blogging

My daughter was invited to a birthday party today where she expected to swim – only the kids decided to go play a little wiffle ball first. For six and seven year olds, some of them were pretty hardcore ballplayers, even wearing their softball outfits to the park. Katie, standing in her glittery Hello Kitty sandals, didn’t look so fierce.

“Mommy,” she said, “What if I don’t hit the ball?”

“Then,” I replied, “You’re still doing as good as half the pros out there. Go have fun.”

I thought they were pretty encouraging words but she was still intimidated. She decided to skip the wiffle ball altogether and hold out for swimming at the pool.

I know how she feels. It can be intimidating when you get outside of your comfort zone. And when you’re not 100% into something, that’s when things can go wrong. That’s when the slump can set in – you lose your confidence and you languish a bit.

So, this is where you expect me to champion stepping outside of your comfort zone and do something different – only I’m not going to. I’m going to suggest that there’s nothing wrong with sticking with what you know.

Professional athletes excel at what they do because they focus. And when a slump hits – and slumps will inevitably happen – athletes train harder at what they’re good at. They may look at new ways to accomplish their goals such as different stances, novel throws and alternative training but they remain focused on what they ultimately hope to accomplish.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no rule that says you have to try something different.

I know you’re wondering what this has to do with tax. Not a whole lot on the surface, I’d say. But I’ve been asked a lot lately about my career, why I do what I do, what I would suggest for young, new lawyers (run screaming from the profession has not been met with much enthusiasm). I get lots of email every week from law students, paralegals – and yes, even practicing attorneys – who ask me for advice about becoming a tax attorney. Many of the emails are from folks who are currently doing something else and are no longer happy – they are in a slump, if you will.

My advice is almost always the same: find something that you like and make it your own. You don’t always have to make a wholesale change. Sometimes, it’s as simple as finding a new law firm or plugging into a new sub-specialty (try giving federal tax a whirl if state and local tax has you in knots). If you don’t like researching and writing, steer clear of tax policy; maybe try compliance work. If you are a people person, consider estate tax or other tax planning work, where you’d have the opportunity to meet and interact with clients instead of sitting in your office. Sometimes, getting yourself out of a slump can be as simple as identifying what you like about your current situation and tweaking it to make it better.

That said, trying something completely different is not necessarily a bad thing. Even when it doesn’t go as planned, there are lessons to be learned. Michael Jordan infamously took up minor league baseball well into his basketball career to re-discover what he already knew: that he was the best basketball player ever.

A slump is not the end of the world – we all hit those walls when you feel like you can’t turn things around (just ask one of my many beloved Phillies this season). But the key to making it – whether in law school, in your career, in the blogosphere or even in professional sports – is to stay focused. Find the thing that you like to do or talk about or read about and concentrate on that. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

(psst, Go Phillies!)

(Image: Chris Erb)

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