An interview with Samorn Selim, creator of “Career Unicorns 90-Day 5-Minute Gratitude Journal: An Easy & Proven Way To Cultivate Mindfulness, Beat Burnout & Find Career Joy.”
Burnout is at an all-time excessive, particularly within the authorized career. Deloitte experiences 77% of staff are experiencing burnout, and Gallup finds 67% are feeling disengaged.
Samorn Selim, daughter of Lao refugees and a first-generation skilled, is aware of this wrestle intimately. After experiencing profession burnout a number of instances, she’s now devoted her life to serving to others construct joyful, sustainable, and thriving careers.
Because the founding father of Profession Unicorns and former Director of Employer Outreach at Berkeley Regulation, she has coached over 1,000 girls, BIPOC, and first-generation professionals. Her newest ebook presents a sensible answer: a 90-day profession gratitude journal designed to beat burnout in simply 5 minutes a day.
Olga Mack: You describe your self as a “recovering workaholic” who skilled burnout a number of instances in your profession, together with if you had been a Biglaw lawyer. Are you able to paint an image of what that appeared like at its worst?
Samorn Selim: As a Sort A, workaholic, perfectionist lawyer in Biglaw, I used to be working 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. throughout trial. I used to be battling power migraines, again ache, and what docs known as “undiagnosable fatigue.” I hit all-time low and was so burnt out, anxious, and depressed that I might barely get away from bed. It was a wake-up name that my strategy to work was actually destroying my well being and well-being.
OM: Once you sought assist, you had been informed to make “life-style modifications,” however felt overwhelmed by all of the choices. How did you determine what really labored?
SS: Sure. It was very overwhelming. Everybody tells you to meditate, journal, or do yoga. However if you’re already overwhelmed, having a laundry listing of wellness practices feels unattainable. Do you begin with meditation? Which sort? For the way lengthy? By way of trial and error over 10 years of apply, I found that small, constant practices made the most important distinction. Analysis really backs this up, displaying that frequent, shorter breaks and constant each day practices are more practical than a two-week trip.
OM: Your journal combines a number of practices: deep respiratory, gratitude, journaling, inspirational quotes, constructive affirmations, and self-care suggestions. Why this particular mixture?
SS: After making an attempt actually tons of of methods over a decade, I discovered that this specific mixture of practices helped me really feel higher little by little. Every ingredient serves a goal: deep respiratory calms your nervous system within the second, gratitude shifts your mindset from shortage to abundance, journaling helps course of ideas and feelings, whereas inspirational quotes and affirmations reinforce constructive pondering patterns. The each day self-care suggestions make sure you’re taking small, concrete, bite-sized actions on your well-being.
OM: You’ve been featured by Forbes, Harvard Enterprise Evaluation, BBC, and Google on your profession teaching experience. What patterns do you see among the many 1,000-plus professionals you’ve helped?
SS: The struggles are remarkably related throughout industries and backgrounds. Persons are feeling disengaged, drained, and burnt out, and people statistics from Deloitte and Gallup show this isn’t simply anecdotal. What’s fascinating is that when my purchasers begin specializing in gratitude and shift their mindset from shortage to abundance, the whole lot modifications. They begin touchdown dream jobs, efficiently negotiating raises, getting promoted into management roles, and constructing actually sustainable careers. Analysis reveals that specializing in gratitude at work reduces stress and improves psychological well being, so this makes excellent sense.
OM: Why 90 days particularly, and why simply 5 minutes a day?
SS: A number of research present that 90 days is the perfect timeframe for constructing lasting habits, although it varies by individual. As a recovering perfectionist, I do know firsthand how overwhelming self-care can really feel if you’re already stretched skinny, so the journal is designed with people who find themselves already busy and overwhelmed in thoughts. 5 minutes (lower than 0.1 billable hours) is achievable for even the busiest skilled. It’s about consistency over depth. I’ve seen how simply 5 minutes a day can utterly change somebody’s perspective and spark real profession pleasure.
OM: Your journal consists of 90 gratitude questions, plus inspirational quotes, constructive affirmations, and self-care suggestions. How ought to busy authorized professionals strategy this apply?
SS: The sweetness is there’s no “proper” manner to do that. Whether or not you like full sentences, bullet factors, and even drawings, the hot button is merely displaying up and being current with your self. I encourage folks to create a writing ritual: set intentions, designate a particular time and place. Perhaps it’s 9 a.m. along with your espresso, or earlier than mattress in your nightstand. Make it seen, make it straightforward, and have compassion with your self in the event you miss a day.
OM: What’s your recommendation for authorized professionals who suppose they don’t have time for even 5 minutes of self-care?
SS: I completely get it. I used to be the one that labored 20-hour days, pondering self-care was both egocentric or unattainable. However these 5 minutes aren’t time misplaced, they’re an funding that can provide help to get grounded and truly result in extra productiveness. Once you’re burnt out, you’re not working at full capability anyway. These practices provide help to present up higher, suppose clearly, and work extra successfully. Analysis reveals that gratitude practices scale back stress and enhance psychological well being, which finally makes you extra productive, not much less.
OM: What do you hope readers will take away from this journal after 90 days?
SS: My hope is that they’ll expertise a basic shift from shortage to abundance. That they’ll have sensible instruments to handle stress and stop burnout earlier than it reaches disaster ranges. Most significantly, I would like them to rediscover pleasure of their careers. Not simply survive their workday, however really thrive. After 14 years of profession teaching, I’ve seen this transformation occur repeatedly. It begins with one thing so simple as 5 minutes of gratitude, however it will probably genuinely change the trajectory of your complete profession and provide help to construct a sustainable and thriving profession.
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of TermScout, an AI-powered contract certification platform that accelerates income and eliminates friction by certifying contracts as honest, balanced, and market-ready. A serial CEO and authorized tech government, she beforehand led an organization via a profitable acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga can also be a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and the Generative AI Editor at legislation.MIT. She is a visionary government reshaping how we legislation—how authorized techniques are constructed, skilled, and trusted. Olga teaches at Berkeley Law, lectures broadly, and advises firms of all sizes, in addition to boards and establishments. An award-winning normal counsel turned builder, she additionally leads early-stage ventures together with Virtual Gabby (Better Parenting Plan), Product Law Hub, ESI Flow, and Notes to My (Legal) Self, every rethinking the apply and enterprise of legislation via know-how, information, and human-centered design. She has authored The Rise of Product Lawyers, Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data, Blockchain Value, and Get on Board, with Visible IQ for Attorneys (ABA) forthcoming. Olga is a 6x TEDx speaker and has been acknowledged as a Silicon Valley Lady of Affect and an ABA Lady in Authorized Tech. Her work reimagines folks’s relationship with legislation—making it extra accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world really works. She can also be the host of the Notes to My (Authorized) Self podcast (streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube), and her insights often seem in Forbes, Bloomberg Regulation, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Regulation. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley. Comply with her on LinkedIn and X @olgavmack.
