5 Self-Development Tips Every Lawyer Needs To Take Advantage Of

No matter how busy you are, self-development needs to be part of every lawyer’s routine!

As a solo or small firm lawyer, you absolutely have to invest a great deal of yourself into your business. That’s why it’s important to continually learn and grow, even when you’re not in the office.

Putting in the effort to grow yourself will reap huge benefits for both your practice and personally, so it’s important to block off time for these types of activities in your schedule. There are several different things that you can do in order to focus on self-development that don’t require sacrificing the rest of your duties. Here are a few that you can put into your schedule today.

1. Exercise Your Mind and Body

A healthy practice starts with a healthy mind, and a healthy mind goes hand in hand with a healthy body. Being active is a great way for many people to relax and clear their minds. Making the effort and sticking to it will help you to lead a healthier, less stressful and more productive life.

Find something that you enjoy, like running, going to the gym, swimming or even golfing. You’ll be surprised at how well you’ll feel mentally afterward. Many people get some of their greatest ideas while spending some time exercising.

2.  Meet With Other Lawyers

Networking with other lawyers is the key to staying inspired in your own practice and goals. One of the easiest ways to network with other lawyers is to join an all lawyer mastermind group.

An all lawyer mastermind group will help you to solve problems that are slowing you down, give you insight on how to other lawyers got past the same challengest your going through and can even start some referral relationships. Plus having a close-knit group of people in your corner is also a good thing to have.

3.  Continual Education

A good entrepreneurial lawyer knows they are never done learning. No matter if you are fresh out of law school or if you’ve been practicing for 30 years, you must never stop the pursuit of knowledge.

This doesn’t mean you have to bury yourself in law libraries, one simple way to continue learning is to stay up to date in your industry and practice area or always pay attention to what your competition is doing. It’s also easier than ever to attain this knowledge. Listen to podcasts, read books, subscribe to blogs and follow youtube accounts that share the knowledge you’re looking for. 

4. Take Time Off

Like we mentioned in tip #1 when you have a healthy mindset, you’re better at your job. But exercise is not the only thing that can be done to achieve that state of mind. Taking time off from work and spending it with your friends and family can do wonders for your mental health and leave you feeling recharged and ready to hit the ground running.

Plus, when you’re feeling really stressed or overworked, spending time with those who care about you most can help you to look at challenges from a different angle. Or you can use their interpretations to help shape how you handle situations or challenges in the future. 

5.  Embrace Change

Strategies for running a law firm are always changing. The best techniques in terms of running a law firm from last year or maybe even last month might not work as well today. And you will need to be aware of those changes and adapt to them as they come. What you can’t do is be stubborn and stuck in your ways. Otherwise, your practice will be left behind.

Your professional self-development plan for your practice needs to include how you are going to change and what you’re going to do to stay on top of industry changes.