“In order to practice, you must be present in your mind,” said the yoga teacher at the beginning of a recent class. So it goes with any practice whether it be law, medicine, or running a business. In order to be fully present, however, you must find a way to be calm. That’s the tricky part.
Early in my career, I went to the doctor complaining of shortness of breath, expecting him to prescribe medication. “You need to exercise three days a week,” he said. “If I write that on a prescription, will you do it?” I was experiencing anxiety and his advice helped me make the connection between self-care and professional survival. Every lawyer worries, but I was taking it to the black-belt level. My boss at the time said that he was never concerned about trial preparation “because you worry about everything.” The only problem was that I couldn’t turn it off.
