Are You Mistaking a Comfort Zone for Job-satisfaction?

Attorneys, like others in institutionalized professions, become accustomed to surroundings, develop patterns and habits of work, and create comfort zones that they subconsciously refuse to leave. Some are truly satisfied, and seem to have found their place in life, while others are just kidding themselves and killing their careers, just because they are afraid to leave comfort zones.

The same desk, the same window scene, the same courtrooms, the same security personnel, the same court staff, and the same pattern of work every day can work into the minds of even superheroes. Even the thought of separating one's self from such constants can cause pain, and our ever-present psychological defenses lull us into thinking everything is well as long as our relationships with those constants remain unchanged. It is illogical, but true nevertheless.


Surprisingly, how one is brought up, and the social context of a person, regardless of his or her individual mettle, plays a big role in shaping comfort zones. A study into the matter five years back shows “the more general measures of career satisfaction and mobility intentions are clearly related to patterns of social stratification. The analyses revealed that lawyers most satisfied with their career choice graduated from less selective law schools and work in less prestigious settings …lawyers least committed to staying with their employer are those who have the most options: graduates of top-tier law schools, working in larger private firms and in the federal government. In short, these patterns reinforce a structure of the profession whereby lawyers from the less selective school remain in the positions that are relatively less prestigious and remunerative, with expressions of satisfaction playing a key role in this process.” (Dinovitzer, and Garth)

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In fact, as research shows, people in intellectual professions like attorneys, often convince their own selves into believing they are happy with particular surroundings and job prospects, though, in fact, they could have moved to better circumstances and career prospects if they were able to overcome inertia. A lawyer in particular has a greater chance of falling prey to this syndrome because almost all challenges faced by a lawyer in terms of work and achievement are intellectual. Change keeps happening every day on the intellectual horizon for a lawyer, and constants on the physical horizon, from table lamps to favorite corners of the lounge are subconsciously sought to bring that ever-present stress of intellectual changes and challenges into finite perspectives. These, in turn become attached to the subconscious in a manner that the mere thought of leaving familiar surroundings causes mental pain.

To remain true to one's career objectives, and be true to one's own self, a lawyer needs to find critically whether the surroundings he/she finds so satisfying, also sufficiently fulfill his/her job and career objectives expected at that point of life. One also has to be sure that the present circumstances hold enough prospects to continue pursuing career objectives in the foreseeable future, before declaring the attainment of job-satisfaction.

Ronit Dinovitzer, and Bryant G. Garth, "Lawyer Satisfaction in the Process of Structuring Legal Careers," Law & Society Review 41.1 (2007)