"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
                         — e. e. cummings

"In the middle passage we are invited to find our passion. It is an imperative to find that which draws us so deeply into our life and our own nature that it hurts, for that experience transforms us."
                                      — J. Hollis
                     The Middle Passage:
                              From Misery to
                         Meaning at Midlife
Executive Coaching: Midlife Career Management

Maintaining interest and a high level of performance in a demanding job is one of the key challenges faced by lawyers when they reach the normal developmental life stage commonly referred to as “midlife” — a period that all healthy adults must experience but which few wish to discuss.

This period of our lives is sometimes referred to in terms of “crisis” because it may involve a major shift in our perspective, values and purpose — a shift that we are unable to fully understand or explain on a rational level and that is sometimes inconsistent with the assumptions and expectations that we lived by during the first half of our adult lives. This sudden and seemingly inexplicable shift can exert a powerful influence on our lives in the form of loss of interest in a career that we once found exciting and compelling, complicated reactions to events and decisions, new and illogical interests, shifts in our relationships with others and the like.

Because the practice of law operates on the assumption that people behave in calm, logical and predictable ways, lawyers often find this period of their lives particularly difficult to navigate. They may feel split, finding themselves suddenly concerned with matters of meaning, purpose and relationship on the one hand, and matters of everyday, practical importance on the other. The goal, during this period, is to continue to function at a high level in their demanding jobs, while at the same time finding the time and space to tend to the normal development changes that are occurring in their lives.

The Executive Lawyer LLC has a depth of knowledge and understanding of the midlife process and how it impacts lawyers in their lives and in their careers. We offer our clients numerous strategies to help them maintain their performance levels while at the same time successfully navigating their way through this period — not as a crisis, but rather as a rich and rewarding opportunity leading them on a path toward a full and highly productive second half of their lives and their careers.

For an example of our work with clients in the area of midlife career management, see our Case Studies.