What's embarrassing isn't talking about this stuff.

What's embarrassing is that law still rewards perfectionism, overwork, and pretending you've got it all together, and treats that as normal.

January exposes it.

The year changed dates.
Your workload is getting full.
And you start wondering why the break didn't leave you feeling refreshed.

You can do everything right and still wonder if this is enough - if you're enough.

On paper, you look successful.

In practice, it can feel like you're one mistake away from being found out.

You keep pushing through. 
You keep delivering.

And the thought that shows up fast in January is simple:
If this is January, what's the rest of the year going to look and feel like?

I talk about this because I've lived inside the profession. 
I'm a barrister (ex-litigation), and I still mediate disputes. 

I see what happens behind closed doors, the chaos people downplay, the stress they dismiss as "normal", the pressure everyone treats as the price of success.

January doesn't create these problems.

The break distracts people for a couple of weeks, making it easier to ignore until they're back at work.

Most lawyers don't challenge this.
Coping and delivering is the expected standard.

I don't buy it. 
It's a myth.

Legal skills matter.
And these skills are assumed.
Everyone in practice is expected to be technically competent.

What separates people over time isn't legal skills; it's what happens when the work doesn't slow down, and there's nothing else to fall back on.

How decisions are made.
How hard conversations are handled.
How conflict is dealt with.
How performance stays high when things don't go to plan.
How boundaries are set. 

These are not legal skills, and they are what determine whether you and your practice do well over time.

Avoiding these is a choice.

The cost of that choice is people continuing to achieve, deliver, and cope, while going through the motions, no longer enjoying their career, mediations or their life, and performing below their best - year after year - as the profession carries on as usual.

What we walk past, we accept.

I'm not interested in staying silent while lawyers and barristers tell themselves that the accepted cost of how they operate is the price of success.

Getting through the day isn't the same as doing your work consistently well, especially if others are watching how you approach it.

It's reasonable to want more for yourself and from your practice than what you've learned to accept.

🚀If you're done calling "coping," the standard... join my High Performance Newsletter HERE

I write about preparation, performance, and leadership, including how lawyers and barristers operate under pressure, for those who want to keep doing this work at a high level without sacrificing everything else that matters.

No pretending.
No martyrdom.
Just better ways of showing up and working, chosen deliberately.