Lawyers are not professionals who are particularly well-known for taking care of themselves. With burnout common in the profession, it's become increasingly vital that lawyers learn how to take care of their own mental and physical health in order to keep their careers strong and their personal lives in good shape. Below are just a few of the ways that lawyers can practise self-care. Set Your Boundaries Perhaps the most important self-care tip is to learn how to set boundaries early and firmly. It is very easy to put in more hours than necessary and to do more work than you need to simply because someone else has asked for a favour, leading to a quick and often impressive burnout. If you want to take care of yourself, you need to learn when to say no and when to prioritize your own workload over the requests of others. Focus on Your Health An important part of self-care is taking care of your body. For some, this can be as simple as joining a gym and making sure to work out a few times a week. For others, it might mean slowing down enough to eat three healthy meals a day. The goal here is to keep your body in good shape so that it can support the tremendous amount of mental labour that you have to do as an attorney. Failure to take care of your body is going to make you sick, tired, and ineffective so think of self-care as just another tool for making you a better lawyer. Take Time Off One of the hardest things to do as a lawyer is to take time off. Whether you're climbing the ladder at a big firm or you're trying to run a small practice, it's vital that you give yourself time to rest so that you don't burn out. Even if you're just taking a weekend off every month, this will help you to take some time away from the law and focus a little more on yourself as a person. While this might go against the habits you learned as a new attorney, it's a habit that will allow you to grow into a more successful older attorney.
