How to make partner lesson 9 – pace yourself

In summer 2016 Heather Townsend revealed the 10 lessons that every potential partner needs to learn to an audience of 200 lawyers and accountants. In the ninth lesson, Heather talks about the importance of pacing yourself, if you want to make partner. The road to partnership is long, it’s winding, and it’s tough.  And in these series of ten lessons that I’ve learnt from my clients on the way to partner, I’m going to shine a light on what you need to do to make partner. Today is about lesson number 9. I was worried about my client.  I’d seen her recently in a meeting and she didn’t look well.  She’d started to not answer my calls, and in fact the last time we spoke she took the call from home because she had an upset tummy.  But she sounded really tired, she sounded overwhelmed, and she let on to me that she’d been signed off for a couple of weeks with stress. And that is the reality of what it is to make partner; that it is tough, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, it’s easy to let things get on top of you.  You’ve always got targets you’ve got to beat, you’ve always got to do more. Which is why you need to know the ninth lesson, which is pace yourself and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. You need to be the best person you can be at work, to make partner.  You’ve got to look after yourself, and treat your body and your health as if it’s your most important client.  Because if you don’t you won’t make partner, you have to be on top form to make partner.  So to do that, pace yourself and take care of yourself.