OP here. Not sure if this question was addressed to the lit alum, but I would agree with the above. You just "do".Lacepiece23 wrote:Not a DPW associate, but I think this question can be answered by anyone. You just kind of do. I remember my first 8 hours billable day where I was behind my comp for 8 hours, no social events, no bs trainings, just legal work. I was exhausted. You just kind of build stamina over time. I can easily bill 8 hours behind my computer and not break a sweat. Now, the bad days are 13/14 hour days where you have no phone calls, no meetings, no depositions, just work behind the comp.Anonymous User wrote:Any tips on stamina/staying "on" for months at a time? I'm slowly realizing that I've gotten this far by being good at working really hard in short bursts/performing under pressure, but I've never had to put in a lot of hours at a high level day in day out for years at a time. How do I adjust from chillin and getting 8+ hours of sleep as a law student to the biglaw grind?
The best days for me are where I have like 7 billables behind a comp and like 2-3 in calls/meetings/depositions. Also, doc review is pretty easy when your first start out. I miss having it.
There's a lot more up and down in corporate. I go home at 6-7ish regularly when things are slow.
I remember being really worried about this before I started, but I've been surprised by my ability to deal with it. You build a tolerance for it and there's a certain amount of adrenaline that kicks in to assist. Not cuz the work is particularly exciting, but you don't have time to think about how hard you're working when you're juggling a bunch of things on short deadlines.
As far as tips go, I'd say don't be too eager to please and take on more work than you think you can handle. No one is gonna remember if you turn work down, but they will remember if you do things poorly and they're not gonna caveat that memory with "but he/she was really busy!" Definitely get comfortable with pushing back. Also, learn to triage. When you first start (and tbh some of my peers are still this way), your instinct is to assume that everything needs to be done ASAP. That's usually not the case. Carve some time out for yourself even if it means pushing some work back for a bit. No ones gonna die. Take a walk, watch an episode, go work out, meet a friend for dinner.
ETA: Triage and carving time out for yourself is a lot harder in M&A when things are busy. But you also get more valleys in exchange for the peaks.
ETA: left out most important tip IMO, don't be so hard on yourself if you make mistakes occasionally cuz you're slammed. There are definitely a handful of midlevels that think I suck cuz I had to de-prioritize their work cuz I was too busy to give it real time (either cuz their work was objectively the least urgent, the assignment itself sucked and I just didn't have the heart to care as much, or I had equally urgent work for midlevels/seniors that i like more). It's whatever. They probably won't be here forever to hold that against me and I won't be here forever to suffer the consequences even if they are. Just learn from the experience and move on.