How’s 2022 for you so far? Have you had a moment to reflect on the valuable lessons and tiny tweaks you can make to create dramatic benefits to your personal and professional life?
I’m delighted to bring you more of the Water+Air blogs and podcasts this year. I’m committed to the journey to help you leverage disruption and optimise the opportunities to transform and transition and say “yes” to the abundance that awaits you. Stay with us to unlock your own best version of success.
It’s time to drop self-sacrifice in the name of the law!
We covered some fantastic subjects last season, all of which serve as a valuable reminder to consider how making changes to the ordinary parts of our day-to-day lives can create extraordinary impact.
Here are FIVE key shares from our blogs in 2021 that will help you live a better life; revisiting these is already renewing my enthusiasm for the year ahead!
1. Why Legal Burnout Is A Wake-Up Call (And 3 Ways To Reclaim Your Health)
Who knew that breathing could cause an internal revolution?! Integrative Health Coach Catarina Hunter shared how to breathe deeply to stop stress in its tracks.
The nanosecond reset of popping your tongue to the roof of your mouth, inhaling and exhaling intentionally through the nose to the count of six, is a fantastic technique to enhance your calm. It’s so simple!
I recently used it as an ice-breaker to connect 400 lawyers in a virtual forum. The impact was profound.
2. 3 Ways To Deliver Successful Digital Transformation In The Legal Sector
Sometimes we make life unnecessarily complex, especially when it comes to digital transformation in the legal sector! Digital and Commercial Change Expert Jason Sprague reminded us that we need to dial it right back to basics; stop making it a tick-box exercise and, instead, choose to involve and engage people.
When we do this, we significantly increase the prospects of successful digital transformations to more than 30% (and stop that dreaded echo of the fact that nearly 70% of digital transformations currently fail and it’s nothing to do with the technology!!).
3. 3 Steps To Help You Rock Your First Management Role In Law
I am a huge advocate of clear communication and healthy boundaries (and I have to regularly remind myself of that too!).
I used to be uncomfortable pushing back and saying no, but it always came at my own expense! This blog is all about defining your own path as a manager, throwing out the terrible examples your previous bosses may have set, and letting your “yes mean yes, and your no mean no.”
Although it might seem tricky to get used to at first, it’ll massively enhance your wellbeing and productivity, as well as help you serve your clients at the highest level. It’s time to be strategic about everything – that includes what you eat and how you spend your time!
4. 10 Leadership Strategies To Get Ahead (From A Former Olympian)
In this blog, Howard Stupp shared a timely reminder for us to stay humble and focus on how we show up each day. He grew his team from one to 18 over a period of 36 years leading the International Olympic Committee’s legal department.
Howard shared ten great strategies, and perhaps the one we need to digest the most as lawyers is to share knowledge, and support and help each other.
The other nine strategies are gems too, check them out.
5. The overarching message from our first season of the Water+Air podcast and blogs is that you need to invest time to connect the dots between who you are and what you need to do in order to be in the best possible shape to deliver better outcomes for all.
When we helicopter out and view the big picture, it’s exhilarating to see how much ground we’ve already covered, and the vast amount of progress we can make with a few simple tweaks.
These are my highlights, and I’d LOVE to know what you loved most about season one of the Water+Air podcast and blog series? Share your feedback with me in the comments, and tell your friends or colleagues. Use #waterandair on social media so that we can easily pick up your thoughts.
Season two of the podcast and blog series will share practical (and easy-to-implement) insights from an array of amazing guests. Prepare to succeed in life, as a lawyer, and beyond!
Here is a teaser of some of the topics we’ll be discussing:
Why gaming will be how we “manage and prepare” for risk in the future.
Adaptive legal practice - for lawyers, legal departments, and law firms who dare to be agile enough to leverage disruption.
The fact and fiction of innovation and legal tech.
How to nurture an abundance mindset (relevant to individuals and legal teams).
And so much more!
Be ahead; subscribe and be among the first to listen to our fortnightly podcast (Wednesday). If there’s something you’d love to hear more about from me, get in touch!
Parul Patel
Parul is an experienced international lawyer, demanding client, disruptive consultant and thought-provoking non-executive director and board advisor.
She's advised law firms and big global brands like Nike, Speedo and Manchester United, as well as supporting inner-city social change programmes, startups and scale-ups. Fuel+Move is born of her passion to improve interaction with the legal sector and achieve a better experience with better outcomes for its stakeholders.
Parul Patel can be found here: