Rise and Shine: Morning Routines for Attorney Wellbeing

• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 4 Pg. 0078
• Year: 2025
• Pages: 0078

Rise and Shine: Morning Routines for Attorney Wellbeing Vol. 30 No. 4 Pg. 78 Georgia Bar Journal May 2025

GBJ I Attorney Wellness

"If you are going to rise, you might as well shine."—Author Unkown

BY ROTSEN "CHINNY" LAW

Have you ever seen a person out walking a large and unruly dog? The dog is hyper, excited and charging full speed ahead. Meanwhile, the poor owner is trailing behind, desperately trying to catch up, arms and legs flailing all over the place. You chuckle, and ask yourself, who is walking who?

This example is the best way to describe what it feels like when my day has gotten away from me. As lawyers, I am certain this has happened to you also. You retrace your day, and while you were certainly very busy, you were not very productive. The chaotic day comes to an end, you are exhausted and overwhelmed, your to-do list is even longer and the worst part is that your priority tasks did not get completed. You try again the next day, but the results are the same. You tell yourself that there must be a better way to work and most importantly live, but you do not know where to begin.

Before we go any further, I must get the necessary disclaimers out of the way. I am not a nutritionist, mental health specialist or trained fitness coach. I have been a workers' compensation trial attorney for almost a decade, and I have been on a lawyer wellness journey for just as long.^[1] I am passionate about helping lawyers live their best lives by candidly sharing my experiences.^[2] We handle our clients' matters with great care—why do we neglect ourselves during the process? Now is the perfect time to start taking better care of yourself and our profession!

Let us return to my dog analogy. Every day you must choose—do you want to be the dog walker or the dog? If you do not take control of your day and schedule, they will undoubtedly take control of you. If you want to be the dog, then you need a morning routine so you can rise am shine.^[3]

During my first years of practice, I learned the hard way that being busy was not synonymous with met deadlines, timely responses and, most importantly, results. In fact, being busy frequently prevented me from reaching these outcomes. Implementing a morning routine has dramatically improved my overall wellbeing and my productivity levels. A morning routine sets me up for success because I now start each day with intention and focus.

Morning routines vary in length, depth and activity. The goal is to design a routine that includes healthy habits, a few (or a lot of) self-care items and quiet time to organize your day. Tony Robbins has been a proponent of morning routines for many years and encourages us to make time for self-care in the morning, even if you do not have a lot of time...