A recurring theme in young lawyers’ discussions has been on “the big decisions”.
Big decisions like where should I do my pupillage? what area of law should I practise in? who should be my master? should I specialise? when can I get my first breakthrough? how to get my first Court of Appeal hearing?
and so on.
Yes, these big decisions or big moments are definitely important in anyone’s career.
However, I find that that has been emphasised so much at the neglect of, what I call, the daily grind, which is the humble, boring, not glamorous, behind-the-scenes hard work you put in daily.
Compared to the big decisions, I remind myself to focus on putting in honest hard work on a daily basis. Best effort in every piece of drafting, every research, every strategy, every client meeting, and even every article and every webinar.
I find that if a person doesn’t work hard daily, say doing his work last minute, doing his work half-heartedly, doing the bare minimum to get by, these are failures on a daily basis that would accumulate and define the person. It becomes who the person is – the mediocre / the bare minimum guy.
Doesn’t matter if you get the chance to work in the most prestigious firm or to work on a big file, you’re mediocre because that’s who you are. No one big decision can ever cure that, and even if by sheer luck a big opportunity falls on your lap, you’re not going to be equipped to seize it, you’d probably screw it up.
On the other hand, focusing on the daily grind takes the pressure off you.
You don’t need to worry if you’re making the right decision, because you’re focused on making every day right. You’re not worried about missing a big opportunity, because you know you’re gonna do your best at every opportunity.
I trust with the latter, things will just fall into place, and you will eventually “make it big” anyway.
Like Cristiano Ronaldo once said, he doesn’t focus on chasing records, he focuses on doing his best, ie scoring goals in every match, and by doing that, records keep chasing after him, i.e eventually becoming the national top scorer.
So, if I can go back in time and give one piece of advice to my younger self, it would be to stop worrying about the big decisions and big moments, but focus on the daily grind; focus on doing your best every day. If I had done that, I’d probably be a much better lawyer than I am today.
If you’d like to invite me to talk about career progression, or legal practice in general, like I have done here, feel free to Contact Me. To read other career advice, visit The Art of Advocacy.