How to Live Your Dreams

I wish I could tell you how to live your dreams. Unfortunately, I don’t know what your dreams are.

It really doesn’t matter if I know what you’re dreaming. The question is, do you know what your dreams are?

Do you have something you’re working toward? Do you have a vision of where you’re headed?

It’s easy to get on the train of high school, college, law school, law firm, and then ownership of a family law practice. Here we are.

Is this really where we want to be?

If so, great. You’re already living your dream.

If this isn’t your dream, then all is well so long as you know what your dream is. If you have a clear sense of what you’re seeking, then you can get yourself on track to get there. We lawyers are pretty skilled at drawing a line from point A to point B and following the path.

The problem some of us face is not knowing what we want. We’ve concluded that we don’t like what we’ve got, but we don’t know where we should be headed. That’s a big problem.

I’ve talked about this topic before and suggested that if you aren’t clear on your goals and dreams, you should spend some time thinking. After getting some feedback, I don’t know that my advice was good enough. I think many of us may need more input than we get from quiet reflection. We may need the thoughts and advice of others to help us reformulate our new destination.

I’d suggest you start seeking out alternative approaches to figuring out what you’d like to do with your life. In conversations with attorneys over the past week, we’ve talked about retreats, seminars, and counseling. I think they’re all good options and are worthy of your consideration if you’re assessing your situation. There are more options available than you’ll have time to try.

Do some research and see what’s available to you. I’d love to hear what about what you find, how it helps you, and what you conclude.

Related articles:

  1. Scroogle.org – A site I can’t live without
  2. SpeakWrite.com – A “Can’t Live Without It” Service
  3. How to Convert a PDF to Text without Software

  • http://www.johnsonparrislaw.com Afi Johnson-Parris

    I understand that sometimes you need a little help figuring out what those dreams are and how to make them come true. About 5 years ago when I was supremely unhappy with my career and couldn’t seem to find a way out of that unhappiness without just quitting, I worked with a career coach. It was one of the best investments I’ve made in myself. My coach was a lawyer who worked with lawyers and used various diagnostic tools to determine what my abilities were and what type of environment I wanted. I find that my dreams often line up with my abilities and each time I need a correction to my path toward getting what I want, I look back at the work that I did with the coach. I also enjoy letting her know each time I make a big leap closer to those dreams that once seemed so far away. Anyway, I highly recommend finding a good coach.

    • http://www.rosen.com Lee Rosen

      Great input. I’m glad things are going in the right direction for you. That’s terrific.

      Lee

  • http://www.GrahamLawCollaborative.com Kimberly Graham

    I second Afi’s suggestion. I’m currently working with Christine Kane, a successful singer-songwriter and now also a life & business coach. One of Christine’s suggestions to her clients is that sometimes we need to change the “how” and not the “what.” In other words, many lawyers say they hate the practice of law and want to do something totally different. While indeed that might be the best path for some, for others (like me) who don’t hate practicing law, we need to change the “how.” So I’m working on automating my practice to the extent possible, and creating systems and structures within which I’ll operate. This will give me more time to focus on the part of my job I do best, the high-return and high-value activities that I also happen to love.

    • http://www.rosen.com Lee Rosen

      Sounds great. Hope it works the way you want it to.

      Lee

Previous post:

Next post: