Becoming a resilient, burnout-proof attorney means prioritizing mental health and getting serious about managing stress. Burnout research highlights ongoing studies and findings related to the nature of burnout, its stages, and methods for prevention and coping. Here are five strategies you can use.
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The legal profession is suffering. Recent studies indicate that stress, anxiety and burnout among lawyers are on the rise despite increased awareness and resources being directed to these problems. Statistics reveal that more and more lawyers — especially women — are experiencing burnout and considering quitting the practice of law.
In 2016, the ABA–Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation study on lawyers’ mental health raised the alarm. Since then, the American Bar Association and state bars have focused considerable resources on studying the problem and training lawyers to manage stress. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be working. According to data from the 2023 report on the NORC-University of Chicago Study of Lawyer Well-Being in Massachusetts, the problem is getting worse.
It is obvious that lawyers must get serious about prioritizing mental and emotional health. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, I have found that some practices do help relieve stress, anxiety and burnout.
Law Practice Is a Perfect Breeding Ground for Chronic Stress
All of the studies on lawyers’ mental health link stress to anxiety and depression, and heightened levels of drug and alcohol abuse.
Lawyers often feel overwhelmed due to the high levels of stress, making it crucial to manage everyday stress effectively.
Common sources of stress for lawyers include the following:
Overwork
Multiple caseloads and deadlines
Personality
Physical and emotional health
Relationships
Change
Financial problems
Unexpected challenges
Death of a loved one
Substance abuse
Parental Burnout Inventory: A tool for assessing stress levels in lawyers who are also parents
I would add perfectionism to that list.
If we were programmed for perfection, we were set up for stress. I don’t mean the perfection of acceptance; I am talking about the feeling or belief that everything must happen as we plan it. As life is what happens when we have something else planned, this program of perfection will inevitably create stress.
The more expectations we have, the more anxiety and stress we will have.
Understanding Burnout
Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion that can result from prolonged stress, overwork, and lack of balance in life. It can affect anyone, regardless of their profession or personal circumstances. Burnout can lead to emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced performance, ultimately affecting an individual’s mental and physical health.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a complex phenomenon that involves physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. It is characterized by feelings of hopelessness, detachment, and cynicism towards work, life, and others. Burnout can result from chronic stress, lack of control, poor work-life balance, and lack of social support. It can also be caused by traumatic events, such as the loss of a loved one, a serious illness, or a major life change.
Signs of Burnout
The signs of burnout can vary from person to person, but common symptoms include:
Emotional exhaustion: Feeling drained, depleted, and exhausted.
Cynicism and detachment: Feeling hopeless, jaded, and disconnected from others.
Reduced performance: Feeling ineffective, inefficient, and lacking motivation.
Physical symptoms: Headaches, fatigue, insomnia, and digestive problems.
Behavioral changes: Procrastination, absenteeism, and substance abuse.
Recognizing these signs early can help you take steps to manage stress and prevent burnout.
Identifying Stress Triggers
Often, stress triggers are formed early in life. Our parents are often the source of our anxiety because they taught us anxiety is a necessary part of life.
Perhaps your parents struggled to make ends meet and constantly sent you negative messages about money. Messages of bad luck, unfairness, blame and anxiety about money will create similar patterns in the minds of impressionable young children.
Or perhaps your parents struggled with their relationship and sent you messages of guilt, jealousy, rejection, abandonment or insecurity.
If your parents often expressed feelings of victimhood, you will have learned how to react to life in similar ways.
If your parents were highly judgmental and constantly criticizing, you likely also learned to be judgmental. If you constantly perceive that the world is wrong and you are right, that tension between the wrong and right will eventually produce stress.
If young children observe negative talk, it will often instill negative self-talk in the child. Constantly criticizing ourselves will create anxiety through self-hatred.
Buried memories and feelings often bubble up later in life as stress. Low self-esteem — common among lawyers — contributes to stress. Lawyers have numerous opportunities to be self-critical and beat themselves up, but lawyers who suffered childhood abuse or trauma are more likely to have low self-esteem.
Identifying Your Risk Factors
Identifying your risk factors for burnout can help you take proactive steps to prevent it. Certain individuals are more prone to burnout due to their profession, personality, or personal circumstances.
Who Experiences Burnout?
Anyone can experience burnout, but certain individuals are more at risk due to their profession, personality, or personal circumstances. These include:
Healthcare professionals: Doctors, nurses, and caregivers who work long hours and are exposed to high levels of stress.
Students: Students who are under pressure to perform well academically and balance their personal life.
Athletes: Athletes who are under pressure to perform well and balance their training with their personal life.
Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs who work long hours and are responsible for the success of their business.
Parents: Parents who are responsible for caring for their children and managing their household.
Individuals with high-stress jobs: Individuals who work in high-stress environments, such as finance, law, or emergency services.
Understanding who is at risk can help you take the necessary steps to reduce stress and avoid burnout. By being aware of these risk factors, you can implement stress management techniques and self-care practices to maintain a healthy balance in your life.
5 Steps to Prevent Burnout and Become a Burnout-Proof Attorney
To help protect your health, livelihood and peace of mind, here are a few practices you can use to manage stress and increase your resilience.
Maintaining healthy sleep habits is crucial for improving sleep hygiene and overall well-being. Adults typically require seven to nine hours of sleep per night for optimal well-being. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine and avoiding distractions, such as screens, can significantly enhance the quality of your sleep. Dedicating just a few minutes to activities like meditation and self-care can also lead to significant improvements in relaxation and overall well-being. Preventing burnout involves effectively managing your workload, setting realistic time management practices, and recognizing the signs of burnout.
1. Join or Form a Mastermind Group
Resilience requires a team effort, so I always encourage lawyers to build a team or a “posse.” Elite professional athletes rely on coaches, trainers, counselors, friends and family to excel. Lawyers should do the same.
Napoleon Hill coined the phrase “mastermind group,” meaning a group of peers who discuss problems, issues, current events, business and other topics related to personal growth. Groups like this are crucial for growth and evolution. Benjamin Franklin started one of the first peer advisory groups in America when he was in his 20s. Some of its members went on to participate in the Continental Congress.
It takes support and inspiration to build a successful legal career. Relationships remind you that you are not alone. Your group doesn’t have to be made up of lawyers or legal professionals — some believe these groups should be diverse. Anyone who can help you feel safe and supported will help build your resilience.
2. Focus on the Positive
It is unhealthy to focus on negative thoughts. Transformational leaders look to neurolinguistic programming to help people transform their lives by changing their thoughts from negative to positive. But changing negative thoughts to positive ones doesn’t have to be complicated. You can choose not to focus on negative thoughts and to focus on positive ones instead.
For example, train yourself to look at what you learned from an experience rather than the adverse results — to look at what you’ve gained instead of what you may have lost. One technique is to reframe your thoughts. A good example is the phrase “have to.” When you replace “I have to do this” with “I have the opportunity to …” you will feel the stress begin to evaporate.
3. Get a Sense of Humor
Lawyers often blame themselves when they don’t get the results clients want. They take adverse results personally and assume it reflects on their competence. We must remember the big picture — that practicing law has a lot of moving parts over which we have limited control. A sense of humor can help you keep a proper perspective. Law is serious business but life is much more rewarding when you are having fun. Watching comedy shows, reading cartoons, and laughing with colleagues can lighten the load.
4. Feed Your Soul with Self Care
Many people don’t give a lot of thought to their spiritual practices beyond attending church or other religious gatherings. In fact, spiritual practices — meditating, listening to music, learning something new, visiting art galleries, or spending time outdoors connecting with nature — greatly benefit mental health. These activities feed our soul, helping us connect to something bigger than our career. Anything that connects us to our inner divinity goes a long way to bolster our resilience.
5. Cultivate Your Guru
In previous articles, I’ve written about our nervous system’s flight-or-fight response, how it damages our physical and mental health, and ways to activate our nervous system’s “feel good” response. (See “Warrior and the Guru.”) In brief, when activated, our bodies produce endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine, melatonin and serotonin to make us feel good. We can reason, communicate clearly, connect, compromise, create, problem-solve — and relax. To go from stressed-out mode to calm mode, try “brain hacks” like these:
Smile.
Breathe deeply.
Utilize eye movement by looking all the way to the left, holding for 60 seconds, and then looking all the way to the right for 60 seconds.
Sing or hum.
More details on these hacks can be found in “Calming Your Warrior Brain” and “Three Breathing Techniques.”
If done regularly throughout the day, practices like these can greatly reduce stress.
Make Mental Health and Emotional Health a Priority
The stress of a law practice is unrelenting. The key to becoming a burnout-proof attorney is having a consistent and focused approach to managing stress. Make it a priority to incorporate any of these steps into your routine, and you will improve your resilience and experience practicing law.
