Movies and TV shows love to portray the maverick shoot from the hip trial lawyer. He takes the hopeless case and wins it handily. She takes every adversity in the preparation and turns into strategic gold. The reality is that successful trial attorneys focus on planning, details and prioritization. For most people, just listing these stresses them out! But the reality is that this approach can help you manage and eliminate stress in your life.
Trial attorneys determine reality based on facts. Facts are supported by evidence. The relative importance of facts is determined by the legal issues being considered. The legal issues are determined by the remedy being sought.
For example. One day in August, a man comes home drunk and yells at his wife. She leaves and goes to her boyfriend's house. Meanwhile, the young children are tired of their father getting so loud, so they tie a pillow over his face after he passes out. This causes him to suffocate and die. At the reading of the will, a stranger claims to be the man's illegitimate daughter and also claims that the kids who tied the pillow to his face are not his biological children. Pretty interesting, right? But none of these facts are relevant if the judge is trying to decide if the man filed a fraudulent tax return 2 Aprils ago.
Litigation is concerned with the accuracy and relevance of facts. This is why trial attorneys track down witnesses and documents, to lay as much support that the facts they present are more accurate and credible than the other side's.
Litigation is also concerned with the relevance and importance of those facts within the context of the issues being ordered to the judge or jury. This is why lawyers research previous decisions, to provide guidance as to what facts are important. This is also why attorneys use experts as witnesses, to explain to the judge or jury the background and context of an issue.
The trial attorney develops a plan to investigate the facts and issues, and then to present them in such a way that the judge or jury must find in his or her client's favor. This is the goal of litigation, but it must comport with the lawyer's rules of ethics. In other words, the evidence and case law can be presented most favorably to the client, but it cannot be lied about or distorted.
How does this apply to stress management and personal excellence? First, focusing on the facts of a situation oftentimes provides immediate stress relief. Learning the reality of what one is facing can relieve the stress of the unknown.
Second, determining what is stressful about a situation (the "issues" that the stress is causing you to evaluate) can help you prioritize your response. Eliminating stressors or potential stressors can eliminate an enormous amount of stress.
Finally, developing a plan to investigate the stressor and determine what resources you have, and you need, to attack the stress, can eliminate the stress of feeling overwhelmed by the stress.
This is how trial attorneys handle the stress of a courtroom battle. Internally, the lawyer has investigated the judge or jury, and the other side's case. He or she has developed plans and fall back plans for what could go wrong during the trial. The client has been prepared and counseled on how to assist during the several phases of the trial. Having plans and preparation helps the trial attorney handle stress. This approach can help you, too.
Evaluate the stressors the same way the lawyer evaluates the issues in the case. Research and find out the facts, as knowledge is one of the best stress relievers. Have a definite plan, so that interruptions and irrelevancies are ignored. But the plan must be flexible to accommodate changes and surprises.
STRESS JUDO COACHING is specifically designed to train you to do exactly this. Rick Carter has taken the tactics and strategies of martial arts and trial litigation, and created this coaching program to attack and transform the stress in your life. For the three FREE reports (The Truth: how your current stress management program is probably killing you; The Remedy: what a sthenic oriented stress transformation program would solve this; and The Overview: how Stress Judo Coaching implements this program) and to join the Community of Stress Judo Coaching practitioners, just enter your name and email address to the right. We use the “what is your concern?” box to investigate and circulate exclusive reports based 100% on member concerns.
