My first post of 2015 I’m calling ‘Let Go and Believe.’ It is often an inability to ‘let go’ of preconceived beliefs, insecurities and ideas about ourselves and others that stand in the way of rezooming . There is no better time of the year to address letting go and rezooming your legal career than at the very beginning of a new year. What ideas or beliefs are holding you back?  What are you willing/unwilling to let go in order to move closer to your dream of rezooming?  It is always up to you. The choices you make and the way you see the world will either help or hinder you. You can embrace change and decide to dump the baggage or carry it forward. Is your glass half full or half empty?  The time may never be right to rezoom. Or it may never be as right, as right now!

When I rezoomed my legal career in 2010, I had many, many, many notions about myself and others that I needed to ‘let go’ before I could rezoom. The most debilitating notion I needed to let go of was my belief that I didn’t know enough. I’d practiced law from the early 80’s to the mid 90’s. I’d been away from the law for 13 years. As I looked at my prospects of rezooming my legal career, I felt hopeless. I’d been left behind.

I stepped away from the law when attorneys used law libraries to do research and IBM electric typewriters to write court papers. As I stepped back in, I found e-filings and computer research search engines. Before I could rezoom I had to let go of thinking I didn’t know enough, long enough, to embrace the ‘technology of now’ in rezooming my legal career. Can you allow yourself to do the same?

In October I celebrated the 4th anniversary of opening my own practice, Hamilton Law and Mediation. As I looked back on the past 4 years I realized one thing helped me let go of my beliefs, insecurities and fears. It was my ability to believe. I believed I could rezoom my legal career. I knew I had something important to share and people were looking for my expertise. ‘Believe’ is defined in Webster’s dictionary as the ability, “to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy or ability of something; to accept something as true, genuine or real.”   For rezoomers in need of a dose of conviction and confidence here is how I define believe which helped me facilitate letting go.

For me, BELIEVE literally stands for the following:

B – You must BEGIN the process.
E – Work to ELEVATE your expectations.
L – LOOK for your purpose.
I – Be INQUISITIVE.
E – ENGAGE with like-minded people who need you.
V – VENTURE into unfamiliar territory.
E – EXPECT success.

Can you see how this will work for you to help you let go?

Let’s briefly look at the seven steps of letting go:

1. B – The first step to rezooming is to begin the process. With out beginning the process you will never know if you can make it back.
2. E – You simply need to elevate your expectations. Once you begin the process make sure you look up, not just straight ahead. The best things are usually right in front of your nose or in its vicinity.
3. L – Look for your unique purpose. Know why you are rezooming your career. Looking for your unique purpose makes the journey meaningful and clear.
4. I – Be inquisitive, ask questions, don’t just take the word of the naysayers about what it is you would like to do. Just because it may not have been done yet doesn’t mean it isn’t needed or cannot be done.
5. E – Engage with the people you meet on your journey. If you are open to their comments, insights and suggestions you will find they bring extraordinary dimension to your rezooming journey.
6. V – Venture into both familiar and unfamiliar territory as you rezoom the practice of law. The changes you experienced while away may mean that other areas of law will speak more clearly to you.
7. E – Expect success. This is the law of attraction. If you expect to fail you will. If you  expect to succeed, you will. Maybe not in the area you thought but in something even better.

This is the way I rezoomed my career. I continually let go of those niggling things that keep me thinking small. I believed in my purpose. I was rezooming my legal career and I expected success. My purpose was for the benefit of others not myself.
Now that we are at the beginning of 2015, its as great time to begin your journey to rezoom.

You may want to print this article and keep the admonition LET GO plus the definition of BELIEVE close by throughout 2015.  (And Walt Disney’s quote isn’t bad either!)

Just jump in, swim upstream if need be, do what ever you need to to start on your road back. You simply need to LET GO & BELIEVE.. HAPPY NEW YEAR. Now get out there and rezoom.