As the years pass by, we can feel caught in a job we don’t like. We start feeling that we are stuck in those jobs, tied to the jobs because we cannot afford to change or modify our careers financially.
I think there are some attorneys who feel stuck and deny themselves changes and adventures in their careers. Don’t deny yourself a career change if you want it. Just be organized, analyze your current situation, and prepare before making changes.
In the first 15 years of my career, I did first chair litigation on both the civil and criminal sides. There is nothing like that thrill of standing before those potential jurors to talk to the panel. I loved that feeling, but for me, after 15 years, it stopped being fun. I was ready to stop trial work. I was blessed to have the option to change from litigation to practice as a generalist for a small oil company pipeline company that happened to have the best clients a person could ever ask for. It was the best time I ever had during my career.
To start the process of finding your way to a more fulfilling career, you must first dedicate time to looking at and analyzing your currently foreseeable situation. Analyze where you are before you decide on making changes.
Later I made another change during my career, and it did not turn out as well. I made it without thinking through my life situation. Because I failed to look at my foreseeable situation before I made the decision, I didn’t recognize the strain elder care would place on me at that time in my life and career.
My failure to analyze my currently foreseeable situation caused me to make a bad career decision. When it involves your career, make changes only after you have completed your analysis on what is currently and foreseeably part of your life situation.
If you’re thinking about changing your practice area or specialization in the law, I support you. Please do it. Your life is not and should not be limited to spending your time doing something you don’t enjoy.