It has been just over two weeks since the BFL team returned from Clarissa Rayward’s Happy Lawyer Happy Life Club Retreat in Kingscliff, and we are still on a high after spending time with our wonderful colleagues from around Australia and across the ditch.
The Retreat is not like any other law conference. The aim of the conference was not to focus on the substance of the law, but on the business of law and, more importantly, the people who work within it. Over the two days, there were 18 amazing speakers who presented on a range of topics from the best ways to optimise your business, strategies for pursuing your ideas and goals, how to design your workspace to generate inspiration, and being authentic.
From these presentations, some of our key takeaways were:
- Your breath is your voice, and it is something that you give – think about where your voice comes from, how you’re positioned when you’re speaking, who is your audience and what is their mood/agenda. To understand this and to speak with intention and conviction, is empowering and will lead to successful conversations.
- Focus on your “superpower” – too often we try and be good at everything, whether it be at work or in our personal lives, and many people do a hell of a job at it. But sometimes we need to sit back and revisit our “superpower”, what it is that we are really good at. It may be a technical skill or a soft skill – it can really be anything, but once we start focusing on our strengths and on our “superpower”, that’s when we start to thrive.
- Surround yourself with amazing people – whether it be family, friends, or colleagues, it is important that you surround yourself with the people who support you, not only those who are there to celebrate your successes with you, but also those who aren’t afraid to tell you how it is, call you on your mistakes, and (sometimes) pull you back to reality. Connection is important, and we all need it to be happy.
- Watch out for those squirrels – we all have so many ideas running around in our heads, or if you’re like us, scrawled across butcher’s paper, and it is easy to get distracted by those ideas which may not be right (for now). Sometimes it is great to get distracted and carried away, but it is important to be able to manage those ideas, properly think them through and, if you find they are worthwhile, plan and prioritise.
- I am enough – this was the overarching theme of the weekend, and an important one. We are often told that we need to strive to “be better”, to want to earn more money or have the newest shiny thing because that’s what’s expected. But, it is important to remember that you don’t need more or to be more if you’re happy where you are/with what you’ve got, to be just the way you are is enough.
Attending a conference and being surrounded by like-minded, collaborative and friendly professionals, working in, and to change, an industry that is traditional, hierarchical and competitive, was refreshing. The Retreat motivated us to ensure the growth of our business and our own personal growth, values and ethos, are in alignment. We can’t wait for the Retreat 2020.
