VISION 2021

Dear Rookie Advocate,

After all the ‘parte after parte’ of the holidays, please allow me to say happy ‘twente twente’. Happy new year! You made it to the end of January, woop! woop! Hopefully by now you have shaken off the holiday feel and dived into beast mode. Our creative juices are already flowing, Emmanuela and I. We are excited for where Dear Rookie Advocate is headed this year. Now that the proverbial trial month is coming to an end, here are a few thoughts to start us off…

Firstly, what’s your big goal for this year, personally and professionally? What is that one thing that you know for sure if you get right this year, you will have had an amazing year? Me? Abs. I want abs so I can take pictures in tank tops. Disclaimer: this is not an invitation to ask me about it every chance you get; I may only get them on December 31st.

I also need to dive into case law like I’ve never done before. I feel like that will take me to a whole new level of becoming a RockStar Advocate-THE goal.
What is that one thing for you? Is it something you need to think about or do you have it already pinned to your vision board?

Secondly, on the first Monday of January when most businesses and organisations reopened from the industrial break, a friend talked about how a lot of people had mixed emotions about returning to work. For some, it was because they would have wanted to stay in holiday mode, sleep more, spend more time with family, et.al. for others, the thought of going back to work in some environments was traumatic because of the work environments themselves. Were you happy to go back to work? One of the reasons I love this friend is that she doesn’t just point out problems but offers solutions as well.

Her invitation is to think forward to the first Monday of January 2021. What is the feeling you want to have a week before this Monday, and the night before this Monday? Do you want to be excited about the law firm or organisation you will be reporting to? What job do you want to be doing at that place? What job title do you want to have?

Me? I want to be in a place where I am not dreading attending a meeting because I know it will be concise and straight to the point, or better yet, a place where instead of meetings, people just send me emails. Job title: doesn’t matter really, I’ll still always insist on being called Edwina. But I want the salary of a head of legal in a United Nations Organisation, with benefits.
Now that you’ve got an idea of how to go about this, pull out your tablet, Ipad, notebook, and write this down for the first Monday of January 2021, for yourself. A place that will have you enthusiastic and showing up for work with absolute passion because you are happy to be working there and cannot imagine yourself working elsewhere.

Lastly, when you look back at this year, what do you want it to look like? Do you want to have attended every law conference you hear about? Do you want to be Rookie of the Year? (Dear Rookie Advocate awards anyone?), having added a great new skill to your accolades? Who is that RockStar Advocate you’d want to have coffee and muffins with? What is that one conversation that will propel your career to higher heights?

For me, this may involve hopping on a plane to Uganda to meet with someone specific. It works for me because it incorporates passport stamps-a forever goal.
Think through your 2020, your career, your life.

Now go ye into the year and be.

Happy new year Rookies, let’s make it memorable.

Edwina