One of the weirdest, most disorienting schedules I ever worked was a rotating managers’ schedule at Walmart. On some days, I’d have to clock in at 4 am. On other days, I’d be clocking out at 10 pm. It was insane. I barely got any sleep, my nerves were shot, and I began to have nightmares about small, brown boxes full of freight.
You need consistency in your schedule. Because no matter your age, your level of expertise, or your skill set, routine is good for every interrelated part that helps you work at your best, enjoy life, and function well. Being an excellent lawyer doesn’t mean getting two hours of sleep, hurting yourself, or running on 1% battery life as though exhaustion were a badge of honor.
Your mind, body, and legal practice all deserve better. So let’s walk through the benefits of consistency, why routine is a good thing, and how to get started setting up a healthier schedule.
Your mental health absolutely benefits from a schedule that’s predictable and manageable, day in and day out. Think of this: recall the last time you had a “jump scare” work-related surprise that hit you out of nowhere, disrupted your day, and left you scrambling to rearrange your schedule to accommodate it. How did you feel at that moment?
A bit knocked off your center? Slightly anxious? Tired? Momentarily fearful? Even though you handle problems like this daily, forcing yourself to endure continual emergencies due to a lack of consistency takes a toll on your mental health. These constant pockets of anxiety, distraction, and reorientation wear away at your equilibrium, putting you at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and burnout.
And when you work odd hours and have no real sense of what you’ll be handling on any given day, your capacity to enjoy what you do can begin to wobble. No matter how deeply you care about clients and how skilled you are as a legal advocate, the mind needs a degree of predictability to really hone in and enjoy the tasks at hand.
Because without a predictable schedule, your nervous system begins to take on the flood water of physical exhaustion. Think of it this way: when you close your laptop at 12 am most nights and have to wake up at 5 am, then head into work with no real sense of what’s coming, your mind is not only on constant alert, but exhausted. You’re lacking sleep, and your mental health is going to begin to sink, too.
When you’re working hours similar to my nightmare Walmart hours, you know something needs to change. To be blunt, you didn’t go to law school to sink your well-being with a schedule like that. Because a lack of consistency will impact not only your mental health, but your physical health, as well.
The mind-body connection is real, and any attorney who’s pushed themselves beyond their limits can attest to that. When you have a routine that can be predicted, your mind is no longer on constant alert, wondering “Oh, crap, what’s coming at me today?”
Instead, with daily consistency, your mind can slow down, focus, and doesn’t have to handle ten things at once. Your body can relax, as well. You’re also working a schedule that allows for a healthy amount of sleep, at least seven hours per night.
Now, you can rest well, eat at more regular times, and lower your barriers a bit. Your heart rate can begin to slow, resulting in better cardiovascular health, more energy, and better digestion. It’s tough to get through a day and concentrate when your heart rate’s up, stomach cramps are bothering you, and your muscles ache. With a more consistent schedule, your body can begin to ease into a better, healthier rhythm.
Consider the following common, “phantom” symptoms and check off how many you experience in a week:
All of these are possible indications that your body is bearing the burden of an unpredictable, exhausting schedule. But the more consistent and manageable your workday is, the better your body will function. Inflammation, heart rate, and tissue stress will all come down. Energy levels improve, and you’ll feel better overall.
Because when you feel better, you can work better, too. And that improved physical and mental health is a huge boon to the crux of your legal practice: your ability to represent clients well.
Knowing what you’ll be doing each day and working reasonable hours is a huge benefit to your firm, too. You deserve to be able to show up to work mentally and physically fit, and your clients need this from you, as well.
Because for an attorney, consistency ought to result in productivity as well as stability. And to be productive, you need to have the bandwidth to focus on the core tasks you went to law school for:
When you have the consistency to zero in on these tasks for most of (if not all of) your day you now know exactly what you’ll be handling. It’s the crucial work, the work that demands and deserves your full attention for the longest periods of time.
A consistent, productive workday lets you time block, strategize in depth, and use more of your mental acuity to get fantastic, tailored results.
Because what sounds more desirable? Representing a client charged with a serious felony on three hours of sleep as the phone rings off the hook? Or representing them on eight hours of sleep with smaller administrative tasks being handled by someone you can trust? And what scenario do you think is more likely to result in that client seeing their charges lowered or dropped?
When your workday is optimized, your momentum, brain power, physical energy, and skills are all focused together, helping create excellent results that get talked about, change your clients’ lives, and help you truly enjoy the work you trained for.
So how can you begin to create a healthier, more consistent schedule? To start, you need a system in place that can help ensure each day is structured, more predictable, and optimized to help you spend your day on representation, not administration.
The ideal system for that? An ILA from DocketWorks. Your ILA comes fully trained, works when you work, and can help you handle a wide variety of tasks, including:
The result? A fellow, accredited lawyer handles the smaller tasks, helping you spend more valuable time on client representation. Fewer distractions, fewer surprises, and a healthier routine for your mind, body, and focus.
Now, instead of working until 9 pm every night, you spend just eight hours tackling core tasks with optimal energy, insight, and intention. Your family sees more of you, downtime is more enjoyable, and your physical and mental health can begin to sync.
All it takes is a single phone call. We handle training, onboarding, and continual support for you and your ILA.
Consistency can help improve your mental health, physical health, momentum, and professional reach. And with DocketWorks, you can get started with a more manageable schedule in just a few weeks.
Take back your well-being, enjoyment of work, energy levels, and free time with just one phone call. Interested in what a more consistent routine can do for your firm? Reach out to Parke Parker for a no-pressure Discovery Call today. You’ll get answers, solutions, and a pathway cleared to a much healthier week.
Grace Singh is a writer and editor for DocketWorks. She enjoys bridging services and client needs in ways that are meaningful, memorable, and human-focused, even as technology continues to change. When she’s not at her home office, she enjoys nature walks, reading, and brewing coffee.