Turning Your Hobby Business Into Your Life's Work
Five tips from author Jeena Cho for managing career transitions gracefully.
Sometime in 2015, I realized that my hobby project — bringing mindfulness into the legal community, offering the possibility of a better way to practice law — was no longer just a “hobby business.”
It’s an incredible feeling to say “yes” to a possibility, not certain what will come next but doing it anyway. In the middle of last year, our book The Anxious Lawyer came out, and I had to admit to myself that either I have to pour my efforts more fully into this project or refocus my attention on my law practice.
In hindsight, if someone would’ve told me six years ago, when I was suffering from debilitating anxiety and going through the treatment for social anxiety disorder, that I’d be earning my livelihood from public speaking and offering workshops, I would’ve said, “Absolutely not. No way.”
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Yet, I taught almost 50 mindfulness sessions in 2016 for Am Law 100 firms, partnership retreats, the American Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, and other state bars across the country.
Perhaps you’ve also been hearing that nagging voice saying, this work you’re doing isn’t right for you, or perhaps there’s a knowledge that you should be doing something different.
Here’s what I’ve learned about managing transitioning gracefully:
1. Have a daily meditation practice. The most important key to navigating this career transition with ease and a sense of joy wais having a daily meditation practice. Carving out a bit of time, everyday, where you can pay attention to your inner state is key for making small course corrections, and for following your interest/curiosity.
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2. Making peace with uncertainty. The not knowing — will this work lead to financial security? Will there be a demand for this work? Will I enjoy this work? Or simply, I don’t know what I want to do but I know the work I am doing now is wrong for me. These are really big questions, and there’s no way to instantly come to the “right” answer.
As is often repeated in mindfulness, you have to live with the question. Continually asking the question, asking it a different way, staying curious, engaged, and in the mode of data gathering is key for finding your path.
3. Trust. Often, when I talk to lawyers about career transition, there’s a sense of debilitating fear around the unknown. This is an uncomfortable place for lawyers especially because we’re in the “knowing” business.
Gently reminding myself of all that I’ve survived so far in life, recognizing the many skills that I have, and knowing that I am resilient. I have the ability to figure things out. Knowing that I have support of family and friends.
Trusting. This too has been part of my career transition journey.
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4. Plan and allow for flexibility. I had an idea of the type of projects I wanted, as well as a short business plan and a financial projection. These were, however, just guidelines. It was a fluid plan, one that required modifications as I gathered more data.
5. Find supportive people. Having people with similar visions has been critical for finding the courage to do what I do. No doubt, I had a lot of fears around publicly outing myself, saying that self-care and wellness are important to lawyers. That lawyers can benefit from mindfulness and meditation.
Even though on one hand, these ideas are self-evident and common sense, I also knew talking about it, as a lawyer, in the legal community would be considered radical.
Meeting other people who are also trying to shape and inform groups of people, to change the narrative, to shift ingrained, indoctrinated beliefs — this has been incredibly helpful. It breaks the sense of isolation and gives me courage to continue.
My hope for you is this — that you find contentment and joy in your life. Finding meaningful work, finding your unique talent, and offering it to the world is perhaps the greatest public service you can do.
P.S. Shape the Law is returning to San Francisco. We’ll be exploring what it means to be a leader in 2017. Whether you’re just thinking about your role as a future leader or you’d like to improve your leadership skills, you’re invited to join us for this two-day event.
Jeena Cho is the author of The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation (affiliate link). She regularly speaks and offers training on mindfulness and meditation. You can reach her at hello@jeenacho.com or @jeena_cho on Twitter.
