Joy: “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” It means being happy and unburdened.
That feeling you get on Sunday night when you think about work the next day—that’s not “joy.”
That feeling you get when your boss calls you to his or her office, and it’s not bonus season, that’s not “joy.”
And, that feeling you get when they tell you you’re fired. That’s not “joy.” That’s anti-joy. That’s “joy-killer.” That’s the death of “joy.”
But, does it have to be?
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If you’ve ever been fired or laid off, you know how devastating it can be. Suddenly, a job, a career, an identity that you’ve spent years building has come to a screeching halt. For some, the experience can be every bit as jarring as a divorce or death of a loved one (if not more so). I’ve already discussed those emotions and how to start coping in the immediate aftermath.
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As anyone who’s been fired knows, being fired is difficult to deal with. It’s not at all like quitting. Well, maybe they’re just a bit alike in that both involve you no longer having your job. But, that’s where the similarity ends. Quitting is proactive. It’s freeing. It’s liberating. It’s you telling your boss to “take this job and shove it.”
Being fired is not like that at all.
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Self-help gurus will tell you that humans have limitless potential. Are they right? Are there really no boundaries to what we are capable of doing? The answer is yes . . . and no. The key, I think, is the word “potential.” So, while it may be true that you potentially can do anything, in reality, we all know that we cannot do anything. Or, perhaps, more precisely, we all know that we do not do anything. Sometimes that is due to physical limitations (as a guy who’s under 5’6”, I’m never going to dunk a basketball without first climbing a ladder or jumping onto a trampoline). Sometimes the limitations are external forces (if you are in prison, you do not have the freedom to go on vacation in Florida for Spring Break), and sometimes those limitations come from within. Those are the limitations I’m focused on. Those are the ones you need to be aware of. Those are the ones you can do something about.
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On my first day in law school, I listened to a speech by the school’s dean. I remember only two things from his speech: that he was wearing a green sports coat, as if he had just won the Master’s Tournament; and he used the word “guff” a lot, as in “You better not give the administration any guff.” He kept saying it over and over again, as if he were a warden of a youth offender center and we were a bunch of delinquents who had been busted for stealing hubcaps. Nothing about the curriculum. Nothing about the law. Nothing about the life of a lawyer. Nothing about the contributions we as lawyers could make to society.
Just one thing mattered above all: we weren’t supposed to give him any “guff.” And, if we were thinking of giving guff, we better quit that idea right now.
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I’m really excited to be a contributor to Lawyerist. Law is a tough, often grueling, profession, and it’s not that easy to survive in that world. I should know. I’ve been laid off or fired from 4 of the 5 firms for which I worked, which is a big reason why I’m now a comic and a formerly unhappy lawyer.
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