Daily Priority One

As you know, we here at Abnormal Use often contribute content to other websites. Our Lindsay Joyner recently wrote an article for the South Carolina Bar’s Wellness Committee, and we thought you might be interested in that piece. Here’s the first few paragraphs:

Recently, one of the Living Above The Bar’s fitness partners sent me an article entitled “Why Exercising is a Higher Priority Than My Business,” which was featured in Entrepreneurship Magazine. She told me that the article would be, in her opinion, a great read for lawyers too. Upon reading the magazine title, I wondered what entrepreneurship and general law practice have in common. While solo and small practice lawyers may have to be entrepreneurial on a daily basis, as an associate in an 80+ person law firm, I do not always feel very entrepreneurial. Yet this article really resonated with me. Several things jumped out at me.

First, the author mentions putting exercise above the 100 important things going on in his daily life. This is something that I relate to. Next, he mentions worrying about people relying on him. This is another thing that I relate to as a lawyer, both with clients and with other members of the law firm. But what I most related to was the way in which he schedules and sticks to his workouts.

In the article, the author mentions that he prioritizes his exercise over all of his work activities. Of course, he allows for some flexibility, but if there is a conflict between a run and a meeting with a client, he will generally try and reschedule the client meeting first. His reasoning for this was that his business will survive even if he does not have the client meeting at that exact time. He feels that as soon as he starts pushing workouts off, it becomes way easier to do than pushing a client off. Then before he knows, workouts stop happening altogether. But it’s what happens when you stop exercising and start prioritizing only work the truly bothers him: he becomes depressed, loses motivation at work, and does not enjoy life as much. So in the end, he concludes that what makes his business successful is his ability to have time for himself and exercise.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.