“Burnout” has been described as a disease of disengagement. It’s a chronic process that arises slowly and insidiously and is the result of a mismatch between the demands of the job and ones’ available resources for dealing with or adapting to those demands.
For legal professionals, the challenges are multiple, including:
Heavy workload and long hours
High stakes legal matters involving serious consequences
Client pressure and expectations
Billable hour pressure
Difficulty work-life balance
Career advancement pressure
Ethical and professional risks
In addition to the above challenges involved in practicing law, this profession demands acute attention to detail and the price for making a mistake or not being on your “A Game” can be anything from charging large fees to a client and not succeeding in the case to even costing a client a life sentence in prison.
The “work hard, play later” culture in most busy legal practices, along with the perceived need to constantly be the rock of stability during stressful times often prevents legal professionals from acknowledging that they need help dealing with the demands of their profession.
Believe it or Not: Your Job Stress is Actually Under Your Control
Mental health professionals have long understood that the amount of stress a person experiences is largely under her/his control.
From research in the Positive Psychology and Neurosciences, we now know that most of the deficiencies, limitations and problems that people have are essentially rooted in their own self-talk.
Ones’ emotions are never caused by the events or situations they face on their jobs or in their lives. Instead, emotions are always caused by the conversations you have in your head about those situations.
Neuroscience teaches us that every thought…positive or negative…chemically and electronically transfers to every cell in the body instantly.
For example, let’s say a client is upset with you. If your thoughts are positive and rational (such as “I have dealt with this issue before with this client and we worked it out”), then the result is neutral or calming emotions.
Conversely, if your thought pattern is toxic, such as “What if he is so upset with me that he fires me? I lose a ton of fees as a result, and my boss will be really upset?” In this case your resultant emotions might include, fear, anger, frustration, anxiety, etc.
So here is how it works:
Negative (toxic) beliefs and thoughts lead to toxic self-talk, which chemically and electronically affect every cell immediately, even if those beliefs and thoughts are irrational. Your brain doesn’t judge them. It just reacts to them. Positive, healthy beliefs and thoughts lead to neutral and positive self-talk, which leads to calming emotions.
Once you recognize your chronic toxic thought patterns, you can modify them quickly to prevent long-term stress and burnout
Toxic Thoughts often begin with these words: What if…I shouldn’t have said…, I hope I don’t… I can’t…
The average person has 60,000 thoughts/day--- research shows that the vast majority are negative/toxic and lead to self-doubt, worry, insecurity and lack of confidence
Negative Emotions (fear, anxiety, stress) resulting from toxic self talk wire into the brain 1000 X faster than positive emotions, in order to protect us… it’s a survival mechanism from our ancient reptilian brain, developed when we had to fight predators or hunt down our food.
So negative self-talk frequently occurs for most of us. It is a remnant of our ancient lives when we had to be super vigilant to stay alive. The part of your brain that provides the fight or flight response is the ancient amygdala…it is a reactive brain, developed millions of years before the cortex, which we use to think, plan and be creative.
The amygdala doesn’t differentiate a charging lion from your fears about the not being fully prepared to argue a case in court. It turns on the same fight or flight system in order to save you.
Since the #1 priority of the brain is safety, negative are very quickly analyzed and the brain decides if there is danger. If the brain can’t see all of the information to make that decision, the default switch is not take a chance and turn on fight or flight response---shutting logical thinking and other systems off in order to to deal with the danger—so the person feels stuck, with difficulties making decisions, procrastinating, fear of failure, etc.
Any toxic thought triggers stress hormones flowing, raising your blood pressure and causing a myriad of sensations in your body in its effort to “save you” from the ensuing “danger.” At the same time, it shuts down systems not necessary for immediately saving your life, such as your normal thinking ability, sex drive, digestion and even your immune system.
If this system is repeatedly turned on and you are thinking toxic thoughts many times a day (traffic, your kids, the news, impatience dealing with colleagues or subordinates, etc.,) each time you shut down the immune system. This takes a toll on your health as well as your job performance and burnout may become the result.
The good news is that your habitual thinking patterns can be modified. …once you recognize the specific toxic self-talk that causes your problems, you can choose to modify it.
In this series of articles, I will show you many easy-to-learn techniques to use for preventing burnout. Here is the first one:
Burnout Prevention Skill #1: The 3-Step Rubber Band Technique
This simple, but powerful, technique is used for quickly eradicating toxic thoughts. I have used it with highly stressed attorneys doctors and other professionals very successfully.
Step 1: Get a thick rubber-band, such as the kind (#64) that come in the mail, wrapping bundles.
Write a positive statement on the rubber band, such as “Just relax, this will pass.”
Wear the rubber band on your wrist
Whenever you feel upset, anxious, angry, frustrated, etc. focus on the toxic thought you just had (e.g., “I hope I am ready to argue this case”), snap the rubber band and tell yourself, “Stop this silly, self-defeating thinking!”
Step 2: Take in a few very deep breaths (in through your nose and out through your mouth). This will calm down your emotions and body.
Step 3: Replace the anxiety-producing thought with a positive, nurturing thought, such as, “I have done all I can to prepare and will use my talent to provide the best legal presentation available.”
Like any new skill, practice improves success, so practice this technique outside of the office as well. You will find yourself soon automatically stopping toxic thoughts, relaxing and producing healthy, counter-thoughts quickly!
Dr. Jack Singer has spent 47 years as a Professional Clinical/Sport Psychologist, teaching elite athletes, including 3 Olympic Gold Medal Winners, how to develop and maintain championship-level performance, when it matters the most. As a professional speaker and trainer, he consults with law firms, teaching the exact same skills to attorneys and their staffs.
Visit www.drjacksinger.com