Get ready! National Lawyer Well-Being Week is only 12 days away!

National Lawyer Well-Being Week begins May 4.  Now is the time to plan your involvement.

Here’s the key message from the organizers:

• “Well-being is an institution-wide responsibility. When our professional and organizational cultures support our well-being, we are better able to make good choices that allow us to thrive and be our best for our clients, colleagues, and organizations. It is up to all of us to cultivate new professional norms and cultures that enable and encourage well-being.”

Each day has its own theme:

I can hear you now!!  “Great Mike, what am I supposed to do with an infographic??”

Not so fast my contrarian friends!

The organizers have made available a veritable plethora of resources on each day’s theme, resources that I’m here to share. Thus, much of the rest of this post will be a long list.  Intentionally so!  Like ordering soup on Planet Seinfeld, there will be no excuses for you!

But first, don’t limit wellness to a week.  Don’t limit a component of wellness to a single day.  Make wellness a habit.

For instance, imagine that today is “National Running Day!”  I’d easily find the motivation to get out to run with the enthusiasm and vigor of the event, eager to post my apres-run selfie with the obligatory hashtag.  But a Wednesday run won’t prepare me for October’s Vermont City Marathon.  Instead, I must make running a habit.

That’s wellness. Make it a habit.  Because life is a marathon.

Finally, like a marathon, wellness begins with a single step.  And there’s no reason to wait until National Lawyer Well-Being Week to take the first step.

Thanks for listening.  Get involved!

Here’s the promised list of resources. I am brazenly taking them from National Task Force’s Lawyer Well-Being Week site.

The Entire Week

• 46 Activity Ideas
• Remote Participation Guide

Monday – Stay Strong 

• Tips to Optimize Your Brain
• Sleep Hygiene Checklist
• Physical Health Worksheet
• Defeat Digital Distractions
• Desk Yoga
• Walk or Run

Tuesday – Align

• Well-Being & Meaningful Work
• 5 Ways to Foster Meaningful Work

Wednesday – Engage & Grow

• Psychological Capital: Build Mental Strength & Flexibility
• Take Charge of Your Well-Being with Confidence
• Use Your Strengths
• Tips for the Introverted Lawyer
• Book Recommendations

Thursday – Connect

• Do Acts of Kindness
• Enable Well-Being Through Inclusion
• Mind Your Marriage & Similar Relationships

Friday – Feel Well

• Fuel Health & Happiness with Positive Emotions
• Create Your Formula to Well-Being
• An Emotionally Intelligent Path to Well-Being
• Grow Your Gratitude
• How to be Happy? Make it a Priority
• There’s Data on how Lawyers can be Happy
• Mindfulness to Boost Performance
• Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety
• Reframe Stress & Adversity
• Tame Negative Emotions
• Well-Being for Managers & Supervisors

Finally, the Task Force has also compiled a list of  wellness & well-being resources related to COVID-19