Laura's Advice for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

We need to keep a realistic perspective about our roles as contract lawyers and professionals.

We are about getting contracts done.

We are about efficiency.

We are about practicality.

We are about compromise.

We are about good enough.

Working with commercial contracts means we do things with incomplete knowledge that are less than perfect in less time than we would like to spend.

Our goal is to get to a signed contract that has an acceptable risk level for our clients, that reflects the deal they want to do, and that provides clarity for their rights and obligations.

Many lawyers and professionals worry and stress that they don't know everything. I also was that way for most of my career.

I believe our worry and stress results from unrealistic expectations of perfection and omniscience.

We set the bar too high.

Our role is not to know everything.

Our role is not to be perfect.

Our role is to manage and mitigate risk. Our role requires we consider lots of different inputs and do the best we can with what we know.

I bet that you are doing just that.

So stop beating yourself up for not meeting some imaginary and unrealistic standard.

Instead, pat yourself on the back for the awesome job you do.

_______________________

Here's a link to the original LinkedIn post so you can see the comments.