One day you will wake up and have a real job. Maybe that has already happened, and you are reading this post from a computer in your sweet cubicle or office. If true, do not be the person that brings stinky food into the office. That is just the worst. Your neighbors can smell it, I promise.

Maybe your trust fund will keep you going for another ten years. If so, can I have some money? All kidding aside, at some point, it is probably going to happen. It = job.

There are plenty of options out there: teacher, ventriloquist, salsa dancer. I’m here to talk about what happens when you decide to become a lawyer.

Emergence

My lawyerly birth occurred on September 17, 2012. On this date, I started lawyering people. Did I become a real person? Probably not. But I have learned a lot doing lawyer-type things and can throw you a few tidbits that will make your journey a bit easier.

Fast forward to today. I am a mid-level associate. I love it. Yes, I know. How cliché. LSAT instructor turned attorney loves his job. But I am serious.

Do I think about doing other things? Of course, everyone does. For example, I have one pretty sweet dance move. I busted it out at a wedding the other weekend, and someone’s grandma complimented me. This accolade made me think – if I committed, maybe I could win the next “So You Think You Can Dance.”

The point of this post is that you can have your cake and eat it too. Life is not static. No person was meant to do one thing. And that brings us to the point of this blog post: keeping life real as an attorney.

Keeping It Real

Sweet billables. Competition. Suits. Long nights. Thai food. Cocktails. Yellers. Zero summers. Being a lawyer (might) include all of these things. The greatest lawyers I have met are also something else, though. They are people. You can be an amazing lawyer, father, mother, hip-hop dancer, and companion all at the same time. There is no need to set limits.

Sanity advice for future lawyers:

• Exercise. I do not care if you are a yoga guru, cannot stop talking about your paleo diet and doing Crossfit, or just enjoy walking around while staring at others in a creepy matter. Sitting down for eight-plus hours a day is not good for the metabolism. Start now, and you will thank me later. It is also a great way to distress.

• Develop thick skin. Lawyering is a practice. You do not come out of law school ready to lawyer properly. This means there will be a lot of red marks on your work product, no matter your class rank. Your bosses, no matter how poor their bedside manner might be, want to help you. If you are better, their life is easier. Take the criticism with a smile and learn.

• Don’t stop learning. Read this. And this. And this. Always get smarter.

• Get some hobbies. Find something to do outside of the legal profession. It makes you interesting and gives you life experiences, which, crazily, will make you a better attorney.

Thinking about law school? Read this. The key to this profession is, like any other, enjoying it. If you make lawyering a 24/7 ordeal, you will not enjoy it. Focus, but never be obsessive. No person enjoys doing any one thing that much, except for maybe this guy.