Research commissioned by the Law Society in 2018 showed that solicitors in Ireland ‘have a lower wellbeing score than the lowest average population score in the EU’. Alongside the common factors of high workload, tight deadlines, and target pressure, many Irish solicitors struggle to balance work with family and other commitments. Across the legal industry globally, these factors contribute to lawyers being at a constant high risk of burnout.

At the core of many factors with a negative effect on wellbeing is a lack of healthy boundaries. Without these, people often tend to:

• say yes when they mean no;
• over-commit themselves; and
• deny their own mental, physical and emotional needs to please other people.

So, how can you set healthier boundaries to ensure you are able to prioritise your wellbeing at work?

1.      Learn how to say no

For such a tiny word, ‘no’ often carries a huge emotional charge. And yet, despite being a word with a literal negative meaning, it is the most positive word for boundary-setting. Unfortunately, ‘no’ is sometimes hard to say, especially when it involves letting somebody down.

Here are a few ways to say ‘no’ without saying ‘no’ if you find it uncomfortable:

• Use no, but: always follow up ‘no’ with what you can do instead, e.g. ‘No, I can’t do that right now, but I can do it tomorrow’.
• Offer an alternative solution: perhaps you can’t help, but you know another way the person can find what they need, e.g. ‘I’m afraid I can’t help with that, but have you tried x instead?’.
• Ask for help reprioritising: if you have too much on your plate to be able to say yes now, ask the person how you can reprioritise to fit them in. This shows them you are willing to help and helps them understand your ‘no’.

2.      Use tech to set physical boundaries

Thanks to tech, there are now so many ways to maximise the space you have to do your work and live your life. Try some of the following:

• Utilise the DND (do not disturb) function: most phones and computers now have a function which prevents notifications and calls from disturbing you. Use it when you are doing a piece of focussed work or spending valued time outside of work.
• Set application timers: you can now set timers on many of your applications to limit your use. This can serve as a useful prompt that you have spent too much time staring at the screen and should take a break.
• Set up an email automatic response: it is becoming far more widely acceptable to use this function during the working day to communicate your working style. People are far less likely to chase you for a response if they have received an auto-reply telling them when they will receive one.

Caitlin McFee is a former magic circle lawyer turned mindset and communication coach. Caitlin provides 1:1 sessions as well as corporate coaching to help lawyers prioritise their mental health and wellbeing to achieve long-term, sustainable success in the legal industry.