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9 Ways to Go Beyond the Imposter Syndrome

9 Ways to Go Beyond the Imposter Syndrome

We recently taught a webinar on the imposter syndrome for the American Bar Association.  (ABA members can access the webinar and earn CLE free of charge here.  Non-ABA members can access the webinar with a 15% discount by using the discount code FACMARK at checkout.)  

In conversation with the ABA and program moderator Lacy Durham in advance of the webinar, one of the issues identified was that many people who feel they are a fraud or imposter think they’re unusual or alone, which adds to their shame and difficulty understanding that these feelings are common and not related to qualifications or skill.  We’re prepared this blog post as part of an effort to normalize the feelings of imposterism and help lawyers and other professionals build awareness.  It’s based on the remarks we and Lacy made during the webinar and is intended, in a more cursory way, to provide some brief background and resources.  We encourage you to share it with colleagues and your network to spur more discussion of the imposter syndrome and, in so doing, help remove the stigma around it.  

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Making the summer associate experience a win-win

Making the summer associate experience a win-win

The summer experience has big stakes for both the law firm and the summer associate.

Most firms hire summer associates as a talent pipeline for their full-time associate ranks. The summer is an important evaluation period and recruiting period. The firm wants summers to be excited about full-time employment. This process, done annually, fosters a firm’s growth and evolution.

The summer program is equally important to the summer associate. The summer wants a full-time job; it’s harder to find a permanent spot as a rising 3L without an offer in hand. The summer also wants to create a positive reputation at the firm, because that reputation lays the foundation for long-term success at the firm.

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Team Transformation: Employee Engagement

Team Transformation: Employee Engagement

This article from Law.com has prompted a lot of discussion among our team.

'Be More Intentional': How GCs Are Building Camaraderie Amid Hybrid Work

"It is so much easier to trust someone at work when you know the whole person and trust them with your whole person," said Theresa Shea, general counsel of Utz Brands.

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Making the summer associate experience a win-win

Making the summer associate experience a win-win

The summer experience has big stakes for both the law firm and the summer associate.

Most firms hire summer associates as a talent pipeline for their full-time associate ranks. The summer is an important evaluation period and recruiting period. The firm wants summers to be excited about full-time employment. This process, done annually, fosters a firm’s growth and evolution.

The summer program is equally important to the summer associate. The summer wants a full-time job; it’s harder to find a permanent spot as a rising 3L without an offer in hand. The summer also wants to create a positive reputation at the firm, because that reputation lays the foundation for long-term success at the firm.

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6 Hacks to Crush Anxiety in Legal Writing

Summer associates and newer lawyers can relate to this situation: your supervisor hands you a writing assignment, and you face a deadline that’s a week or so away. At the moment the deadline feels remote. But you know that legal writing takes a lot longer than any writing you’ve done before and that you should get started now. But you can’t. Why is that?

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Employee Engagement & Business Performance

According to a 2022 report from Gallup, companies that score high in employee engagement more than double their odds for success compared to those who score low in employee engagement.

So what is employee engagement and how can you use it for the betterment of your employees and company? We’ve prepared a free resource on employee engagement and first steps to increase yours.

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Apochromatik's Holiday Guide

The holidays are here! With the combination of work parties, family activities, an expanded to do list, and all the end of the year craziness, you may not have been sitting at your desk, hitting refresh on the Apochromatik blog. We’ve rounded up some of our resources on the holidays, both articles that have quoted us as experts, and our own blog posts that can help you end December with deepened work relationships, having advanced your career, and with time and energy left for your most important relationships.

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Strategies for Successfully Working From Home

After the last 18 months, many of our work from home practices could use some fine tuning, particularly if you plan to work from home at least part-time for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, work can easily invade your entire home and every waking moment. Likewise, it can be easy to keep up bad habits that can leave you feeling inefficient and ineffective. In this week’s post, Chelsea B. Ashworth shares some reminders and suggestions for working from home effectively and efficiently.

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9 Ways to Go Beyond the Imposter Syndrome

We recently taught a webinar on the imposter syndrome for the American Bar Association.  (ABA members can access the webinar and earn CLE free of charge here.  Non-ABA members can access the webinar with a 15% discount by using the discount code FACMARK at checkout.)  

In conversation with the ABA and program moderator Lacy Durham in advance of the webinar, one of the issues identified was that many people who feel they are a fraud or imposter think they’re unusual or alone, which adds to their shame and difficulty understanding that these feelings are common and not related to qualifications or skill.  We’re prepared this blog post as part of an effort to normalize the feelings of imposterism and help lawyers and other professionals build awareness.  It’s based on the remarks we and Lacy made during the webinar and is intended, in a more cursory way, to provide some brief background and resources.  We encourage you to share it with colleagues and your network to spur more discussion of the imposter syndrome and, in so doing, help remove the stigma around it.  

Read More

2020 Holiday Gifts for the (Virtual) Office

The holidays are coming, and along with gifts for friends and family, you likely have gifts for coworkers on your list. In case you happen to have “?” next to them on your list, here are a few guidelines to follow, and a few suggestions.

First, let’s acknowledge 2020 as a truly unique year. And with COVID numbers spiking around the country, the likelihood is your office holiday party will be virtual. Many people will still send gifts and we want to help you pick the most appropriate ones…even this year.

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11 Rules for Supervising Remote Employees

Last week we shared 11 Rules You Need to Know for Working Remotely, whether occasionally or full-time. As we noted, 70% of workers around the world are remote at least one day per week, and more than 50% work remotely at least half of the time. That means that more and more managers now supervise people working remotely. And, particularly due to COVID-19, more and more employees are suddenly working remotely without time for them or their supervisors to nail down the logistics.

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How is 2020 going for you?

If your check engine light comes on in your car do you go on YouTube, buy some self help books, check with friends, ignore it as long as you can, and eventually take it apart in the evening after work in your garage?  Or, do you call your mechanic or car dealership to run a diagnostic?  The vast majority of us don’t have the technical skill to troubleshoot modern cars...but do we have the technical skills to troubleshoot our career and personal goals?

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Apochromatik's Holiday Guide

The holidays are here!  With the combination of work parties, family activities, an expanded to do list, and all the end of the year craziness, you may not have been sitting at your desk, hitting refresh on the Apochromatik blog. We’ve rounded up some of our resources on the holidays, both articles that have quoted us as experts, and our own blog posts that can help you end December with deepened work relationships, having advanced your career, and with time and energy left for your most important relationships. 

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Imagine Your Future Self

Have you ever wondered why it can be so difficult to stop procrastinating?  We’ve offered tips before on how to stop procrastinating, and you could procrastinate all day by reading the science behind it.  (Ask me how I know – from the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience to a fascinating working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research on college students’ procrastination and present bias, I may have read it all.)

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