No matter your age or stage of career ‘unhappiness’ is something many of us lawyers have to manage.

There is a strong chance that some of the passion and purpose that brought you here – that desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others – has started to fall away as your days in your office are filled with full intrays and inboxes and managing client conflicts and unhappy colleagues. I expect that your work life has become a little blurry, and probably very busy, with so much going on that you can’t tell me in detail just what you did today. And there is a good chance that if I asked you to tell me the last time you actually felt like you made a positive difference in the life of another person, you would have to pause, think hard and search back a little way. It probably seems like forever ago that you really felt great in your work. 

The thing is, I bet even today something you have done at work has had a positive impact in the world – the difficulty right now is that you won’t have noticed it. You have not trained your brain to look for and see these moments. Instead, your brain is very focused on what needs to be done, what is on that to-do list, and what you have to get through to make sure you can hit those billable targets. I expect that same brain is the one you take home with you and, sadly, it doesn’t come with an off switch. So at home, you probably find you are distracted, worrying about work and planning tomorrow rather than living today.