A lot of lawyers are living the dream they worked hard for — and completely missing it.

This piece of street art gave me pause for thought. It felt close to home for me, and I suspect for others.

Busy is often treated as proof you’re valuable. Progressing. Secure.

If you’re slammed, you must be doing well.
If you slow down, it feels uncomfortable.

But “busy” is also how people miss the moment they once desperately wanted.

The training contract you worked towards for years.
The qualification milestone.
The practice area you strived hard to get into.
The salary, the mastery, the opportunities.

It arrived. You adapted. The escalator kept moving, and your focus moved with it. It had to, just to keep up.

None of that means goals are wrong or growth should stop.

But it is worth pausing long enough to notice when something you once wanted badly has become normalised.

And it’s worth remembering that being busy is not the same thing as being successful.

There’s a real difference between a career built deliberately and one built by following the obvious path.

So, what’s one part of the future you once hoped for that’s already here, if you stop long enough to notice it?

And for firms, there’s an important cultural question underneath this too: how do you create an environment where people can be ambitious, productive and successful — without permanently operating in survival mode?

Worth thinking about as we approach mental health awareness week.

That’s something I’m always interested in exploring with firms and leaders.