I found a wonderful set of ideas, designed for a new attorney who is building a practice. However, many of the daily rhythm points make sense in other contexts, including a big writing context.
Here's a piece of the day, up through noon. Follow this link for more.
Proposed Time Sheet Approach For Surviving as a New Lawyer.
This approach is presented as follows: "time what why"
6:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m.
Arise. Engage in stretching exercises for 15 minutes. Engage in aerobic exercise (walking, running, etc.) for 15 to 20 minutes. Engage in the ritual of your choice for 15 to 20 minutes followed by 15 to 20 minutes of journalizing. Eat breakfast at a fixed time.
A practice that has been shown to help in combating depression is regular, fixed times for getting up in the morning and regular aerobic exercise. The least expensive remedies for stress are fixed sleep periods, aerobic exercise and stretching.
Overall mental health and job search successes are tightly linked to honest observance of religious ritual (statistically the honesty and sincerity is the controlling factor for the benefit) and journalizing (not time/date/note entries but reflective and expressive writing about one's life).
It is important to maintain mental health and to reduce stress and depression. It is also important to succeed.
8:30 a.m.
Leave home and go to a professionally related activity with people. Participate in a free legal services clinic for the poor or AIDS victims or minorities or immigrants or the families of criminals or death row appeals or ... just so long as it is a professional activity and you are leaving by 8:30 a.m. (or earlier) and starting by 9:00 a.m.
This keeps you on an organized schedule. It provides you with useful experience that can be added to your resume, provides you with some training. It keeps you from becoming isolated and from wasting or losing time (which often happens if you habitually go to the library to read papers and look for job openings or some similar endeavor).
Noon
Eat a regular meal. Try to join a "brown bag" group that includes attorneys.
Eating with, and listening to (which is why you are eating with others) attorneys in similar situations to yourself is an excellent way to gain insight and to reconsider ideas you have. It also helps you build appropriate professional contacts and is the beginning of a network.
If you have a secondary skill (e.g. accounting, insurance, stock brokering, etc.) it is good to also find a group in that area (or those areas) to have lunch with from time to time.
Some attorneys have as many as three lunch groups. (E.g. Mon Wed Fri with attorneys, Tues with insurance adjusters, Thurs with chiropractors). More is stretching it and most people should start with one.
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| Photographer: | Will Simpson |
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