiring associates and partners to create and maintain ongoing practice development plans.
Four Questions to Help You Quickly Determine Whether You Are Headed in the Right Direction
As you'll see below, there are four questions you can ask yourself to quickly help determine whether you are on the right path in your career, or whether it may make sense to consider some "career course correction."
1. Is your definition of "success" outdated?
Many attorneys find themselves in career dilemmas by having an outdated definition of success. For many, this starts during law school. For example, while in law school, many students had one single definition of success: landing a job in a prestigious firm (and one that pays a lot of money). The type of work or "fit of the practice" with one's personality was of little importance as long as the firm had a prestigious reputation.
Unfortunately, years after graduating from law school, many attorneys stay hitched (oftentimes unconsciously) to their outdated law school definition of success. This occurs even though their lives and circumstances have changed significantly over the years.
As your career progresses, realize that your definition of success should constantly be updated as well. For example, if you were 26 years old, single, carrying $120,000 in school loans, and working 2,600 hours a year at a prestigious firm in a practice area that you did not really enjoy but were receiving glowing reviews and huge yearly bonuses, you most likely viewed yourself as a success. You were tough enough to "put in the time," were admired and respected by peers and colleagues alike, made a very handsome salary, and were quickly paying off your loans.
If, however, you are now 37 years old, married with 2.3 children, and no longer paying off law school loans, your definition of success may have changed considerably. Now, success may be defined as working in an area of the law that you truly enjoy and look forward to on a day-to-day basis, while also maintaining more balance with your personal and family life. Making less money could be perfectly fine. Or, success could be defined as building a healthy book of business so that your career is portable.
There are many different ways to define success in your career, but it's important to make sure that you are not unconsciously being motivated and driven by an outdated definition of success.
2. Do you spend more of your time doing what you like or dislike?
Take a few moments to think about a typical day at work. What aspects do you look forward to the most? Speaking with clients on the phone? Meeting with clients in person? Reviewing documents? Sitting down in your office with a cup of coffee, closing the door, and churning out a brief? Going to court? Beating the other side to a pulp?
On the other hand, what do you enjoy doing least? Handling discovery? Talking to clients? Reviewing documents? Working on certain types of transactions? Going to court?
Now, think about what percentage of your day you spend doing what you enjoy and how much of your day is spent working on things you typically dislike? 60/40 percent? 80/20 percent? If you are spending most of your time doing what you enjoy, you are obviously in a good place, will likely be more successful because you enjoy what you are doing, and will perform at the highest level.
If, on the other hand, you are spending a majority of your time doing tasks or working on projects that you dislike, you are probably in an atmosphere that does not play to your personality and your unique strengths. Most attorneys in these situations—no matter how hard they work or how dedicated they try to be—typically lose steam within a few years and find themselves reassessing their careers and making substantial "course corrections" at a later time.
While the above may seem like an oversimplified and idealistic thought process, I am intimately familiar with the fact that you need to "put in your time" to reach a point where you will enjoy the practice much more and receive the opportunity to do what many attorneys consider the good stuff (e.g., counseling clients directly, attending client meetings, etc.) Still, you must make sure you are putting in your time for a position that you really want and see yourself thriving in, which leads us to Question 3.
3. Would you like to trade places with your superiors?
Take a close look at your superiors at work (or those who are in the position you are striving for, such as "partner"). When you observe what they do on a daily basis, do you get excited? If you could waive a magic wand and switch places with them today, would you? If you are not sure whether you would switch places with your superior—or the thought of trading places gives you a knot in your stomach—ask yourself why. This may be a sign that your path is leading you to somewhere you may not ultimately want to be.
4. What are your one-, three-, and five-year goals?
Many of us are caught up in what needs to be done today, tomorrow, or next week, but not much further. This is akin to using a very weak flashlight in the woods. Another good exercise is to think about your goals that extend beyond one or two months. In an ideal world, where would you want to be in one, three, or five years? Do you want to be doing what you're doing right now? Do you want to be in the same practice area? Do you hope to be with the same firm or company? What do you want your position to be? Of Counsel? Partner? General Counsel? How much money do you want to be making? With whom do you want to be working? How many hours do you want to be working?
Then, after mapping out these goals, ask yourself—honestly—whether your current position is leading you in this direction.
Are You Traveling on the Proper Course?
While these questions are short and simple, trying to answer them can be somewhat stressful for many attorneys because they cause you think about your career in a proactive sense rather than a reactive one. Indeed, there's something comforting and hypnotic about maintaining the status quo and only thinking about the next few weeks or months.
From a personal standpoint in my own life, I admit that these questions were often challenging for me to answer when I was in private practice. Many of my friends who are still practicing find these questions challenging to answer as well.
If you've analyzed your current situation and determined that you know where you want to be in a few years and think you are on the right track to get there, just keep doing what you're doing. You will move forward feeling even more confident that you're following the path you are meant to travel.
What happens, however, when following the road you're currently taking does not lead you to a place you ultimately want to be? This divergence causes some attorneys to just avoid the subject altogether, crumple up their career maps, and hope that things will somehow work themselves out in the future. Having to make important choices can create initial stress. But what's the alternative? The end-result of keeping your head in the sand—and ultimately ending up where you never really wanted to be in the first place—will cause much more pain in the long run.
If the nature of these four questions makes you a bit uncomfortable, take this as a gentle cue that perhaps there's something in your career that you are avoiding thinking about. View your reading of this article as a timely chance to take advantage of an opportunity and turn over a new leaf. What better time than the new year?
Just remember, taking the time to proactively chart and regularly reflect on your career path can result in significant benefits—both professional and personal. The benefits that come from doing this can drastically improve your level of career satisfaction and overall happiness for years to come.
Happy New Year, and travel smart!
Dan Binstock is the Managing Director of BCG Attorney Search's Washington, D.C. office, where he specializes in associate and partner placements. He can be reached at dbinstock (at) bcgsearch.com or 202-955-5585 (x1), and his biography can be viewed at www.bcgsearch.com/binstock_dan.html.
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