One of the ways you can lose your mind in this business – any business – is to compare your success to others. This is a scarcity mindset. The feeling that no matter what we do that it is not enough.
Scarcity is deeply rooted in the legal profession. Success looks something like go to a big law school, make law review, land the posh summer associateship, get hired at a big firm, toil for a few years and then do the next thing – inhouse or partnership. That’s the path.
When you start your own practice there is no path. It is more like being in an open field. There are lots of ways to go.
My two cents: be bold in choosing your success and let no one else define it for you.
Maybe you are a working parent and you define success as being able work enough to make enough extra money that it makes a difference in your life. You are not trying to win Supreme Court cases. You are not trying to dominate part of the market. Your success is working in a way that makes a difference for your kids.
Success could be leveling a playing field for someone.
Define your own success. And then embrace it.