I absolutely LOVE this old proverb:

"The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now."

I think it's the perfect concept for those who procrastinate on their health and wellness goals--and for those who justify not setting any.

How many times have you heard someone say something like "I wish I'd have done that years ago", or "If only I'd started that when I was in my 20s", or some variation of that theme.  

Well, you may be able to slow down time, but as far as I know there's no way to turn it back.

People often use the fact that they didn't do or know something in the past as a reason or excuse or justification for not doing or changing something in the future.  

Let's look at eating organic foods, for example.  When faced with the choice of buying and eating organic vs. non-organic foods, some people say "Well, I never ate organic growing up, and I turned out okay--and besides, the damage, if there is any, is already done.  Why change now?"

The same applies for taking quality nutritional supplements like Omega 3, Vitamin D and probiotics, or for getting regular chiropractic adjustments, or for just plain getting some regular exercise.  Heck, it even applies to changing careers if you don't love the one you're in.

Changing something now doesn't mean that you were wrong or stupid or lazy in the past.  We've all made tons of mistakes and we've all done dumb things (and not done smart things) in our lives.  

But NOT changing something now when you know it's good for you just because you didn't do it in the past--well, that is wrong and stupid and lazy.

Yes, many of us wish that 20 years ago we started saving 10% of every paycheque...and started exercising regularly..and eating whole foods...and not eating processed foods...and had chosen the right career...and planned a little better for the future...and the list goes on.

Twenty years ago definitely would have been the best time to do all of this.  But, as the proverb says, the second best time is NOW.

So get out of your own way and get on with those changes you know you need to make to improve your overall level of wellness and quality of life. Twenty years from now you'll be happy you did.

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Healthy lawyers make for happy lawyers.  Happy lawyers make for good lawyers. Good lawyers make for good law firms.  Good law firms create tremendous value for their clients and, in turn, are handsomely compensated.  

Having a culture of wellness in a law firm doesn't just make sense.  It makes dollars and cents.

Does your law firm have a culture of wellness?  Check out the short video above for two easy ways to find out.

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Lawyers have much higher incidences of unhappiness, depression and suicide than the general population.  The profession can exact a toll on practitioners' mental well-being, that's for sure.  Lots of pressure, lots of deadlines, lots of hours, lots of stress.

But there's also a TON of great things about practicing law.  Helping your clients achieve a desired result is a great feeling.  Lawyers can help make people's lives better by taking on a client's problem and helping to make it go away in the most efficient and (hopefully) most cost-effective manner possible.

There's great intellectual challenge in being a lawyer.  There's lots of wonderful camaraderie with colleagues, both in your office and across the courtroom.  In many cases there's financial abundance that comes with being a hard-working and principled lawyer - especially after 10 or so years at the bar.

People love to tell jokes, but the fact is that society needs lawyers.  Anarchy would ensue without lawyers interpreting and upholding the rule of law.  Fact is,  lawyers are essential to the proper functioning of society - just as much as doctors and policemen and firefighters and other professions that get a much better rap than us poor lawyers do most of the time.

Practicing law is a noble profession.  There's no need for it to cause such unhappiness and depression amongst those brave and intelligent souls that practice law.  Being a lawyer should enhance quality of life, not detract from it.  But sadly, much too often, the practice can negatively impact life rather than help to create an epic life for the lawyer and his or her family.

Wellnesslawyer.com wants to help change that.  Why can't lawyers be known as people who have it all together, whether in the boardroom, the courtroom, or the family room?

Give me some reasons why it can't happen, and I'll tell you why it can - and should.

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Since I've become passionate about wellness, one of the biggest discoveries I've made is that wellness is not an end game.  You don’t strive for wellness so you can go around saying See how well I am?

Wellness is simply a MEANS to an END.

And the end is QUALITY OF LIFE.

To me that’s what it’s all about.  Creating the best quality of life you can during your short time on this planet.  And you simply cannot have an outstanding quality of life if your health and wellness are compromised.  Period.

So what is Quality of Life?

That's a great question.  You can find some super complex and long-winded definitions out there if you look. But I prefer a simple definition of Quality of Life.  It’s one I have refined from the words of Jon Butcher, founder of Lifebook:

Quality of life is the degree to which you do what you want, when you want, where you want, how you want, and with the people and things you want.

Another word for this?  Freedom.

If you have complete freedom of what, when, where, how and with, then you’ll have a great a quality of life.

Now, very few people have complete freedom in each of these categories.  But the degree to which you do have freedom in these categories is the degree to which will have a great quality of life.

And let me be clear on this:  Quality of life is NOT dependent on how much money you have.  Money can help, for sure, but it is not the determining factor.

Your health and wellness are BY FAR more important to your quality of life than money, or any other factor in your life.

The old adage is true:  Health=Wealth.

So, to sum up:  If you want an awesome quality of life, you have to have high levels of wellness.  End of story.

Isn't that worth striving for?

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I recently had the pleasure of presenting my Lawyer Wellness: From Oxymoron to Optimal Living workshop at the CBA-NB MidWinter Conference.  Here's a little clip from the start of the workshop. 

So what do you think?  Can you practice law AND have a high level of wellness in all the important areas of your life?

Well, as Henry Ford said:  "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."

Even though I come from a Chevrolet family, I have to agree with Mr. Ford on that one.

To find out how you can supercharge your wellness and quality of life while practicing law, sign up for the 10 Essentials series below.  It's a game changer and is guaranteed to help you figure out and focus on what's most important in your life. And the inevitable result of doing that is an increased level of wellness in your life.

So sign up today and have fun starting down the path to creating and living an epic life - yes, even while practicing law!

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I am learning from experience once again how much more energy I have when I exercise regularly.  

I say it all the time to lawyers and others who struggle to fit exercise into their day. I tell them that exercise is an investment that pays HUGE dividends in your life--both in the short and long term.  I tell them that exercise isn't just something that we should do when we feel like it; rather exercise is an essential component to the proper functioning of the human body.  Exercise is a nutrient the body needs just like water, vitamins and minerals.

I have these conversations all the time, but it's always nice to be reminded personally just how true all these statements are. A couple of weeks ago our one and a half year old brought a stomach bug into our house, and we each took a turn battling through it.  Mine lasted about 36 hours - mainly consisting of nausea and stomach cramping, but no actual vomitting. Nevertheless, my core muscles became so tight during the cramping that I hurt my back when I overstretched to grab something.  It was a movement that I do a hundred times a day, but because I was so tight, I really gave a good tweak to my back.

It's much better now, but for the last 10 days I have not been able to exercise - and it will probably be until next week until I can resume my full exercise routine.

And what has been the result of no exercise for the last 10 days?  Gained weight? Loss of muscle tone?  Decrease in cardio endurance?

Well, probably all of those things have occurred, but I'm not really concerned about those things. They don't really affect my day-to-day living and I know when I am back to 100% I can reverse whatever negative effects my exercise layoff has had in those areas.

The more concerning and noticeable result to me of no exercise for the last 10 days is a huge decrease in my energy levels.  I feel tired pretty much all day, and as soon as I get the kids to bed, I just want to hit the sack as well.  Worse, even though I'm tired, I don't sleep as well and don't feel remotely rested when I wake up in the morning.  So I feel tired all day and the vicious cycle keeps turning.

So for those of you that don't exercise regularly right now, please - PLEASE! - commit to exercising every day for 30 minutes for the next 7 days.  You will get a HUGE boost to your energy levels and you will notice how that affects every other area of your life.

I can't wait until next week when, hopefully, my little "back setback" will be fully healed and I can regain the vitality I have when I exercise every day.

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Lawyers, more than most people, often struggle to find enough time in the day to get everything done.  But I don't think that's such a bad thing.  It's a sign that you're motivated and driven and take pride in your work and in the rest of your life, and you want to get the most out of it.

What is a bad thing in my opinion is when someone looks back at a period of time (ie. a month, or a year) and thinks Geez. . .where did all the time go?

To me, that's a sign of not living consciously.  It's a sign of not living in the moment enough and of not being present enough with what you're doing and how you're feeling.

If you look back on the last month or year and say it was all a blur, then you have not been focused enough on living your life.  You've probably been too focused on what comes next rather than what is now.

Don't get me wrong.  It is important to think about and plan for the future, no question.  But the future is a process.  Your life is a process.  You've got to take notice of, and enjoy, the process.  

You need to enjoy the now - not to the detriment of the future, but to the betterment of the future.

Enjoying the now doesn't mean eating chocolate cake every day and maxing out credit cards.  Enjoying the now means enjoying the process of living and working towards a life of happiness and fulfillment. 

Enjoying the now means taking notice of the things that make you happy, and of the things that don't make you happy, so that you can work to create more of the happy and less of the unhappy in the future.

Enjoying the now means EXPERIENCING your life.  Tasting it, savouring it - like you would a fine wine.

When you do that, you will be bringing an increased level of consciousness to your life.  And when you bring increasing consciousness to your life, TIME SLOWS DOWN.

Over the last year I have gone through tremendous change in my life.  I wrote about that here.

And when I look back to a year ago, I can't believe it was only a year ago.  How did all this happen in only one year?  

Look, I'm not saying that I am Johnny Super Duper Productive and got all of this or that done in one year - that's not it at all. What I'm saying is that over the last year I have brought a ton more consciousness to all aspects of my life than I ever had before, and the result is that time. . . slowed. . . down.

Now, you might say, Yeah but as the old saying goes, time flies when you're having fun.  So if time slows down, you must not be having fun!

Well, I've got two responses for that.  First, it's just an old saying.  Maybe it's time to throw it out, and replace it with Time flies when you're not paying attention to your life.

Second, I think that saying is meant to apply only to short periods of time - like a night out with friends, for example.  I know that when my wife and I get a babysitter and get out with friends - or even just ourselves -  the clock really seems to race by fast now matter how conscious I am to make sure I enjoy every moment of it.

Frankly, I think that people for whom large periods of time (weeks, months, years) "fly by" subconsiously want them to fly by - because they're simply not enjoying the process of experiencing their life.  They're not leading happy, fulfilled lives. They've chosen to turn the autopilot light on and to keep it on.

If you're one of those people, it's time to turn off the autopilot and to start experiencing your life.

I've been on autopilot before and let me tell you, living consciously is a lot more fun.  You feel so much more alive! 

You have to work at it, but it's worth it.  Because living consciously will buy you what money can't:  TIME.

Now, if you think I am completely nuts and want another theory on how to slow down time, have a look at this quick video.

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Last week I challenged everyone to make a commitment to wellness, write it down, and exchange it with someone else.  You and that someone else became instant accountability partners. I asked you all to call your accountability partner in one week (that's today, by the way!) to follow up to make sure your partner followed through on their commitment and so that you'd be more committed to follow through on yours.

Love to hear your success stories--leave them in the comments box below.

Having an accountability partner exponentially increases the likelihood that you will do what you say you're going to do.  If we just tell ourselves we're going to do something--get up three mornings this week and exercise before work, for example--it's too easy to let excuses creep into the equation, or to let inevitable obstacles derail your efforts.  

It's sort of strange, but letting ourselves down is somehow less of a problem than letting someone else down.  We all seem to break promises to ourselves much more easily than promises to others. I'm not really sure why that is exactly. Probably because we don't want to look bad in the eyes of others.  We don't want people to say that we lack commitment or that we can't keep our word.  It affects our character negatively, and nobody wants that.

In any event, suffice it to say that if you really want to make positive change in your life when it comes to your overall level of wellness, then you NEED to get someone to hold you accountable.  If you don't it's too easy not to follow through. It's too easy to cheat on yourself.

So if you haven't done so already, find someone to be your accountability partner. It should be someone that won't let you off the hook easily. 

You've got to push yourself outside your comfort zone, and having someone else there to give you a nudge can make all the difference.

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I have come to recognize that the two main reasons why lawyers--and society at large for that matter--struggle with the level of wellness in their lives are:

1. They have a lack of or the wrong information about what it means to be healthy and well; and
2. They make poor choices and take the wrong actions when it comes to their health and wellness.

So that's why I have created the 10 Essentials Series.  

If you subscribe to the Series by entering your email address to the right of this post or at the end of this post, you will get a series of 10 emails over the next 10 days that will give you the information and action steps that will set you up to take your wellness and quality of life to the next level.

The 10 Essentials Series will give you exactly what YOU NEED to KNOW and DO NOW to Supercharge your wellness and quality of life.

Are you ready?

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This afternoon I am presenting my popular Lawyer Wellness:  From Oxymoron to Optimal Living talk at the Canadian Bar Association New Brunswick Branch MidWinter Conference.

At the end of my talk I will be challenging everyone in the room to participate in a Lawyer Wellness Challenge.

The Challenge is simply this:

Commit to one thing you will do to improve your level of wellness over the next 7 days and write it down on a piece of paper.  It could be anything.  Here's some examples:  walk 30 minutes a day, hire a personal trainer, cut out or cut down on coffee or pop, enroll in a personal development course or a healthy cooking course, create your wellness chart, mend a fence with a relative, identify who your uplifting friends are and lose the numbers of the ones that aren’t, etc. . .

On the same piece of paper, write down your name and number (not email) and give it to someone else.  Ask them to do the same thing and give their wellness commitment to you.  That’s your accountability partner. 

Then one week later, call your accountability partner to confirm if you did what you said you were going to do, and to ask them if they did what they said they were going to do.

That’s it – but if you want to keep it going week after week, all the better!

Log your commitments and achievements in the comments section below.  

Everyone who puts their commitments on the blog gets a chance to win 2 FREE HOURS of wellness and quality of life coaching from the Wellness Lawyer AND a $100 gift certificate from Lululemon.

Good luck and have fun with it.

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Many lawyers might think that the pursuit of wellness sounds great in theory but just don’t have the time to put much into it.  After all, we work long hours and our client obligations never seem to cease.  And it’s our clients who pay the bills, so we can’t leave them out of earshot while we head off to get some exercise, right?

Let me share with you a story that might change your mind.  Maurice Chiasson was a colleague of mine at Stewart McKelvey.  Maurice has a busy corporate and commercial practice and significant volunteer commitments. He’s a QC and he works over 2,000 hours per year.  Here's his picture from the Stewart McKelvey website. . .

. . . and here's the link to his profile page on the SM site:

http://www.stewartmckelvey.com/en/home/directory/details.aspx/mchiasson/155

(I asked Maurice for some before and after pics to add to this post, but he's a little bashful.)

Three plus years ago, Maurice weighed 287 pounds.  He was on high blood pressure meds.  He knew that it would probably be a good idea to shed a few pounds, and tried off and on to get active, but life got in the way and he couldn’t get committed to it.

Then one day Maurice walked up 4 flights of stairs to attend a meeting on another floor of the office.  When he got to the meeting he was completely winded and had to take a few moments to recover.  He realized then and there that he had to do something—for real this time—about his health.  He was 43 years old at the time and thought to himself if I don’t do something about this, I’m not going to see 50.

So he did do something.  He decided to apply to his pursuit of better health the same level of commitment he had always brought to serving his clients.  He hired a personal trainer and considered every workout as a meeting with himself—a meeting he would no more cancel than if it were a meeting with one of his clients. 

That said, Maurice eased into his exercise routine.  To his credit, he did not try to go from zero to P90X in one fell swoop.  He began with light workouts 3 times a week.  Over the span of two years he gradually progressed to high impact workouts five times a week. And he has added a focus on proper nutrition to his pursuit of wellness.

Maurice acknowledges that there were a few plateaus along the way, but two years after his fateful flight up the Stewart McKelvey stairwells, Maurice had lost 95 pounds! 

And better yet, no more meds! 

Only two years before, Maurice's medical doctor had suggested that due to his family history Maurice would probably be on high blood pressure meds for the rest of his life.  It’s not heredity that controls our wellness, folks.  It’s our choices, it's how we live our lives—our level of commitment, as Maurice might say.

Nowadays, Maurice says he couldn’t imagine not exercising regularly and eating right.  If he goes a couple of days without exercising, his body starts to crave the endorphins the body creates when engaged in physical activity.  It’s addictive, he says.  Addicted to wellness—what an awesome concept.

 So, do you still think you’re too busy to make wellness a priority in your life? 

 Can you really afford not to?

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So what was your NYR for health and wellness this year? 

Did you join a gym?  Did you start going to the gym that you joined last year?  Did you start walking to work?  Taking the stairs?  

Did you go on a diet?  Cut out sweets?  Eat more salad?

Did you resolve to work less?  Or work more?  

Did you start making it a point to have dinner with the kids every night?  Or maybe two nights a week? 

Did you intend to get a handle on your finances, to finally see where all that money goes?  To figure out how your supposedly sufficient lawyer salary doesn’t seem to be quite enough to pay the bills every month? 

Cut out cigarettes?  Cut down on drinks?  Or maybe you resolved to get out for drinks more and rekindle a social life that’s gone missing over the last year or so.

Well, whatever your resolution(s), let me ask you this:  HOW’S IT GOING? 

We’re now one month into the year.  Are you sticking to your NYR game plan?

Chances are you’re not.  But don’t feel bad.  The vast majority of everyone else that made NYRs isn’t either.   

There’s only two possible reasons for this.  EITHER the resolution you made wasn’t really something you wanted in the first place, OR your Why wasn’t strong enough.

My Why?  What? 

Your Why is the reason or purpose behind your resolution. 

Say you wanted to lose 5 pounds in January.  If you really did want to lose that weight (i.e. it wasn’t something that someone else was compelling you to do, or that you felt you had to do but didn’t really want to deep down) and you didn’t succeed, it’s because your purpose for losing the 5 pounds wasn’t compelling enough to get you to do the things you need to do to lose the weight. 

In other words, your Why wasn’t strong enough. 

You see, there’s simple formula for success when it comes to NYRs, as with anything in life that requires some commitment.  Here it is:  Your Why has to be stronger than your Buts. 

Sounds sort of strange, but here’s what I mean.

Let’s say your reason for wanting to lose 5 pounds is so that your jeans won’t be quite as tight come Valentine’s Day.  Is that strong enough to smash through any Buts that will get in your way? 

For instance:  I want to exercise this morning before work, BUT

·      it’s so warm under these covers

·      I didn’t get a good sleep last night

·      I’ll just sleep a little longer and maybe I’ll try to get some exercise at lunch. . .or after work. . .or tonight before bed

·      I don’t have any clean workout clothes

·      I probably won’t be able to get a treadmill at the gym this morning anyway, and that’ll make me late for work

·      Etc, etc

Point is we’re all going to have a lot of Buts creep into our minds and try to destroy our chances of NYR success.    The key is to be able to suppress those Buts with a super-compelling Why.

If your Why is just to get into those jeans, your Buts might put a crack in your resolve and suddenly you’re resigned to saying, well, if I don’t lose those 5 pounds, I’ll just wear my Lulu Lemons on Valentine’s Day.  They make my butt look good no matter how much weight I have on.

(Ed. Note:  Working on trying to appeal more to women with my posts—how am I doing?)

If your purpose for losing those 5 pounds is a little more compelling, say something like I want to lose 5 pounds because I want to prove to myself that I have the self-discipline to eat right and exercise and if I can do this I’ll know I’ll be able to use that self-discipline in other areas of my life, like getting all that paperwork done and decluttering the house, and also I’ll have more energy and that will make my days better and I’ll have more patience with the kids, and who knows once I lose 5 pounds the wheels will be in motion already so maybe I can lose 10 and my performance at work will improve since I’ll have more energy and mental clarity and self-confidence and self-discipline and that might lead to a promotion or a raise and maybe the lifestyle changes and commitment it’ll take for me to lose 5 pounds will inspire my spouse to get in shape as well, and then maybe we can rekindle that spark we had a few years ago, and we’ll be setting a great example for the kids and. . . . . . .

Well, if that’s your purpose—your Why—you’re going to be much more likely to discard all those Buts that creep up because the benefit you’re going to get from losing those 5 pounds is going to be a heck of a lot more than the benefit you’re going to get from 30 of minutes of snooze-buttoning or giving in to any of the other Buts that get in your way. 

So next time you set a resolution—or for any goals you set that will require some serious commitment—spend some time to figure out your Why and make it as compelling as possible.  

Remember, your Why has to be stronger than your Buts.

Is weight loss is one of your goals and are you looking for some inspiration?  Tomorrow I’ll post about a real life lawyer weight-loss success story.

In the meantime, if you want to dive deeper into the concept of why, check out this great talk by Simon Sinek on the power of Why.

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During my last few months of life as a corporate lawyer, it occurred to me that what was missing was a passion for practicing law.  But let me be clear:  I did not hate practicing law, as many do.  I liked practicing law. 

But that was the problem.  I only liked it. 

I realized that in order to be great at something, you have to LOVE it, because only if you LOVE something will you go the extra mile to be the best at it.  Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours concept comes to mind here (see his book, Outliers) as do the words of the late Steve Jobs on the subject:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle." 

And when I kept looking, it dawned on me that what I loved to do was to learn about and to help others learn about health and wellness.  We are a sick society—and a nearly broke society, largely because we are a sick society.  Everybody knows this.  But few seem to know how to fix it, and even fewer seem to do anything about fixing it.

So that’s what I decided to do: follow my passion for inspiring and helping people to live a wellness lifestyle—which is the ONLY fix for a sick and nearly broke society. 

I suppose you might say I am fortunate, or lucky, to be able to simply jump on board with my wife Shelley’s business in the wellness industry.  Most people don’t have such an easy “out” so to speak, if they’re looking for a career change. 

But I have come not to believe in luck.  We create our opportunities.  And the opportunities that present themselves to us arrive because of choices and actions we have taken in the past.  In my case, the choices and actions I made over the years (some good, some not so good) led me to this specific opportunity at this specific time and I jumped at it.  I took action.

It was hard.  It was scary.  And I’m still a long way from having everything figured out.  But I love what I do everyday.  It just doesn’t get better than that. 

It can work the same way for anyone.  It can work the same for YOU.

The easiest thing in the world is to find reasons not to make a change in life—especially if your life is ok, or not bad, or just fine, etc.  If you hate life or your job, you’re likely to do something about it sooner or later. 

When you like your life or your job, but you don’t LOVE it, you’re more likely to find excuses to stay in your comfort zone.  You’re more likely to settle, as Mr. Jobs would say.

Don’t settle.  Live your passion and love your life.

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It’s been quite a whirlwind since I launched this blog a year ago today.

There’s a temptation to say, where did the time go?  but it was one of those years where so much happened that it’s hard to believe it was all crammed into twelve months.  I attribute this slowing down of time to an increased level of consciousness, a concept I wrote about here, and about which I will have more to say later. 

For the first 6 months of the year I was a practicing lawyer at Stewart McKelvey, knee deep in corporate transactions and periodically posting my thoughts about lawyer wellness (or lack thereof) on my new blog.  Life was good, but I knew something was missing.  I’ll post more about that tomorrow.

For the last 6 months I have been in one gigantic career transition.  As followers of this blog know, I resigned from Stewart McKelvey at the end of June to join forces with my wife Shelley to run and expand her Creating Wellness Chiropractic Centre.  For a few months I was still practicing law, finishing up a few client matters that did not make sense to transition to another lawyer.  At the same time I was getting my feet wet as Chief Wellness Officer at the Centre (got to pick my own title – fringe benefit of being married to the boss!). 

Besides being a gigantic career transition for me, it’s been a massive period of transition for the Centre.  Over the last six months we expanded the Centre in a several ways:  more space, more people, and more service offerings—all of which are for the sole purpose of increasing the health, wellness and quality of life of as many people in our community as possible.  If you’re interested in knowing more about all the great changes we have going on at the Centre, you can click here and register for a Teleseminar we’ll be hosting next week with all the details.  And if you’re in the Fredericton area, come on out to the Grand Opening of our new and improved Centre on Feb. 25.

All of which is another way of saying I have neglected this blog way too often over the last year – especially over the last six months.  With the exception of my series of posts on flu shots, I have broken the two foundational rules of Blogging 101: post regularly and create your community. 

Well, it’s on.

I know there are way too many lawyers out there who are not truly happy or fulfilled because they either (a) don't love their jobs or (b) do love their jobs but are really struggling with other aspects of their lives. 

I also know that I have a lot of experience, knowledge and tools to help those people.  So if you’re one of them, stay tuned.  Your quality of life is about to get a whole lot better.

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What do you know?  You can actually take a video of yourself and put it up on this site called YouTube.  For free!  Seriously.  Check it out, I did one here.

What's that?  YouTube's been around for, like, forever?  When did this happen? Oh right, while I was trying to figure out a way to meet my billable hour targets and take six weeks vacation a year (never did figure that one out).

So, enjoy.  You can probably tell it's my first crack at this, and that at times it looks like I'm in front of a firing squad rather than a camera.  But you gotta start somewhere right?

Oh, and if anyone knows how to set the thumbnails so that I don't look asleep, drunk, or both - please let me know! 

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My mom always told me never to use the word hate.  "It's such a strong word," she used to say.  "Use something different, like loathe."

And my 6-year old daughter obviously picked up the same message in Grade 1. "Dad!" she exclaims whenever I use the H-word.  "You shouldn't say that word.  It's not nice!"

Well, with apologies to my mother and my daughter, I have to say that I HATE the phrase work/life balance.  What a bunch of crap.

Whenever I hear it my ears hurt a little bit. Whenever I read it I squint painfully, in much the same way a man does when they see another man get hit in the groin with a flying object.  

Let me explain why this combination of words irritates me so much.  It's only three words and a slash, after all.  You'd think I could just let it go.  

Regrettably, I cannot.

I get the balance bit.  That part I'm okay with.  It fits with wellnesslawyer.com's philosophy that there are lots of divisions or categories in one's life that need attention and need to be worked on and nurtured in order to maximize one's wellness and quality of life.

It's the work/life part that makes me want to vomit a little bit. 

It appears to me that the proponents of the phrase work/life balance are trying to articulate that Work and Life should be in some sort of balance.   

Let's have a little fun and put Work and Life on the scales of justice and see if they balance:

Wow!  Will you look at that!  Work and Life can be perfectly balanced!

The way I see it, there's only one problem with this.  Work and Life are not two separate, mutually exclusive things!  Work is a part of life.  Work is one component of life.

The phrase work/life balance makes it seem like there's Work, and then there's Everything Else in Life, and as long as Everything Else in Life is of equal weight to our Work, then we should get some sort of medal under the Weights and Measures Act!  

Trying to balance Work and Life is like trying to balance one body part with the rest of your body. What weighs more, your kidney or everything else inside that skin of yours?

If it's work/life balance that you seek, you'll never get there because it's simply impossible. You're starting from the premise that your Work is separate from your Life and/or that your Work should be equal to the rest of your Life.  Both premises are wrong!  And when you start from a faulty premise, you have no chance of reaching your destination.

You have one life.  It is made up of tons of things -- some important and some not so much.  Yes, work is a very important part of life.  But it is only a part of your life.  It deserves tons of attention but so do your family, your finances, your friends, your spirituality, your philanthropy, your health, your intellect and your mindset.  The list could go on.

So please help me in banishing the phrase work/life balance from the English language.  Let's dump it in the scrap heap with other outdated and harmful phrases like would you like fries with that? and pass the remote.

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I love this post from the Lifebook blog about creating the right environments in your home that are congruent with who you are and how you want to live. 

http://mylifebook.com/blog/?p=2891

The theory applies not just to your home environments, but to all the environments you spend a significant amout of time in.  Like, say. . .YOUR OFFICE! 

Do you find you're constantly stressed out at work?  Might it have something to do with the chaotic environment that is your office?

So create a peaceful, organized office, and it just might translate into a peaceful, organized life.  We can't control all the stresses we face in life, but what we can control, we should.  One one thing we can control is the environment we create for ourselves at the office.

So take some time to create an office environment that you want to spend time in everyday.  Leave the chaos behind.  A little time now can make a HUGE impact on your stress levels for months and years to come.

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For those of you that have followed my series of posts about flu shots over the last 10 days, I commend you.  While everyone has a point of view about flu shots (often very entrenched points of view), there are not too many people that are as passionate about the flu shot issue as I am.  So I don't blame you if you haven't managed to get through all of my flu shot ramblings over the last little while.  But as I said in my first post on this issue, hopefully you now have more food for thought as you consider the wisdom of getting flu shots for you and your family.

So after today, I'm going to stop.  Probably.  Maybe.  At least for a while. . .

I've included a link below to a powerpoint video that I think sums up the difficulties with the flu shot and mass flu shot campaigns.  It's about 9 minutes long and is worth a look.

My summary on flu shots and flu shot campaigns is this:

1. Influenza (the flu) is not serious in the vast majority of cases.  That does not mean that it won't be serious for some, or that complications can't arise, or that there won't be any deaths stemming from the flu.  I do not mean to diminish the hardships endured by people that get seriously ill from the flu. However, those that do get seriously ill likely have a depleted immune system which in the vast majority of cases is due to bad lifestyle choices (lack of exercise, poor nutrition, lack of rest, unchecked emotional/psychological stress, etc.) and NOT to bad germs or bad genes.
2. The annual "death by flu" statistics put out in most press releases and picked up by most media outlets to support the flu shot campaign are not accurate. They include deaths caused by pneumonia as well as the flu.  I commented on this in my last post.  The video below articulates that according to the CDC's own data, only a few hundred people in all of the United States die from the flu every year (not 36,000).  (Again, I'm not diminishing the loss to those families; I'm just trying to put things in the proper perspective.)
3. There is serious doubt that the flu vaccine is effective at all. I have written about this, and the video below talks about this as well.
4. The flu vaccine contains several questionable ingredients, including mercury and other toxins, that would never be allowed in foods, but are permitted in the flu vaccine for some reason.  Thimerosal (the mercury containing preservative in flu shots) is not deemed safe to put in other child vaccines, but it is in the flu shot, and in most jursidictions the flu shot is recommended for healthy kids (and in many jurisdictions it's free for healthy kids).
5. There are other ways to boost your immune system and prevent the flu (or reduce its severity and complications), that are risk free and protect against all illness, not just the flu.  These are called Good Lifestyle Choices and include regular exercise, eating right, getting enough and the right nutrients, adequate rest, stress management, etc. 
6. The message that government-sponsored public flu shot campaigns sends to the public is that individuals are not responsible for their own health -- that they need to take something to keep them healthy, rather than to do the things listed above that will allow their body to express health and wellness.  
7. In my view, flu shot campaigns are the poster child for the dominant drug-centric medical paradigm of health care that treats symptoms, not causes of illness and disease.  It is an outdated, irresponsible, and disempowering paradigm and if it continues unchecked, it won't be long before society is too sick and broke to recover.

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Many flu shot proponents say that there are economic benefits of getting the flu shot. Here's an article on the Reuters website touting three financial reasons to get the flu shot. 

I'm not going to argue the stats put forth on the economic impact of the flu - $87 billion annually in the US, says the article.  That is a lot of moola.

How much do you think would be saved if Americans increased their exercise levels and nutrient intake, and decreased their stress levels, by 10%.  My guess is A LOT.

But that's not the reason this article had me laughing out loud. As I read it I was reminded of the Simpsons episode where the guy from Shelbyville taunted Springfield residents by saying that Shelbyville's football team beats Springfield's nearly half the time.

So here's the BEST STUDY EVER in support of the flu shot (taken directly from the article hyperlinked above):

According to one study, workers who fail to get vaccinated accounted for 45 percent of all days of illness during the period, 39 percent of all illness-related work days lost and 49 percent of all days with illness-related reduced on-the-job productivity.

Did you spot the brilliant logic there?  If not, read it again.

In case you're having an off-day, here's a clue:  Who makes up the rest of the 100 percent in the stats above?  

Seems to me, if these stats are true, then this paragraph could also be written:

According to one study, workers who DID get vaccinated accounted for 55 percent of all days of illness during the period, 61 percent of all illness-related work days lost and 51 percent of all days with illness-related reduced on-the-job productivity.

I wonder what the title of that study was.  I'm guessing: Want to miss even more work due to illness?  Get your flu shot today! 

The article also cites the stat that on average 36,000 people in the US die from the flu every year.  Wrong.  The fact is that this number covers deaths from flu and pneumonia and the vast majority (like 34,000 or so) is from pneumonia, not from the flu.  So, just a tad misleading, don't you think?  I'll have more to say about this tomorrow.

Until then, love to hear your thoughts.  If there's one thing that EVERYONE has an opinion on, it's the flu shot.

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Happy Halloween!

When I was practicing law at Stewart McKelvey I wrote a bi-weekly article on business law matters in our local newspaper.  Last year at this time I wrote an article on partnership law using Halloween and flu shot season as a backdrop.  When it was published I received a ton of feedback on it, so I am reproducing it here.  Enjoy!

Partners are liable for the debts of the partnership

Casper and Samantha operated an unincorporated business that manufactured vaccines to protect people from getting frightened on Halloween.  They developed the vaccine in response to studies that showed that people who failed to (a) take care of their nervous system, (b) eat right, (c) exercise regularly, and (d) get enough rest, were at a higher risk of getting frightened.  The vaccines were commonly called boo shots. 

Samantha was the brains behind the business.  She developed the formula for the boo shot and led sales and marketing efforts.  Casper’s role was mainly as financier of the business, but he did get involved in some management aspects of the business as well.  Both Casper and Samantha shared in the profits of the business.

The previous year had been an especially frightening Halloween.  In response, provincial authorities across the country clamoured to acquire enough boo shots for their citizens.  Casper knew that the business couldn’t supply boo shots to the whole country, so he and Samantha agreed that they would supply provinces X and Y only.

Samantha later made a deal with Province Z to supply boo shots without telling Casper.  She figured the business could generate enough vaccine for all three provinces, and besides, the money was too good to pass up.

But as the deadline approached for delivery of the boo shots to Province Z, it became clear that Samantha had overestimated the business’ production capacity.  She informed Province Z that its vaccine order would not be filled.

When word of this leaked to the citizens of Province Z, mass hysteria ensued and the province was forced to declare a state of emergency.  The province sought recourse against the vaccine business and sued Casper and Samantha individually as partners of the business.

“Partners!” exclaimed Casper when he was served with the statement of claim.  “I’m no partner of that witch Samantha!  She went behind my back and signed a contract I did not authorize.  I’m not paying for this mess!”

Frank and Stein, the law firm retained by Province Z to handle the matter, disagreed. They argued that the business was not incorporated and that since it was operated by more than one person, it was a partnership.  They said that when two people carry on an unincorporated business in common with a view to profit, that a partnership exists, and that each partner is liable for the actions of the other partners and for the debts of the partnership.

“Well if it’s a partnership,” Casper wailed when he got wind of Frank and Stein’s position, “then I am a limited partner and therefore only liable for the amount of money I put into the business and no more.”

Not so, argued Frank and Stein.  A limited partner is not allowed to take part in the management of the business, and they had evidence that Casper had performed some managerial duties.  Plus, a limited partnership can only be formed by registration under limited partnership legislation, and the vaccine business was not so registered.

“This is ridiculous!” shouted Casper.  “Why should I be liable for the covert actions of Samantha?  This is not my fault!”

Frank and Stein suggested that Casper should have given more thought to the structure of his business.  Incorporating could have limited his liability.  Being a true limited partner of a registered limited partnership could have limited his liability.  They suggested that Casper may have recourse against Samantha for her conduct and her share of the liability.  But since Casper had deeper pockets than Samantha, Province Z instructed Frank and Stein to recover all losses from Casper, and to let him worry about recovering whatever he could from Samantha later.

Poor Casper. He used to be such a friendly fellow, but ever since that Halloween he has been a ghost of his former self.

Please note that this article is provided solely for the reader's interest and does not constitute legal advice. The article should not be relied upon as a substitute for consultation with a lawyer with respect to a reader's specific circumstances.

Andy Clark is a senior associate with the law firm Stewart McKelvey in Fredericton and can be reached at 444-6982 or aclark@smss.com. Legal Matters appears every other Friday.

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