“Self-help” in a profession that is all about being selfless might seem counterintuitive. As public defenders, we serve those most in need, sometimes to the detriment of ourselves. Burnout and stress become the norm. Must we accept this as our fate?

The answer is no. I dove into the world of self-help, so you don’t have to. Starting with the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, then Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, I have boiled down the key lessons that will help each of us avoid burnout and thrive as attorneys and human beings. Better habits won’t fix heavy caseloads, but they decide how you carry the load you have.

Lessons on the road

Bear with me as I briefly explain how running served as a gateway to how I work now.

I am a runner. I started running on my own in high school to stay in shape while not getting much playing time during basketball season. I have not stopped since and have raced everything from sprint triathlons up to marathons. A fall marathon is almost always on my calendar, and my training is built around that one goal race.

Each year of training follows a similar rhythm. The basic structure stays the same. Each year, there are different seasons of training as you build a base, start building speed from that base, run just for fun without having a race planned, or start a marathon training block. I always build in time just to run for fun to keep from overtraining. Each season throughout the year also has phases that progress and build on one another, such as the build, peak, and taper. Each phase has three progressive weeks where intensity grows, followed by a deload week to allow your body to absorb fitness. Each week has two hard runs, one long run, and the rest easy. Even specific runs alternate hard effort with recovery. What is true about every level of the structure is that both stress and recovery are built in. It’s universally accepted that to get faster you must run, then rest to let your body absorb the benefits, and repeat consistently.

This system is second nature to me. However, I have always struggled to find the same harmony in my schedule professionally. With the goal of getting everything done, I continually tweak and implement new productivity systems to get on top of my work to-do list so I can finally be at peace. This is a losing battle. Just as Sisyphus will never push the boulder all the way up the hill, we will never get on top of all the demands on our time. But we are not doomed. We just need to change our perspective away from the outcome and instead learn to enjoy the process.

Atomic Habits and Peak Performance opened my eyes to the fact that running and working follow the same systems. Atomic Habits explains how habits are created or eliminated and how taking small actions leads to big results. Peak Performance bridges the gap between professional and athletic performance with its equation, stress + rest = growth. Training your body is the same as training your mind. Stress is stress, whether physical or mental.

You need a system

Start by building a system, if you do not have one that works for you. A system is not our case management system, but the architecture of your day. Without one, you default to whatever is given to you and go about the day without intention. You work reactively. The usual situation is you have a deadline, you stress about it, then you instead work on what is in front of you, and by the time the deadline comes around you complete it in a panic. The cycle continues as you tell yourself you will eventually get on top of everything. As I said, getting on top of everything is a myth we tell ourselves. Fear not, a system will help us focus on what is worth our limited time and what we can ignore. We must start with our identity to guide the system we want to create.

Develop your purpose/identity

Who do you want to be? Identity-based goals are more effective than outcome-based goals. Let us assume you want your identity to be an attorney who is confident and prepared. An outcome-based goal might be to catch up on all your cases. Okay, sounds great. How do you do that? An identity-based goal might be to take five minutes before each court appearance to reflect on who your client is and what the goal of the hearing is. It is a concrete action that you can take and serves your purpose of being prepared. Ask yourself, what would a prepared attorney do? You can have identity-based goals for each area of your life (professional, community, personal).

Habits audit

Once you have written down who you want to be, sit down and write down all your current habits and decisions that you make throughout the day. This will help you identify those habits that you need to eliminate because they do not serve your identity.

Create/eliminate habits that serve your identity

Understanding how habits work will help you create habits that serve you and override habits that do not. Habits follow a loop: cue – craving – response – reward. There are four laws of behavior change to help guide you through the process.

Make it Obvious/Invisible

Make the habits you want to start obvious and visible. These are your cues. For habits you want to eliminate, do the opposite. The best example of this law is dieting. If you want to eat healthier, keep healthy food stocked in your fridge and track calories to make it obvious. Stop buying junk food or hide it in the pantry. In the office, keep a list of client contact information open on your computer to make it obvious. Turn off email notifications during deep focus writing blocks to keep distraction invisible.

Make it Attractive/Unattractive

Make the habits you want to start attractive and the ones you want to eliminate unattractive. This is the craving step of the habit loop. For me, I paired a habit that I love (drinking coffee) with one I wanted to start (writing daily) to make it more attractive.

Make it Easy/Hard

Make the habits you want to start easy and the ones you want to eliminate hard. This is your response step in the habit loop. Going back to my writing habit, I decided to reduce the friction to start by priming my environment the day before. When I leave work, I exit out of everything except for the document that I want to start writing with the next day. When I come in the next day, it is already set up and ready to go. I had to eliminate my habit of checking the news first thing by deleting news applications from my phone and thus increasing the friction to finding and reading news.

Make it Satisfying/Unsatisfying

Make the habits you want to start satisfying and the ones you want to eliminate unsatisfying. Do this by creating rewards. Making a satisfying habit could be giving yourself an immediate reward or completing the task with a friend. The opposite could be the fear of letting down that friend or making a social contract to keep you accountable.

Stress + rest = growth

Stress without rest is just damage. Growth happens in recovery, not in the grind. Peak Performance suggests alternating 50-90 minutes of focused work with 7-20 minutes of real recovery. Rest is a skill that takes practice on a daily, weekly and long-term scale. Real rest could be going for a walk, time in nature, sleep, a shower, or listening to music. Doomscrolling on the internet might seem like rest, but it is just another way to stress yourself. In a world that glorifies the grind, having the courage to rest is a real competitive advantage.

Relating the growth equation back to running. The 50-90 minutes of deep work followed by 7-20 minutes of rest is your interval training. The weekend is for your easy running. The recovery week after trial is the deload week. Vacation is the off-season.

Design your environment

Life is fraught with distraction, especially in our modern world where the expectation is that we are always available. Designing your environment to cut out distraction and focus on the task in front of you is essential. This will look different depending on what you are working on.

During periods of deep work when you need zero distractions, like when drafting a motion or prepping for an oral argument, the goal is to create a space where you can focus on the single task at hand. Any distraction or context switching can knock you off task for around 23 minutes. When I want to focus, I keep my phone completely out of sight and silenced, I organize my desk and computer to only have the relevant information, and I communicate my boundaries to others. Communication is important so others will know that you will get back to them as soon as you can. In court, your environment can be what you bring with you. Are you organized and have the relevant information at the ready?

Reflect and refine

Your systems and habits should evolve to reflect your current values and situation. What works in one practice group may not work in another. Your goals for your career might change. This is why it is important to have your system written down so you can be intentional with the changes that you make as you experiment with what works best for you.

Practice Suggestions

Here are just a few possible suggestions for each practice group to give you some ideas:

Appeals

  • Begin every day with imperfect writing
  • Protect your deep focus and batch shallow tasks
  • Perform a shutdown ritual to end your day
  • Prime your environment for writing
  • Automate recurring work processes

Trial

  • Map your case with the end in mind
  • Utilize office days and teleworking intentionally for deep work
  • Batch shallow work during low-energy time
  • Delegate to staff
  • Communicate your boundaries
  • Utilize longer recovery after trials

High Volume Courts

  • Automate recurring work processes, like client intake
  • Schedule deep work on office days
  • Prime before each hearing and client meeting
  • Batch discovery review
  • Develop context cues when switching environments (court vs. office)
  • Protect the lunch hour

Conclusion

The bad news is that you will never have the perfect system and you will never get on top of everything. The good news is that realization is also liberating. Now you are free to focus on what truly matters and use your limited time wisely. Here is a summary of how to start:

  1. What is your identity? Who do you want to be?
  2. Document your current habits and daily decisions.
  3. Use the laws of behavior change to create a positive habit or overwrite a negative one.
  4. Be intentional about stress + rest = growth.
  5. Design your environment.
  6. Reflect and refine.

It turns out, life truly is a marathon.