8 Ways Lawyers Can Improve Their Work/Life Balance

How many hours does a lawyer work each week? If you ask any experienced lawyer they will say the day in the life of a lawyer isn’t always the most envious – and the hours are seemingly always adding up.

Achieving a healthy work/life balance is important for all professionals, but for solo-practitioners it can be challenging. As a solo practitioner, you have to balance the needs of your clients administrative duties, and supervise your support staff (or act as your own support staff). The additional responsibilities involved in running your own law office make it harder to achieve the work/life balance, but it also makes it more necessary to make time for participating in activities unrelated to your legal practice.

Lawyers who work from home can sometimes have an even harder time achieving the balance. It may sound easier since they have the “luxury” of working from home, but this isn’t always the case. Statistics show that working from home makes many people productive, but it can also be much harder to separate out work responsibilities from home life.

If you’re looking to improve your work/life balance, follow the steps below. Also, keep in mind that for many lawyers, implementing more time for yourself, your family, and your friends may (at first) make you feel like you’re wasting time. You’re not. Taking that time is important for your relationships and for yourself.

Step 1 – Begin to Say No

Keep in mind that this isn’t necessarily about saying no to taking cases that would bring in needed income. This is about learning to say no to things that you truly don’t want to do or that you don’t have time to do. Learning to say no is one of the best ways that you can protect your time. Saying no helps you create more time for the things that you look forward to doing. It also reduces stress.

Step 2 – Take Control of Your Calendar

On your calendar, go in and block off time for yourself or to spend time with your family. You’re not under any obligation to explain to others what the time is used for. Just make sure that you let your assistant, if you have one,  know that no appointments should be set during that time.

Using a digital calendar, you can create recurring appointments for yourself. If you have children, you can add their practice schedules, their game or recital times, their parent/teacher conferences, field trips, or any other activities. Set aside weekly time with that special someone or schedule time to go to the gym or indulge in a favourite hobby.

Here’s the key to making this work: you must actually treat those items as appointments. That’s not to say that you must be inflexible with your life. It’s more to make sure that you are taking time away from your work. Your mental health, your relationships, and your business are all worth it.

Step 3 – Unplug for a Little While Each Day

We’ve become increasingly connected by technology. This has been a major advancement in business, but it can also feel like a pair of electronic handcuffs. If possible, unplug for a little while each day. Maybe that time is when you first get up in the morning or maybe it’s when you head to the gym. Turn off your ringer – the messages will all be there later. If you have a trial or trial prep, you may not feel it is prudent to take time away from your phone every day, but try to at least take some time at the end of the week and unplug.

The first few times that you decide to ignore your phone, email, and various messengers may make you feel like you’re doing something wrong. Remember that technology was created to make our lives easier and was never meant to act as a prison. Over time, you’ll begin to feel refreshed by taking even just a few minutes away from your devices.

Step 4 – Embrace Flexibility

Although many lawyers keep a traditional schedule, being your own boss gives you a degree of flexibility. When it comes to spending more time with your friends and family (or even participating in your favourite activities), take advantage of being the boss. Go to that book fair with your child; go with your spouse or friends for a long lunch. You can always work a little later in the day or even come in a little earlier the next day. Learning to embrace the flexibility will help improve your work/life balance.

Step 5 – Use Time-Saving Tools

Look for easy ways to implement time-saving tools for your office. One of the top reasons why people don’t take time for themselves is because they feel like they honestly don’t have it to take. One way to help you feel more comfortable taking time for yourself and your family is to use tools like legal document automation solutions or online firm management programs. Technology was designed to make your life easier. Explore some of the modern legal office software programs that are revolutionizing workflows for lawyers.

Step 6 – Minimize Mistakes And Inefficiencies

That same time-saving legal document automation software we just mentioned also helps to avoid some of the most common mistakes made by lawyers when creating legal documents. Work is a lot less stressful when you don’t have to worry about making mistakes or having to deal with errors. Read our blog post “Creating Legal Documents – Common Errors And How To Avoid Them.”

Step 7 – Look For Any “Time-Saving Hacks”

What may take you a few minutes to learn may save you hours and several headaches in the future. Look at our previous blog posts on the “Top 5 Time-Saving Keystrokes for Legal Professionals” and “How to Better Your Inbox For Time Savings” for some more great time-saving tips.

Step 8 – Don’t Give Up

When constant work and busyness is ingrained in us, it can be hard to take time for ourselves. The day in the life of a lawyer can get stressful, but don’t give up. Even the smallest changes can add up to big improvements in your work/life balance. Taking time for yourself will do more than improve your relationships and keep you sane: it will also improve how you run your law office.

At Infoware, achieving a work/life balance is what our legal document automation software is all about.