Five key lessons learned during my traineeship

Tim Taylor, a second year trainee solicitor at Hastings Legal discusses the five key things he has learned during the traineeship.

As I write this article, I am 22 months into my two year traineeship and I have really enjoyed the experience. When I reflect on this early stage of my legal career, it becomes apparent that there are so many lessons that I have been afforded along the way. For the sake of brevity, however, I have selected the following five key lessons which have helped me create a fulfilling traineeship experience:

1.  If knowledge is power, then attitude is rocket fuel

We hope that our years of studying and cramming as students will enable us to be great lawyers as we simply apply our legal knowledge to real life case studies, otherwise known as clients. Unfortunately, the reality is not as straightforward as this. Having an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law is great; but having a growth mindset and being willing and able to continually learn as our careers develop, is much more valuable.

Clients expect their solicitor to be good at the fundamentals of lawyering: that’s a given. But it is the attitude that we bring to the job that separates the good from the great.

(Recommended listening/reading: The Tips For Lawyers Podcast, by Chris Hargreaves; and the accompanying website www.tipsforlawyers.com)

2.  Habits > Willpower

There have been plenty of scientific studies carried out which indicate that in the long-term, when you want to achieve anything meaningful, habits beat willpower time after time. Take exercise as the obvious example. How many New Year’s Resolutions for regularly hitting the gym have fallen to the wayside before the end of January each year, because we’re too busy and/or because the motivation (willpower) has waned? Countless I’m sure, and it’s because our willpower comes and goes.

Habits, on the other hand, are much more dependable.

In the workplace, building positive habits might look like ‘eating the frog’ each morning, i.e. getting the hardest piece of work out the way first; or perhaps it could be taking a daily walk, come rain or shine; or drinking enough water at regular intervals each day, taking set screen time breaks, etc. The options are limitless.

Being conscious of our behaviours and making the effort to develop them on a consistent basis is a great recipe for sustainable improvement.

(Recommended listening/reading: The Success Insider Podcast; The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg; High Performance Habits, by Brendon Burchard; and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey)

3.  'Work/Life Balance' is different for everyone

For me, in the age of smartphones and constant email communication, the traditional concept of ‘work/life balance’ doesn’t seem to fit any more. By definition, balance requires equilibrium, in this case between our time spent at ‘work’ and at ‘life’. But isn’t work part of life? And don’t we, from time-to-time at least, bring some life to our work? It is not always as straightforward as clocking-in at 9am and clocking-out at 5pm.

Personally, I prefer the term ‘work/life integration’. More than ever before, work and life are becoming intertwined features of our daily reality. The result being that we learn, often the hard way, how to juggle work commitments with the responsibilities of daily life.

However, work/life integration (or balance) works differently for different people. For others, the key could very well be keeping them entirely separate. Find what works for you.

(Recommended listening/reading: The Gen Why Lawyer Podcast; The 4-Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss; and The Power of When, by Michael Breus PhD)

4.  Become your own CEO

Managing ourselves, both physically and mentally, is a key skill that will help drive our career forward. Your traineeship is the perfect time to hone this ability, take control and become your own CEO.

Physically this could mean making healthy choices, even when stressed or tired. Being able to manage our health will have a massive impact on our overall performance and general wellbeing.

To manage your emotions and mental focus, you could try journaling, reading, writing, walking, running, meditating, yoga-ing… there are plenty of options.

The point is, take time to look after yourself, as you’re the only one who can.

(Recommended listening/reading: The Happy Lawyer Podcast, by Clarissa Rayward; The More Than A Lawyer Podcast, by Janine Esbrand; Upwire Podcast, by Robert Cooper PhD; The Chimp Paradox, by Prof Steve Peters; The Obstacle Is The Way, by Ryan Halliday; and Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius)

5.  Becoming a lifelong learner

Personal development is a ‘meta-skill’ that permeates all the other lessons discussed here, in one way or another. Conveniently, this topic can also be dissected into two components: mindset and practise.

In terms of mindset, becoming a lifelong learner means being cognisant of the fact that we are not perfect and can always improve. Facing life from this humble viewpoint allows for personal development to occur organically over time, rather than feeling like we’ve been rolled through a mangle at the end of each day.

Equally, the practice of becoming a lifelong learner involves finding activities that suit our style of learning and are conducive to our preferred lifestyle. For example, I enjoy listening to podcasts and audio books, as they suit both my learning style and my lifestyle.

Being conscious of our areas of improvement is also important, both personally and professionally. Getting feedback and then identifying and implementing strategies to progress in aspects of life that are significant to you can be such a rewarding process, but it does take a degree of introspection and planning that must be worked on, as it won’t happen by itself.

(Recommended listening/reading: The Psychology Podcast, by Dr Scott Barry Kaufman; Kwik Brain, by Jim Kwik; Peak, by K. Anders Ericsson; Tools of Titans, by Tim Ferriss; and The 80/20 Principle, by Richard J. Koch)

Bringing it all together

The traineeship is a perfect opportunity to learn new skills and develop our career. Along the way, this will likely mean bumping up against the limitations of our current capabilities. Hopefully this is the case anyway, as it means that we are stretching ourselves beyond our comfort zone.

Although such an experience can be daunting (as I don’t suppose anyone really enjoys admitting that they have limitations, let alone specifically identify them!), embracing the challenge and turning it into an amazing learning opportunity will ensure that we get the most out of our time as a trainee.

It is often said that we should choose how we spend our time wisely: because how we do anything is how we do everything. I would tend to agree.

Tim obtained his First Class LLB from Edinburgh Napier University and Diploma from the University of Edinburgh.  Before joining Hastings Legal, he was a Duty Store Manager at Lidl Scotland, Court Production Officer at Lloyds Banking Group and Senior Legal Analyst at Ashurst LLP.  He successfully completed the 2050 Climate Group's Young Leader Development Programme 2016 and is the founder of Scottish Borders Young Professionals.  He is due to qualify in 2018.