Matt Timko, our newest NewIdeasLegalTech.com contributor has lots of good ideas on time management. There is another way lawyers can improve their effectiveness:

Take care of their own fitness needs first. The book The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness, edited by Stewart Levine, addresses this important topic. The Digital Edge podcast has an interview with Levine.

Are lawyers who take care of themselves being selfish? Hardly.

Levine’s book contains a perfect metaphor: As airline stewards warn, if there is a loss of cabin pressure, passengers should first put on their own air masks. This is essential, since otherwise they won’t be able to assist other passengers. In the legal context, self-care enables lawyers to assist their clients, colleagues and family members.

Anne-Marie Rabago, former Director of the State Bar of Texas’s Law Practice Management Program, currently heading up Modern Juris, suggests that maintaining an appropriate level of physical fitness is a critical component of lawyer self-care. A few examples:

How about Jer? Overuse back injuries have kept me from running so for the past few years I’ve worked out a minimum of  seven hours a week, mostly fast walking, supplemented by a few hard exercise bike workouts to raise heart rate to training level.

Picture of Lawson in Shenandoah N.P.
Jer at SNP

Am I wasting seven hours a week I could be working? Actually, it’s the time I spend working out that makes me more productive, as well as doing fun things like hiking Fox Hollow Trail in Shenandoah National Park.

What are you doing to maintain your health and physical fitness?