“I should be faster”

Dear junior associates, 

I hear you telling yourself “I should be faster at this” or “this is taking me too long.”

SAYS WHO?!

Seriously. Who said you should be faster? Who said it is taking too long?

Unless you have gotten specific feedback that you aren’t doing something right or well, I’d like to offer you this:

It’s not your job to decide if something is taking you too long. 

And you don’t have any basis for deciding that yet. 

Most of what you’re doing is brand new, and it will be for a while. Even if it’s something you’ve done before, there will be something about it that is new to you. Law school doesn’t truly teach you how to do your job, and it certainly doesn’t teach you how long tasks are going to take you. 

You simply don’t have the knowledge you need to know how long something “should” be taking you (and the people assigning you work are often going to undercut how long they tell you it “should” take because they’ve forgotten what it was like to be in your shoes).

So please, please, please stop judging yourself for it.

First, it doesn’t feel good. 

Second, those thoughts - the “I should be faster” and “this is taking me too long” - will inevitably make things take even more time. Not less. Because they are going to create feelings in your body like overwhelm. Anxiety. Inadequacy. Shame. None of which are going to make you faster (even if we somehow had an objective way of deciding that you “should” be faster). 

If someone senior to you thinks you are taking too long on something, they are the one that is managing the matter and/or that handles the bills. It’s their job to manage that. They can tell you if it’s something they think you need to address. 

And then you can decide what to do with that.

For now, repeat after me:

“It’s not my job to decide that I’m not moving fast enough.”

The speed and knowing how long things will take you will come in time. Promise.

A ❤️ note to you: I love working with junior associates to help make their job feel better. To help them feel more calm and confident. Less overwhelmed and anxious. I know what it’s like to be in your shoes, and I can help you learn all the things I wish I knew when I got started. Your job can feel so much better than it does right now. Send me an email (jenn@jenndealcoaching.com) or sign up for a call with me at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult.