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My favorite office activity: canceling meetings.
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“Worrying is like a rocking chair. Gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere”
-Van Wilder
Also, I found when I was younger it helped curtail anxiety when I was oveprepped. Have an outline. Have key documents to reference. Have a list of questions from the judge and how you may address them. Think like a plaintiff lawyer (or defense lawyer depending what side you are on) and have opposing counsel’s arguments down on paper to respond to.
Rehearse in the shower. Practice a gotcha moment. Memorize the opening you’re going to make to sum up the issues to the judge.
You probably won’t have to say 1/4 the stuff you think of during prep because the argument will be quick. Usually less is more. Either the judge already read the briefs and has some pointed questions, or already has a predisposition you can’t really change. Don’t worry about it.
But being prepared is super helpful for your confidence. Don’t worry about your time - it’s gonna probably get chopped or folded into something else anyway. Just focus on doing a good job.
Beta blockers
Propranolol was completely life changing for me. I’m a litigator and love being in a courtroom, but always had terrible physical manifestations of anxiety in the run up to standing up. Beta blockers help with those physical symptoms (e.g., sweaty palms, shaking hands, racing heart, quavering voice) so that you only have to deal with the mental aspects.
The mental aspects are much easier to deal with when your body isn’t trying to convince you that a saber toothed tiger is about to pounce on your caveman-self.
Still working on this myself, but a few things that have helped me -
- finding an anti-anxiety med that works for me
- meditation and learning how to come back to the breath as a point of focus when I start to anxiety-spiral
- when in doubt, pause. Better to have too long a pause and give yourself some time to say something meaningful than to babble or say nothing of significance
- get as much practice as humanly possible. It’s like waxing - the first time might be really painful, but you get more used to it with time. Also, hopefully you get better as well, which further helps you feel more comfortable. Pro bono can be a great option for doing this if you’re not getting a lot of opportunities otherwise.
Preparation is key as it increases confidence. Prep can include role playing with co-workers to help reduce anxiousness.
There are a plethora of drugs that I am sure are wildly helpful (and probably indicated, particularly if your anxiety is impacting your relationships or health - I’m not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night); but if you’re looking for an answer that doesn’t require a Rx or visit to CVS, or simply waiting until experience calms you, here are a few tips that have worked for me (beyond simply being prepared):
(1) Practice relentlessly positive self-talk (cheesy as it sounds, telling yourself how well prepared you are, how righteous your position is, etc. and refusing to let yourself go the opposite direction is incredibly helpful).
(2) Spend some completely quiet time (eg, the night before the hearing and in the shower the morning of) picturing the courtroom, the argument/trial day, the questions from the judge, your answers, etc. Even 5 minutes of this will help.
(3) Come up with a pre-hearing routine. The contents of the routine are unimportant, but it should be multi-step and habitual. For me, though I no longer do this for every hearing (while the nerves will still exist, your confidence after dozens or hundreds of reps will surpass the nerves), for trials, I eat the same breakfast every trial day (light fluids, eggs, banana), show up to the courthouse early, and make small talk with chambers staff while setting my counsel table up in a precise order. The routine itself will help you work through the nerves before “game-time.”
(4) Hear this - you are far better than so many before you and after you, and each and every one of the good and great ones once suffered or continues to suffer from some level of anxiety - you’ve got this!
Sounds silly, but watching clips from the King's Speech helps me.
Time