Getting Comfortable withDiscomfort:

Practical Tools for Keeping Your HeadWhile Navigating a Changing World

This Ever Happen To You?

• Something is going to happen

• That Happening is going to be awful

• That Something is Going to Be My Fault

• (Repeat)

• Distress is Not Wanting What We Presumeis Going to Happen

Tools We Picked Up in Law School• Taught That the Law (and You) Were Unique

– “Law School is Different”

– “The Law is a Jealous Mistress”

• How to seek (and present) information

• How to work on your own

• How to avoid risk and crave certainty

• How to think criticially (skepticism, pessimism)

• How to compete (Get a job)

• How to Follow the Rules

– what does the law say?

– bound by precedent

– Bound by the BlueBook and the Manual on Style

What Tools Are You Using Now?

• All of the Above

• Seeking Compensation

• Seeking Clients

• Seeking Advancement

• Craving affirmation (from clients,decisionmakers, higher-ups)

• Living in a zero-sum world- Seeking toAvoid Blame

How Are Those Tools WhenThings Don’t Go As “Planned”?

• Ever thought your way out of a painfulemotional situation?

• How Do Those Tools Work in YourPersonal Life?

• How Do Those Tools Work When the Paceof Change Picks Up?

And The New Tools?

• “The Real Problem of humanity is the following:we have paleolithic emotions, medievalinstitutions, and god-like technology.” – E.O.Wilson

• An Information God and a Dopamine Dispenser

• Saps your attention, and momentarily assuages allthat discomfort.

• And often you don't even notice.

Responses to Distress

• The need to try and control it

• Strike back, numb out, bliss out

• Things get stuck in that endless cycle

What is Missing?• The Capability to Manage Emotion

• What to Think

• Space to Consider What is Happening and How toRespond Rather Than React

• Cooperation/Collaboration/Communication

• Context/Awareness

• A Reminder from Time to Time that Things AreRelatively Easy

Sidebar: Quit Whining, Pringle

• Rules and Structure necessary

• The Impassive, Professional, “Stoic” Ideal

• There are more things, Lucilius, thatfrighten us than injure us, and we suffermore in imagination than in reality.

-Seneca

Summing This Up• Most of us live mindlessly all of the time-

– we don't perceive everything that is important.

– Our brains and emotions don’t always make sense of the world

• "Everyone who drives slower than I do is an idiot. Anyonewho drives faster than I do is a maniac." - George Carlin

• Using the Tools We Have means we don't see the wholepicture and miss what is right in front of us

• Not there and not there to know we are not there

Another Way of Putting It

We are “problem solvers”, but often

• unaware of the problem (especially when the problem isus)

• Unaware of any clue how to solve it;

• But absolutely certain that we do know or unwilling toadmit otherwise.

One Tool to Help- Mindfulness

• the ability to seek out, create, and activelynotice new things

• Actively notice new things -->puts you inthe present -->makes you aware of context--

• Without judging

– letting go of the illusion that we are in control

– Beginner's mind and the ability to listen orevaluate without preconceived notions

More on Mindfulness

• Never attribute to malice what canadequately be explained by stupidity. -Hanlon's Razor

• Get aware of what you pay attention to

• Whatever you are doing can be done inmany different ways

• Turn rampaging thoughts into next actions.

Business and Mindfulness• Mindlessness is the application of

yesterday's business solutions to today'sproblems

• Mindfulness is attunement to today'sdemands to avoid tomorrow's problems

• If you want to change it, you have to see itfor what it really is.

Why Do Lawyers Resist Change?

It is very difficult to change the wheels on a movingcar. – Richard Susskind

Hesitancy and Fear

• “Drive out fear. No one can put in hisbest performance unless he feels secure.”– W. Edwards Deming

• Pause and Plan, Don’t React

Strange Sort of Impatience

Change Your Mind

• Put some space between stimulus andreaction

• Get quiet

• Get outside

• Find the flow

Adopt a Growth Mind-Set

A Plug For Work-LifeIntegration

• Treat yourself, at work or play, the sameway

• "You must have work-life balance"

– this is mindless because we make this binarydistinction mindfully but then use it mindlessly

– you don't stop being human at work, and youdon't stop being organized or task-oriented athome

Paradox: You Have to Ignore Technologyto Plan How to Use It

• Technology is a Distraction

• Lawyers Require Sustained Attention-

– Minimize Your Beeps and Notifications (andyour Interruptions and Meetings)

– Guard Your Attention Jealously

• It’s Not What You Read, It’s What You Ignore

The Checklist Manifesto

• Why Use Your Head as a Storage Device?

• Document a Process Well One Time, Never Have to Document itAgain

• Benefits:

– Delegates

– Reduces Mistakes

– Promotes and standardizes best practices

– Stays with the organization

– Encourages revision and improvement (Productivity)

– Capable of application in other areas (Innovation)

– Rewards input and collaboration

• Accepting coaching and criticism

Create Space in Your Day(Energy)

• Exercise

• Leisure Time – Flow

• Reducing Distractions

• Rest and Recovery

Create Some Space in Your Life– Hack It

• Amazon

• Dollar Shave Club

• Blue Apron

• NatureBox

• Boxed

Build The Profession andContribute To It

• Be Generous of Your Time and Your Knowledge-Without Expecting Anything in Return

• If You Are Taking Care of Yourself, You WillTake Care of Others

• Build Empathy

• Get Out and Play -http://pringlepracticeblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/in-celebration-of-play.html

Conclusion

"I didn't come down here to change your mindabout anything, but to ease my own mindabout everything." - Todd Snider

Questions?Jack PringleAdams and Reese LLP(803) 343-1270

jack.pringle@arlaw.com@jjpringleschttp://pringlepracticeblog.blogspot.com

1501 Main Street, 5th FloorColumbia, SC 29201www.adamsandreese.com

Resources

• The Resilient Lawyer http://theanxiouslawyer.com/rl-23-jack-pringle/

• Farnham Street https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/

• One You Feed With Michael Taft http://www.oneyoufeed.net/michael-taft/

• Tim Ferris with Brene Brownhttp://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/08/28/brene-brown-on-vulnerability-and-home-run-ted-talks/

• On Being With Ellen Langer http://www.onbeing.org/program/ellen-langer-science-of-mindlessness-and-mindfulness/6332

• You Are Not So Smart http://youarenotsosmart.libsyn.com/062-naive-realism-lee-ross-0

More Resources

• City Yoga http://cityyogasc.com/site/

• 10 (Ok 11) Books for GettingBetter http://pringlepracticeblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/10-okay-11-good-books-for-getting-better.html

• 5 Must-Reads for Graduates (and everyoneelse) http://pringlepracticeblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/five-must-reads-for-graduates-and.html

More Resources

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande

http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000

Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better,by Clive Thompson

http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Than-You-Think-Technology/dp/1594204454

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D

http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Success-Carol-Dweck/dp/0345472322

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, by Adam Grant

http://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Helping-Others-Success/dp/0143124986

Resources - Tools

Basecamp https://basecamp.com/

Camtasia http://www.camtasiastudiosoftware.com/

Evernote www.evernote.com

Freedom www.macfreedom.com

LeechBlock http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html

Mindmeister www.mindmeister.com

Ommwriter www.ommwriter.com

TheForm Tool www.theformtool.com

WikiSpaces www.wikispaces.com

Resources- Websites

ABA Law Technology ResourceCenter http://www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_offices/legal_technology_resources.html

Attorney at Work http://www.attorneyatwork.com/

Clio http://www.goclio.com/

Law Office Guru http://legalofficeguru.com/

Law Practice Matters http://www.lawpracticematters.com/

Lawyerist http://lawyerist.com/

Legal Ease http://legalease.blogs.com/

Legal Productivity http://www.legalproductivity.com/

MyCase http://www.mycase.com/blog/

MyShingle http://myshingle.com/

Paperless Chase http://www.paperlesschase.com/

SC Bar PMAP http://www.scbar.org/MemberResources/PracticeManagementPMAP.aspx

Technolawyer http://www.technolawyer.com/