Futurelawyer

Deal With Stress By Reminding Yourself That You Are The Cause

Law practice, like some other professions are naturally stressful. Even more stressful are jobs that are now deemed essential, such as first responders, and caregivers. The Pandemic is raising the temperature of many life situations, and we all need to remind ourselves that we are in control of our reactions to whatever faces us. I keep this sign in front of me every day. We don't need more drama, do we?

Bookshelves And Nosy People

Execupundit BookShelves Partial Disclosure. Michael Wade writes about the current practice of background shaming, in which viewers of webinars or participants in Zoom meetings look for embarrassing or otherwise objectionable books on the shelves in the participant background. He then posts a photo of a portion of his massive print library. Since I am follower, and not  a leader, I felt that I had to post my own partial book shelf, which includes two print copies of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and Trawick's Florida Practice and Procedure, along with some of my hundreds of books in the foreground. If you can glean my character from the photo, I congratulate you on your mind reading abilities.

Lies, Damned Lies And Statistics

Since when did Cholesterol become the bad guy? Since when did heart attacks get found to be caused by high cholesterol levels? Since when did high fat diets cause obesity and heart attacks? Well, let this Doctor tell you. I have refused to take Statin drugs due to their side effects since my heart surgery in 2014. Is there anyone who still trusts statistical studies? They are all over the place, and many are so full of conflict of interest and cherry picked conclusions that you can find a study to support any notion. Before you listen to a so called "expert opinion", try to determine whether they actually know what they are talking about. A high fiber diet will control cholesterol, as my blood tests have shown for five years. I use a product invented by Dr. Robert Cade, the scientist who invented Gatorade, called Cholesterade. Look for a natural solution first. 

Why I Can't Get Any Work Done - Interruptions

Interruptions. Michael Wade makes a valid point. We all complain about not getting any work done because of all the interruptions. We cloister ourselves in hermetically sealed environments, into which no family member, client or other person can invade. Then, because we are human, we continually interrupt our own selves, over and over again. Today, I have been watching videos of Disneyworld attractions, and reading Michael's blog. And, watching an installment of my new favorite cable series, "Upload". And, taking my FedEx delivery to the car so I won't forget it when I go home. And, well, hopefully you see yourself in the mirror. Get to work, slacker.

Amor Fati - Hope Is A Useless Exercise

Loving your fate is the only rational response to the vagaries of our lives. We don't control fate, It happens. Hope is a waste of time and resources. Even in a dream, it is a useless exercise. Concentrate of dealing with fate, not wishing it weren't so. Now, enjoy your Monday. That is within your control. I think I will take the 3000 GT out for a spin later.

The Hairy Arm Syndrome - CoronaVirus Version

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder.I first wrote about this a couple of years ago, in reference to a story about a lawsuit involving a man upset about having to look at oil derricks adjacent to his property."It all depends upon your "point of view", doesn't it? If there were Oil Derricks in my front yard, my first instinct would be to hire a surveyor. If they were on my land, I would then expect to get checks every month for the rest of my life, and the derricks would be the most beautiful sculptures I had ever seen. This all reminds me of the "hairy arm" syndrome, which highlights the maxim that perception often misrepresents reality. A man goes into a dark house, and see a big hairy arm sticking out of the wall. He immediately attacks it, cutting off the arm. The owner of the arm bleeds to death, and, upon tearing open the wall, it is discovered that it belonged to a mother protecting her young. So, always be aware that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or, at least, in the wallet."How do you view the prospective clients, fellow lawyers, and others that you meet in your day to day law practice? Do you go through life reacting to your metaphorical hairy arms, or do you think before you act? I was thinking about the hairy arm syndrome this morning, while reading about the current state of our world. I was introduced to it by Miller Williams, the great Southern poet, and my professor in college. Miller had an uncommon understanding of the human condition, and wrote about it with skill and humor. It occurred to me to wonder what he would write about our world in this decade.What would he write about the Covid-19 pandemic?  I suspect that he would write about a solitary human climbing a hill, ignoring obstacles, knowing that every hairy arm doesn't belong to an evil creature. Let's resolve to look at our world that way this week.

 

Parrots And Corvids Have The Biggest Brains

Why Do Birds Have Big Brains?. Cultural Offering points to this article about the compliment of being bird brained. Yes, it is a compliment, because birds evolved to have big brains, cognitive ability, and parrots and crows have the biggest of them all. I love parrots both for their beauty and intelligence. They recognize me, they speak to me, and they form bonds with humans. What's not to like? 

"One of the big surprises was that selection for small body size turns out to be a major factor in the evolution of large-brained birds," says Dr. Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum and lead author of the study. "Many successful bird families evolved proportionally large brains by shrinking down to smaller body sizes while their brain sizes stayed close to those of their larger-bodied ancestors."

So, call me a "parrot brain" if you like. I will thank you.

So, What's New With You?

Ryan Holiday has some interesting thoughts about being older and living with this pandemic.

"I interviewed George Raveling today for the podcast, and I asked him how he was thinking about being 80+ years old which is obviously an at risk age group right now. He said, "I've been lucky enough to be on this nearly for 80 years. A significant percentage of people are born and never live past 40, so I feel very blessed. I go to bed each day hoping for a better tomorrow."

As a post 70 year old boomer myself, I can attest to the wisdom of getting up every day and thanking whatever superpower is up there for another few hours to walk around and breathe the air. What the hell is everyone complaining about? Just stop it. Have some fun today. I am.

Wisdom From The Execupundit

Discovery. There is a truism in law practice about juries. Never lay out every single fact for them. Never speak every conclusion. Most of us want to think we make decisions on our own. We like solving puzzles. Lawyers need to give the jury something to figure out for themselves. In the same way, today's post, which suggests two ways of being found to be intelligent. One is to tout how smart and intelligent and great you are every chance you get. We all know these people. There is a difference between noting your skills, and bragging about them. The second way is to allow others to discover your intelligence themselves. It brings to mind one of my favorite poems from Emily Dickinson:

I'm Nobody! Who are you? 

Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886

 

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

Dying With Enthusiasm

There is a lot of gloom and doom in the news these days. Seneca and the early Stoics saw more of it than we ever will. But, they lived what lives they were given, and Seneca got it right when he said we should "die with enthusiasm". We are all dying. Get over it. Is that a reason to whine and complain and mope around worrying all the time? In fact, without minimizing the deaths of thousands of people from a virus, we really can only do our best to avoid it, and live while we are waiting for fate. The Stoics also talk about loving your fate; primarily, because there isn't anything much you can do about it.Politicians and Doctors and Scientists try to "control" things. They shut down the economy, causing as much misery as they are trying to prevent. They try to convince us that they have the answers to the future. Enough ranting for a Monday morning. Whatever we do, there will be consequences. Just live your life the best you can. Stop whining about it. George Carlin got it right: