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Find people you like working with/for even if the work is boring so you can turn down work you don’t like from people you don’t like working with
So recommend this haha. Or find something boring you actually like (I found doc review very zen at the beginning of my career) and volunteer to get more of that preferred boredom instead of the types you like even less haha
Crying really helps. I hate to say that, but it is the truth. You will get through it, but it isn't going to be easy. But hey, nobody said being an attorney was easy.
The learning curve is nowhere near flat. I get it, when reality sets in it starts to feel a little daunting. But when I start to hit a wall, I always tell myself that I’m lucky to have this job because I wanted it and I worked so hard for it. And I tell myself I can quit whenever I want to (though the reality is I won’t actually do that for a while). It’s a comfort for some reason. But I second the suggestion of finding partners you really like working for. Also think about the skill sets you don’t yet have - sounds like you’re litigation, so try to start second chairing deps if possible to learn how to take a dep. Inquire about pro bono opportunities which can give you valuable experience faster than a normal case. I did my first direct examination on a PB matter when I was a 2nd year. And often the pro bono cases remind us of the good we as lawyers can do in the world for free, to help someone who needs it so much. Good luck! The bad parts come and go. This feeling won’t always last
I second this response!
Set financial goals to keep yourself motivated (and so you feel good/accomplished/safe about leaving when you do) and look into exit opportunities and how much experience you need to get there, so you're making a fully informed decision, and work toward that.
If you're young and have the option (and/or have considered what switching careers will do to your life time earnings / retirement), research new paths and get out asap!
F
Time to start looking for a new job
Find passions outside of work that you can use to motivate yourself to get work done and get paid to support/afford and have time to enjoy said passions and hobbies.
Also I agree with what is said above about learning new skills you don’t have yet. Or picking up work you don’t normally do to change things up.
It’s easy. Don’t quit.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Alcohol
Ever considered switching to plaintiff side? Would maybe give you incentive to go out and get cases and litigate/settle/try so you’d get paid. The billable hour slump is real
I don’t know. I really don’t know. I just don’t know. See about asking your firm to let one of the paralegals there on staff assist you with the mounds of discovery but make sure the paralegal loves doing the discovery work.
I love Discovery and that is all I personally want to do because I know I can do. It is like putting a puzzle together, finding the OP’s lies and cover ups. It is just SUPER exciting. So I don’t understand the part if where you don’t but in a small way because of where I am at and what I am doing now, I kind of understand.
What I literally hate is having to be put on phones, answering the phone. I was so burnt out on phones it effected everything. I am not a receptionist and did not appreciate being put in a receptionist role doing receptionist job. I did not go to college to be a receptionist. I went to college to learn to be a paralegal and a paralegal only. After my internship every firm but one put me in the role of receptionist except for one (1) and I actually got to learn my role as a Discovery Paralegal. I was excelling in that role but the rest of the roles is what got me terminated. It broke my heart so heavily.
3 months later they ask me to Discovery part time remotely. I still had to get another job to survive and I lacked in what I loved most. I would come home from work, to work on the Discovery assignment work all night without sleep go back to my day job work all day and come back home and do it ALL over again.
My health declined and caught up with me. I had did this a few times especially when given 3 day assignments. Thinking I could rest through the week with a longer assignment given (like when the Discovery phase starts). Never happened that way but twice or three (3) times that way.
After my health scare, I hadn’t done Discovery. I am burnt out and semi-sort of miserable on what I am doing now in the day.
I miss the Discovery badly. But I want to do it remotely FULL TIME so I won’t have to get a second job. Because it does not do the client justice nor the firm to work part time.
But I haven’t been given the opportunity to do DISCOVERY fulltime remotely again (it works great with a paperless firm).
So I am going through burnout myself, and I do not like what I am doing but doing it because it is- JUST A JOB THAT PAYS THE BILLS- and I am grateful for this job that pays the bills.
My mother said something like this- you aren’t supposed to love your job. You are just to go to work, do your job pay your bills, go home and live your life-. I have NEVER EVER agreed with her theory. I loved my work in Discovery. I love it with a passion.
Now I-feel as if my life is over sometimes, I am always grateful for the time when I get off work and go home.
Weekends (especially Sundays) are the hardest because I know I have to go back on Mondays and do the same drudging thing the next week. I never look forward to going in ONLY to getting out, leaving and getting home.
And I shut myself in, read a book as an escape. It’s mundane and it is just a job to bring in an income. Many of the time - no real joy there. Just a job.
Find something you like to do in your field or get out of it before it affects you in a bad way. That way you won’t have regrets. I bet you make a great attorney!