When I run outside, I’m usually without my iPod. First, it’s much safer and second, I like the quiet.

One of the most effective ways to run a long distance is to be focused on the moment. Thinking about nothing more than moving. Listening to your breath and feeling every step.  Mentally, to get in a groove, I count my steps to 8. In my head is “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-3-4….” Over and over.

Doing this is zenful. It keeps my mind from being distracted by the world. I’m try to avoid looking at my GPS watch or thinking about all that needs to be done at work.

The great challenge that I find professionally, is that the practice of law is not zenful. I can’t write a motion and just keep counting to 8 as I type. It doesn’t work. With phones, and emails, and meetings, it is hard to focus on a single task. Interruptions are constant.

Why do I write this?

Because doing nothing other than counting to 8 while running helps provide balance in my law practice.  Focusing on the moment makes the mind more able to deal with distraction. Balance is crucial to success in both running and the practice of law.

What do you do to achieve balance?

How can law make you happy?

Don't Worry, Do A Will, Be Happy

Easy.

Last week I was listening to NPR. They had on an economist discussing the economics of happiness.

Essentially, instability of affairs makes people unhappy. This is why going through divorces, evictions, and foreclosures are so stressful.

Stability makes people happy.

The economist stated that income does not relate to happiness. People who make lots of money can be just as unhappy as people who don’t make much money at all. The key, the economist said, was economic stability. He said the purchase of life insurance is actually a renewable source of happiness as opposed to purchasing a new TV. Life insurance makes people feel more stable.

I’ll say the same is true for doing a will and doing some simple estate planning. From practice, both having done a number of wills and having my own done, it’s apparent to me that the act of executing a will usually makes people happy because it provides them with security.

I can’t imagine leaving it up to a judge to decide who would get to raise my child if something were to happen to my me and my wife.  Thinking about that would make me unhappy.

So, invest in your happiness right now, do a will.

The brain has two hemispheres that are separate and don’t interconnect. The logical left brain does our business activities, trying to steer us into pleasure and away from discomfort. The creative and intuitive right side is an unlimited source of solutions to problems and connects us to hidden strengths.

As we accumulate stress, the left brains sends us a stream of messages telling us to “slow down” and “this isn’t your day” and even philosophical messages like “why are you doing this.” – Jeff Galloway

Your left brain doesn’t want you to run 26.2 miles. It doesn’t want you to run 13.1. It doesn’t want you to run a 10k.  It doesn’t even want to do a 5k.  Your left brain is perfectly content watching football.

If you can’t overcome the negative messages generated by the left side of your brain than you can’t run. It’s that simple.

Distance runners will often say that it’s all mental.  Many marathon runners will say that the hardest part of a marathon is overcoming the mental challenges.

The practice of law is the same way. Preparing for a trial is a lot like distance running. It’s hard and time consuming. And sometimes my left brain would rather be watching football.

The key is to first identify the noise being generated by the left side of the brain and then destroy it.

How?

Think positive thoughts.  When I run and I’m starting to feel it I think the word “fly” or “glide”.  Doing so activates the right side of my brain. And my creativity overcomes the pain.

The point is that while practicing law you’ve got to figure out how you’re trying to defeat yourself and how to overcome it. I use different go to motivational phrases that I use while running in my everyday practice.

If you see me in court and hear me mumble “I got this”. You’ll know why.

“Stress + Rest = Improvement.” -@jeffgalloway

The pattern is constant. Run. Walk. Long run one day. Rest the next.

Rest is half the equation. Hard work is the other half.

My best runs have come when I’ve built up mileage. Rested for a short period and then run again.

Stress plus rest equals improvement. It’s a law. One of the few laws that the Connecticut General Assembly has yet to codify.

Before I started training I looked at rest as weakness.  I would think to myself that I should be running everyday.

This caused a few bad things to happen:

1. I’d get injured;

2. I’d burn out; and

3. I’d feel guilty about not running.

Bad, bad, and worse.

Jeff Galloway’s training programs have built in rest days.  In fact most marathon training programs build in rest days.

I’ve learned through running that rest isn’t a luxury. It’s necessary for improvement.  Looking at rest that way, there’s no need to feel guilty.