Stress reduction may not be of interest to lawyers

The employee program is called SIY (Search Inside Yourself). The goal is bringing mindfulness to the people working at Google. Click "Google Searches" (Shambala Sun) [pdf] to learn about SIY.

I was particularly interested to read that stress reduction, one benefit of mindfulness, was not of much interest to the Google employees. From the article:

[Program founder] Meng’s fIrst foray into marrying meditation and google was mindfulness-based stress reduction, but it didn’t attract much attention. “Stress reduction didn’t really fly here,” ... . The hiring process at Google, Meng pointed out, is designed to draw out high achievers and idealists who have done something a little different, like hiking in Patagonia or going to war-torn areas to help children. “For high achievers, stress can be a badge of honor, and not many people will sign on for stress reduction, particularly those who need it the most. So I needed to go beyond stress reduction.

From my experience, I believe this is true of many lawyers, too. As I have written in the past, I fully support lawyers who find stress and hard work badges of honor; the choices are individual and for each lawyer to make for him- or herself. For the lawyers to whom stress reduction is not a benefit, the increased focus and clarity of attention that mindfulness brings are often appealing.

Comments

[Gary Gwilliam]

A trial lawyer who has moved from alcoholism to spirituality, I know first hand how meditation and mindfulness enables me to perform at a higher level.

[Garrison Lawyer]

I think the key to a successful and effective lawyer is possessing a personality trait that allows them to keep a clear head while working on a case and handling hard topics. I really think people who choose to be lawyers, and are successful at it, have this innate trait.