In-House Counsel

The Road Not Taken: Happy Anniversary

There are always diverging roads. Those who keep their life map updated have a better chance of getting to their destination, regardless of the road they take.

By  
on

It’s been a whole year since I started writing for Above the Law. I’ve learned a lot in the past year through the column and wanted to take the anniversary to share a few things about the column that don’t quite fit into an every-day topic.

I chose the name  “The Road Not Taken” for this column because of the Frost poem. Most of us know it. To me, it mirrors so much of what we put into a career or life strategy. We analyze, we compare, we navel-gaze. Eventually, we make a choice that we think makes us special and we get where we think we wanted to be because of our great choices. The truth is, so much of it doesn’t matter. So much of our lives and careers are outside of our control. Sometimes our choices do matter. Sometimes we regret our choice. None of that is justification for career unhappiness. There will be another wood with diverging roads where we can make another choice. Ultimately, like Frost in his poem, a person has know where she wants to go. So long as you are strong in your destination, the road you take to get there doesn’t matter. 

You can see the theme of knowing one’s destination throughout my columns. If I could only give one piece of career advice in less than 10 words, it would be: “Know what you want and why. Then go get it.” Fortunately, I have many more words to expound on that subject. I think lawyers (and law students) have a hard time with this because we haven’t done the work to figure out what we want (or don’t want) in our careers. For many lawyers, law school was the natural choice after doing well in school but not enjoying math; there wasn’t much deliberation put into it. For those who did thoughtfully deliberate and made a smart choice, there are employers who are not a good fit, life changes that make a previously acceptable career trajectory no longer acceptable. There are always diverging roads. Those who keep their life map updated have a better chance of getting to their destination, regardless of the road they take.

Hey, look — a metaphor in the previous paragraph. At this point in our time together, you have probably noticed that I like metaphors. Metaphors help me understand things, they inspire new ways of thinking about an issue, and they are fun. Creating a visual representation of what I am doing helps me do the hard work of figuring out what I want. I find the imagery of maps and compasses especially helpful because maps and compasses are tangible objects representative of how to analyze one’s career. When something happens to me at work, whether good or bad, it is something to put on my career map. Once it is on my map, I can figure out how to use that experience to get closer to my desired destination. This analysis also takes the feelings out of the experience so I can respond proactively with thoughtfulness instead of reacting with emotion.

I’ve learned a lot in the past year. I’ve learned from the actual act of writing the column and the emails I receive from readers and I’m looking forward to learning more. Here’s to another year of metaphors, roads to take, and finding our way.

Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at [email protected].

Sponsored

Topics

, , , ,