As the article suggests, “Know your quicksand danger zones”. ![]() Once you’re back on solid ground, the bigger and more sustainable win comes from understanding how you ended up in quicksand in the first place. Prevention is better than the cure for both real and metaphorical quicksand. Start where you are, make a small change, see how it goes, then think about the next one. Small, iterative steps are more likely to stick. ![]() Quick wins in the form of prioritising healthy boundaries, sleep, exercise and good nutrition will really help.įor many of us, feeling we should be making massive changes only heightens the overwhelm, leaving us even less likely to change anything. I also include taking care of physical wellbeing more generally under this point. Slow, smooth breathing helps to re-set your brain and body in the moment so you can think more effectively. Consider family, friends, colleagues, your EAP, your GP, fantastic public resources such as Beyond Blue or – yes – a coach.įight/flight/freeze mode inhibits your higher order problem solving capacity. Wanting to fix it alone can be a trap for lawyers, but help helps. Try to reach for a branch or person’s hand to pull yourself out It’s more constructive at this point to keep your focus on solutions.Ĥ. It can be tempting to look for who to blame, but that won’t actually get you out of the quicksand. ![]() Keep your arms up and out of the quicksand When were you last on solid ground? What resources can help you now – Friends? Family? Perhaps even practical methodologies like that amazing inbox management technique you used to love but have stopped using?ģ. Can you hand over or pause any matters? Stop going to some meetings? Or perhaps even ditch the weight of your high standards and aim for good enough? Which is, in fact, good enough. Make yourself as light as possible – toss your bag, jacket and shoesįor us that means culling. I looked up an article about how to escape actual quicksand. Rather than try to eliminate these drivers, it’s helpful to keep enough of them to reap their benefits but to identify where they are being overplayed and therefore counterproductive. It’s no wonder it’s hard to let go of them! The paradox for many lawyers is this: these traits that are weighing you down are likely the very same traits that are in many ways responsible for your success. But if throwing more good energy after bad worked, it would have worked by now. These tendencies can lead you to lean further into the problem – throwing more effort at it, sure that if only you try hard enough you’ll get through it. A focus on the negative: risk, problems and what could go wrong. ![]() A work culture of long hours and high expectations.A strong work ethic a drive to complete and succeed.Particularly for lawyers (speaking from experience), there are some factors that can make this particularly acute. Q: What do most people do when they are stuck in quicksand? Q: What is the first thing you should do if find yourself stuck in quicksand? In the work context, struggling harder looks like working longer hours, cancelling holidays (or working through them), doing everything yourself so it “gets done right”, sacrificing your personal time and health, and self-medicating with alcohol or other drugs. You are in “quicksand” when you are extraordinarily busy and trying to get out of it by working harder and harder, while only becoming more exhausted, sinking deeper and falling further behind. It also works well as a metaphor for the experience many of us have when we are overloaded and overwhelmed at work. It is a truly nightmarish concept (at least to me). Article by: Madeleine Shaw, Executive coach, speaker & facilitatorįrom time to time I have an anxiety dream that I’m sinking in quicksand*.
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