If I had to do it all over again: Lessons in wellbeing

Introduction

When thinking about a subject to write about for an article, I normally find myself turning towards a deep dive into recent case law or legal guidance and extrapolating the key takeaways to help any readers in their practice. However, on this occasion, I find myself deciding to chart into some unfamiliar waters and write something a little more personal. 

For those who don’t know, as well as my day-to-day practice as a Consultant Barrister, I am also Unit’s Wellbeing Officer which is a role I share with our Marketing and Communications Manager, Daniela Mizzen. I have to confess that, prior to coming into the role a couple of years ago, wellbeing wasn’t really a topic that I gave particularly strong thought to. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t a topic I cared about because it is certainly an important one, but rather it was always a bit of an afterthought in my mind. Particularly when I was starting out in the job, and it definitely showed in my early years. Having reflected back on my time as a pupil, I can say in hindsight, I was definitely not the best example of having a healthy work-life balance.

Today however, wellbeing is a topic that I hold great passion for and I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far for chambers. I would like to think I’ve come a long way from who I was during my pupillage, but it took a lot of mistakes and life lessons to get to where I am now. I am therefore left pondering the question, which will be the subject of today’s article, if I could do it all over again, what would I do differently?

Lesson 1: Don’t take your eye off the ball with your diary

I don’t intend to glamourise the life in this profession. It is a tough job with very long hours where you tackle tough emotional subjects and there can be a lot at stake with your clients’ cases but interestingly though, it’s not always consistent. Your diary can change like shifting sands going from easy-going and manageable to an “all-hands-on-deck” feeling which can stretch on for days going into weeks and leading to the inevitable feeling of burnout. At the end of the day, if there is an empty slot in the diary then it is our Support Team’s job to fill that gap and you can find yourself suddenly with a pretty high workload if you aren’t careful.

I’ve made countless mistakes in this regard and it still happens to this day. I find myself going a million miles per hour hopping from hearings to drafting to researching to prepping and all the while gasping for some air in those minutes in-between! The number of times I’ve found myself in this position has definitely eased off as I’ve become more experienced, but it definitely still happens from time to time. It is therefore important to always look at the diary going into the next few months and plug in some dates where you can book some time off and give yourself a breather. I actively do this now and look at the diary within the next several months making sure to give myself regular breaks from the job, whether that be holidays or long weekends or even just giving myself a day off now and then. It keeps me focused and in check for the tasks ahead. It also helps me with having something exciting to look forward to and work towards during the year. At the end of the day everyone is different in terms of how they handle their workload and therefore how much time they need off. There isn’t a right or wrong answer, so pick the pace that suits you.

Lesson 2: Switching off email notifications

Now this is something I’ve only started doing this year and if you asked me to do it during pupillage or even in the first few years of tenancy, I would have looked at you with a healthy dose of horror and shock. This year, I decided to switch off my email notifications on my phone and it was something originally recommended to me by a colleague at chambers. Nowadays, I’m hard pressed to find a better decision I’ve made for my wellbeing than this.

We all know emails are an essential part of the job as they are effectively our primary tool of keeping up-to-date. What I found happening for me, however, was that if I was speaking to my partner or a friend and an email notification popped up on my phone, I would take a glance at it and usually see something to do with an important case I was working on. Once I would see that, the gears in my head would immediately start working and I would slip into some deep thought about how that information impacted on the case. I would be asking myself questions like: How is this going to affect my client’s case? What do I need to do to advance my client’s case further? Who do I need to speak to about this? Are there any tactics or strategies that I need to use on behalf of my client?

By the time I finished asking those questions, I would see the face of the person opposite me staring blankly at me waiting for my response. I had basically zoned out for the past minute or so.

What I’ve come to realise is that those email notifications were stopping me from being in the present moment. It can have an impact on the personal conversations you are having with a partner, a friend or another colleague who is on a break and it was getting to a stage for me where I realised it was a negative one.

The reality is that I am never going to stop checking my emails regularly during the day and it tends to be quite often during the day, so stopping the notifications wasn’t really going to cause any significant prejudice. By switching off notifications, it’s allowed me to be far more present with those around me and has prevented me from inadvertently switching between my work mindset and personal life mindset.

Lesson 3: Preparation is key

When you have a job where you are juggling a lot of tasks, thoughts and considerations (both work and personal life) then it gets to a stage where you feel like you are one of those circus performers miraculously spinning several plates at the same time. It doesn’t take much for something to make it all start tumbling down!

I find myself in this position constantly and it’s not hard for things to start sliding around me – perhaps it’s not training in the gym regularly or I’ve not prioritised time with family and friends or I find myself doing my house chores on my days off (trust me, it’s not fun!).

I cannot stress enough how important planning and preparation is for your career because, chances are, you’re not going to pull everything off if you haven’t got a plan in place to back it. Nowadays, I’m constantly planning my workload to make sure I can fit in the stuff I value most in my personal life. I’m not perfect at it and you will have those days where your back is up against the wall, but that’s just the way the profession goes and it’s important to minimise this as much as possible with effective planning. If you can achieve this, it will lead to more positive outcomes such as a healthier work-life balance, stronger relationships with those around you and a continued love for your job.

Written by Consultant Barrister and Wellbeing Officer, Amjad Kadhim.