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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. How are you? We are here to help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career as an attorney. And it’s where we make the practice of law fun. And today we’re going to talk about how to enjoy your nights and weekends as a lawyer.
[00:00:25] Scott Benton: An attorney, an important subject because when you’re working as an attorney, your nights and weekends are critically important for you to recover from a demanding work day or demanding week or even a longer period of time where you might, for instance, be focused on a trial.
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[00:01:30] Scott Benton: Now, somehow you need to be able to recover so you have the energy and the ability to think clearly and go back to work on Monday morning, fully recharged.
[00:01:40] Scott Benton: So that means you’ve got to be able to turn it off. You have to be able to enjoy your nights. You have to be able to enjoy your weekends and your vacations. And this is something that we talk about a lot at the law firm that I work for. Now sometimes the work can feel overwhelming or it can feel like you’re struggling to stay in control of all of the [00:02:00] cases that you’re working on, and you’ve got a lot of plates spinning, and you don’t want any of those plates to fall.
[00:02:06] Scott Benton: That kind of anxiety is something that you can carry with you, really wherever you go, which includes when you go home at night, and on the weekends, and when you go on vacation, and you can get yourself into a mindset where You’re still at work, even though you’re not still at work, so it becomes important to look at why you found yourself in this kind of position where there’s just no downtime and where there’s just no opportunity to recover from what can be a demanding work week. It’s imperative to set aside time for enjoyment. To spend time with your family and your friends and to go out and do fun activities. And that you find a way to recharge the batteries and just clear out your mind so you don’t get trapped in the state of burnout that it’s eventually going to force you to recover because you’re going to get sick and that means you’re going to have to stay at home and you’re not going to feel good and nobody wants any of that.
[00:02:59] Scott Benton: So there’s [00:03:00] generally a couple of reasons why you get to this point when it becomes impossible to enjoy your nights and weekends. And it doesn’t just boil down to one or two factors because I’m sure as life isn’t just binary. It’s not black and white. It’s not just a series of switches that are either on or off.
[00:03:18] Scott Benton: Even though sometimes we wish it was, but for the most part, it’s because you’re trying to keep all of the information about all of the cases that you’re working on in your head at the same time. And sometimes you can have as many as 30 or 40 cases, which is a lot of information to retain. So trying to memorize all of that data would burn out anyone, and it’s definitely going to ruin your nights, and it’s definitely going to ruin your weekends.
[00:03:45] Scott Benton: It’s also going to make it very difficult to have a successful to do list system that’s clear and efficient and works properly, because you’re likely going from one crisis task to the next, and you’re never going to get on [00:04:00] top of your to do list to organize it, And prioritize your tasks. It’s really important that you do that each and every day.
[00:04:08] Scott Benton: So you’re trying to make sure none of those spinning plates falls to the ground now when you get disorganized, those plates are more likely to start falling off the spinners and onto the ground. It’s exhausting even talking about it, but if the goal here is for you to really enjoy your nights and really enjoy your weekends, and that should be the goal, then it means you’re going to have to make some changes.
[00:04:32] Scott Benton: It means you’re going to have to get organized with a system that you follow, and you’re going to have to be disciplined every single day in how you manage your workflow as an attorney. So what I’m getting at here is a subject that we talk about on this podcast all the time. And it’s the idea that you’re making sure you have your attorney notes completed for each and every case that you work on.
[00:04:55] Scott Benton: Now attorney notes are a separate file that you create for each case. [00:05:00] And it’s where you write down absolutely everything that you know about that case. And you basically mind dump. All that information that you’re busy carrying around in your head and trying to keep it all straight, but you really want to instead unburden yourself and free up that priceless mind space so that you can use that processing power for thinking instead of for storing thousands of case facts.
[00:05:29] Scott Benton: Now all of those case facts belong in your attorney notes. It’s not in your brain. They belong in your attorney notes so that you can refer to them, you can update them, and you can record anything that pertains to the case because really the client is never going to see these notes that when the case is closed, these files, the attorney notes, they do not go to the client
[00:05:53] Scott Benton: now, attorney notes do not go with the files that are later transferred to the client once the case is over and done [00:06:00] with.
[00:06:00] Scott Benton: And now here’s the secret to really enjoying your nights and weekends, and that is that those attorney notes are then used to put your to do list together that you prioritize, that you refer to, in order to guide the legal work that you complete. They help you complete and even exceed your minimum billable hourly requirements.
[00:06:19] Scott Benton: That means bonuses, that means advancing your career. You’re gonna, your whole day is gonna become highly productive and it all starts with the attorney notes and it’s gonna make your productivity soar. So that when you walk out of the office for the day, you’re gonna have such a strong feeling of accomplishment that your nights and weekends, you’re not gonna help it.
[00:06:40] Scott Benton: They can’t be anything but fun and uplifting. Your mind is free, you’re cranking out your work, and you’ve got a system firmly in place that keeps you highly productive over the span of your entire legal career. Not just a day or a week or a month, but your entire legal career. So you might be able to see why attorney notes in [00:07:00] your to do list working in tandem together is such a powerful productivity tool for you to master and to use.
[00:07:07] Scott Benton: So I hope that’s been helpful. My name is Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. Now if this podcast is material that you like and you want to get notified whenever we post a new episode, you can go to our website. Our website is classroom2courtroom.
[00:07:22] Scott Benton: com. That’s classroom, the number two, courtroom. com. You can leave us your contact information. We’ll send you an email anytime we post a new episode. You can also stay on top of all of our new episodes by sharing, liking, and subscribing wherever you find this podcast. And until the next episode, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time.
[00:07:43] Scott Benton: Thank you so much.
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