How To Worry More
If you want to worry more, practice law.
When you are a lawyer, people come to you with problems and ask you to solve them. The practical effect of this is that their problems become yours. That is why your clients pay you. To take their problems and make them your own. To worry about their problems so they don't have to.
Having a problem means that you have to think about it. Even when you don't want to think about it. Sometimes the problems are small and sometimes they are really distressing.
Of course, nobody really wants to worry more. Worrying about your own problems can be hard enough.
It is nice to be able to delegate a problem to somebody else so that you don't have to worry about it any more.
"I don't know how you deal with this every day."
I once represented a veterinarian in a nasty shareholder dispute. Eventually, we ended up in mediation.
About four hours into the mediation, we were in our breakout room when he turned to me and asked "Where is this going?"
"We still have a ways to go, but we're getting closer," I said.
"I can't take much more of this," he said. "I don't know how you deal with this every day. This whole case has been so stressful. I want it to be done."
After a few more hours, we eventually finished the mediation and resolved the case. But what he said still sticks with me.
This guy was a veterinarian. People came to him with their problems. Their problems were living animals. Pets. Dogs that they've had for 10 years.
A lot of lawyers call themselves "problem solvers." To be a good problem solving lawyer, you have to be impersonal. You can't let your client's ex-husband or opposing counsel get to you. If they do, then you aren't in the best position to solve your client's problem.
When you are a lawyer, people come to you with problems and ask you to solve them. The practical effect of this is that their problems become yours. That is why your clients pay you. To take their problems and make them your own. To worry about their problems so they don't have to.
Having a problem means that you have to think about it. Even when you don't want to think about it. Sometimes the problems are small and sometimes they are really distressing.
Of course, nobody really wants to worry more. Worrying about your own problems can be hard enough.
It is nice to be able to delegate a problem to somebody else so that you don't have to worry about it any more.
"I don't know how you deal with this every day."
I once represented a veterinarian in a nasty shareholder dispute. Eventually, we ended up in mediation.
About four hours into the mediation, we were in our breakout room when he turned to me and asked "Where is this going?"
"We still have a ways to go, but we're getting closer," I said.
"I can't take much more of this," he said. "I don't know how you deal with this every day. This whole case has been so stressful. I want it to be done."
After a few more hours, we eventually finished the mediation and resolved the case. But what he said still sticks with me.
This guy was a veterinarian. People came to him with their problems. Their problems were living animals. Pets. Dogs that they've had for 10 years.
A lot of lawyers call themselves "problem solvers." To be a good problem solving lawyer, you have to be impersonal. You can't let your client's ex-husband or opposing counsel get to you. If they do, then you aren't in the best position to solve your client's problem.