Across those experiences, we kept coming back to the same thing: succeeding in law requires more than knowing the law. It requires learning how to approach unfamiliar material, refine your skills through feedback, sustain your performance when the workload gets heavy, and eventually execute when the stakes are real. It was during bar prep that Alex pointed out that studying for the bar almost perfectly mirrored her experience training as a college athlete. _{(message us if you’d like Alex to write about this)}

We started asking ourselves whether movement could do more than give lawyers and law students a break from that process: Could it actually give us another place to practice?

The 4 Phases of BB

This question became the basis for the four-phase framework behind our movement series: Phase 1: Building a Foundation; Phase 2: Refinement; Phase 3: Endurance; and Phase 4: Execution.

These aren’t four stages pulled directly from a single study. They are our synthesis of research on learning, motor skill acquisition, neuroplasticity, performance, and professional development, combined with what we have experienced ourselves. We designed the workouts to progress through those phases alongside the demands of a career in law.

A student will enter Phase 1 early in the semester, when everything still feels unfamiliar, move into Refinement as the material becomes more complex, train Endurance as the workload accumulates, and Execute as exams approach. Similarly, an attorney will take on a new case, get their footing, meet tight deadlines/juggle multiple cases, and need to execute each accurately. The framework is not meant to be rigid. You can return to a phase whenever you need to work on that particular skill.

Our 4 Phases of Movement Reflect the 4 Phases your brain goes through when it learns a new skill

Interestingly, that 4-phase progression actually resembles the research ^See:

1) the extra-curriculars help you build the soft skills you need to succeed. ^See

2) our phases actually mirror what the brain experiences when first learning a new skill: moving from expansion and exploration toward selection and refinement. ^See

Early in learning, behavior is more variable as the brain and the learner explore possible solutions. With continued practice, useful patterns are selected and performance becomes more stable/efficient. The brain experiences an “expansion phase” where it recruits a vast, disorganized pool of candidate neural circuits. As you enter the refinement phase, the brain undergoes “renormalization” where it systematically prunes away the inefficient pathways and selects only the most optimal, streamlined circuit for the task, resulting in decreased performance variability and less metabolic waste.

_{Source: For the nerds.}

Movement offers a parallel learning cycle

Motor-learning research (the study of how the brain learns movement) distinguishes between online learning, which occurs while a skill is actively being practiced, and offline processes, which occur after practice has stopped as the newly acquired skill is stabilized and consolidated. See.

That distinction gave us another way to think about where Bar Buddy fits into the law life.

When you are sitting in Con Law trying to understand a new doctrine, your legal learning is online: you are taking in new vocabulary, rules, & ways of thinking. When class ends, you stop actively working on that material. Then you step into a Bar Buddy workout and bring a different form of learning online. Now you are taking in new vocabulary, rules, ways of thinking, making mistakes, & adjusting. When the workout ends, the motor learning enters its own period of consolidation while you return to your casebook and make legal learning active again.

Learning a new motor skill builds the brain structure that supports future learning.

Learning new skill is more than just moving your body. See Learning a new skill through movement is accompanied by functional and structural changes in the brain. See. Early in learning, the motor system appears to recruit and reorganize neural resources as it works out how to perform the task; with continued practice, those changes become more selective and stable. In other words, learning an unfamiliar movement asks something different of the brain than simply repeating an already familiar one. This is why we designed our workouts to teach movement as we go. We introduce new terminology, movements, sequences, and coordination challenges so that students repeatedly experience what it feels like to encounter something unfamiliar, break it down, and practice. See.

That is the larger idea behind our program: movement is not only a way to step away from the work. It can also be a place to rehearse the very skills the work requires.

Diving into the 4 phases.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll break down the research behind each phase and show how we translate it into movement.

• In Phase 1, we build a foundation. We’ll look at confidence, the role it plays in learning outcomes, and what repeated exposure to unfamiliar but achievable tasks can teach us about getting comfortable being a beginner.

• In Phase 2, we add complexity to our workouts. We’ll dig into research to explain why this matters and how the brain uses feedback, error, and effortful successful learning to become more efficient and adaptable over time.

• In Phase 3, we build endurance. We’ll dive into the research behind Brain Endurance Training and durability and why lawyers may be especially primed to benefit from that kind of practice…

• In Phase 4, we bring the movements back to basics to help you cross the finish line. The research shows that this becomes easier and more effective once those underlying skills have been built, refined, and made more durable.

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How do you get comfortable doing something you have never done before? How do you fail without completely spiraling? How do you take a massive, overwhelming problem and figure out where to start? How do you work around people who are better than you at something without turning their success into evidence of your own inadequacy?

You learn all of this eventually because the profession forces you to.

But movement gives you a much lower-stakes place to practice. And a place to practice where the “consequences” are actually positive.

1. Trying hard things, even when they’re unfamiliar

Throughout your studies and your career, you will (if you’re lucky/sometime) master one skill only to have something new and equally challenging thrown at you (more often you get some hard and new task and before you wrap your head around it, a brand new tasks turns everyhing upside down). See

Maybe you’re studying for the LSAT right now, or you just took it. That is one of your first introductions to this. You’re given a giant task that disproportionately affects your law school admissions, and much of the exam requires you to choose not necessarily the objectively “right” answer, but the best answer. See.

Welcome to ambiguity. See.

For the rest of your legal career, you’re going to be asked to interpret things that do not come with an answer key. You’ll analyze cases, statutes, regulations, contracts, and rulemakings. You’ll try to figure out what your professor, client, judge, or partner actually wants from you. You’ll learn how to bill time, write a narrative, answer an essay the way a bar examiner wants it answered, draft something in a partner’s preferred style, or advise a real person who expects you to know what to do. See.

The stakes also keep getting higher: grades, getting barred, an exam worth 100% of your grade, a client relying on your advice, a filing deadline, an argument before a judge.

Movement is a great place to practice doing hard, unfamiliar things when the stakes are dramatically lower. See. See Also.

Think of it like learning to drive in a parking lot before you merge onto the highway. In a workout, you encounter a movement you have never done before. You watch the instructor. You try to understand the mechanics. You attempt it. Maybe it feels awkward. You adjust. You try again.

That process, observe, attempt, make an error, adjust, repeat, is one of the fundamental ways humans learn motor skills. See.

And sometimes *a lot of the time you will mess it up.

That is useful too.

2. Failure

If I could dramatically sum up being a lawyer in one word, I might choose: failure.

Not because lawyers are failures, but because the profession constantly puts you in situations where you cannot possibly get everything right the first time. See.

You have more case law assigned than you can realistically absorb in one night. You have ten weeks to learn eight subjects for the bar exam. You argue something in front of a judge who hates your argument. You turn in your first memo and your partner covers it in edits. You interpret a regulation incorrectly. You lose an argument. You lose a case. You lose a client. You completely fck up a cold call.

hopefully not all in the same week <3

But you will get things wrong over and over again.

The mark of a good lawyer is not someone who never fails. That person does not exist. It is someone who can fail well: someone who can tolerate being wrong long enough to figure out why, adjust their approach, and try again. See.

Some even argue that early failure is what leads to success. See.

Movement helps you practice failing, and appreciate it. See (Stating that failure is a rewarding experience when the brain has a chance to assess its options and mistakes)

When you progressively challenge your body, you eventually find the edge of your current ability. Maybe you cannot hold the position any longer. Maybe your form starts to go. Maybe you attempt the harder variation and realize you are not ready for it yet. See.

That is information.

In strength training specifically, people sometimes deliberately work close to muscular failure because the body needs an adequate challenge in order to adapt. See. But the larger lesson applies across movement: if you only ever do the exact thing that already feels completely comfortable, there is very little opportunity to learn something new. See.

Movement lets you experience a small version of failure and experience positive consequences. See

That is a valuable relationship with failure to take into a legal career. See. And at the very least, may help you deal with a page full of redlines better. See.

3. Figuring things out one step at a time

Let’s talk about IRAC.

Issue. Rule. Application. Conclusion.

The entire structure exists because legal problems are messy. You take a huge collection of facts, rules, arguments, exceptions, and competing interpretations and break it down until both you and the person reading your analysis can understand what matters.

You do the same thing when you study for the bar. “I need to learn everything required to become a licensed attorney” is an absolutely insane task. So you turn it into subjects, weeks, days, lectures, practice questions, essays, and individual study sessions.

You learn to see the forest and the trees.

That is a huge professional skill: looking at a complicated case, project, investigation, transaction, or regulatory question and asking, What actually matters here? What is the goal? What do I need to figure out first? What comes after that? See. See Also.

You are not merely learning how not to become overwhelmed. You are learning how to create structure where there initially isn’t any.

You practice this in movement too.

An instructor shows you a complicated sequence and initially your brain goes: absolutely not. See.

So you learn the first piece. Then the second. Then you connect them. See. You figure out where your feet go, where your weight shifts, what happens next, and what cue tells you the pattern is about to change. See.

With repetition, something that initially looked like one giant confusing movement becomes a series of smaller, manageable pieces.

That is motor learning. See. Skills that initially require intense conscious attention can become faster, smoother, and more automatic through practice. See. Movement can help you develop pattern recognition, the skill of repetition, and achieving the overall goal. See.

I do not have to know how to do the entire thing yet. I just have to figure out the next piece.

4. Comparison

People love to say that comparison is the thief of joy.

They also love to tell law students, “Do NOT compare yourself to anyone else.”

I actually think that advice is incomplete.

You need to learn how to compare yourself to the people around you without turning comparison into self-destruction. See.

If another associate wrote an incredible brief and got praised for it, use the brief as a model. Better yet, ask them how they approached it. See.

If someone in your Contracts class seems to really understand something you do not, instead of deciding that they are smarter than you and you should drop out of law school, ask them how they studied it. See.

If there is a partner at your firm whose career or work-life balance you genuinely admire, pay attention. What do they do differently? What boundaries do they set? How do they communicate? What skills have they developed that you want to develop too? See.

You cannot get through this profession by constantly comparing yourself in ways that make you feel inadequate. But refusing to look at what anyone else is doing is not particularly useful either. See.

There will always be people around you who are smarter than you at certain things, more organized than you, further along in their careers, making more money, writing better briefs, bringing in bigger clients, or doing something you wish you could do.

That is life.

Figure out what you value. Figure out which skills you want. Then use the people around you as information.

Their success does not have to be evidence of your failure. It can be a resource. See. See Also.

Movement gives you another place to practice this.

Most of us know the feeling of walking into a gym or fitness class and immediately assuming that everyone is looking at us and everyone else knows exactly what they are doing.

It is the worst.

But watching other people is actually one of the ways we learn movement. See. Research on observational motor learning shows that seeing another person perform a skill can support your own skill acquisition, particularly when observation is combined with physical practice. See.

So look around. See.

Watch the person with great form. Notice how the instructor positions her feet. See how someone modifies a movement. Learn from the person who has clearly done this 500 times.

The goal is not to look at them and think, Why can’t I do that? (and psa your brain is actively making these connections too, when you see someone succeeding your brain pictures you doing it.) See.

The goal is to think, Oh. That’s how you do that. Better yet, picture yourself doing it! See.

That is a very different kind of comparison.

And it might be one of the most useful shifts you can make in a profession where there will always be someone around you who is better at something than you are.

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We’ve been actively planning our virtual movement series for a little over 8 months.

I think one of the most important lessons you’ll learn in law school, and then again as a lawyer, is delayed gratification. You get really comfortable setting your sights on goals that are so far away they almost feel intangible.

In law school, you can spend an entire semester studying, reading, briefing cases, and showing up to class with very little validation that any of it is actually working. There aren’t weekly graded assignments telling you you’re on the right track. You just keep showing up with basically nothing to “show” for it.

Then, on some random day in December, you’re expected to sit down and PERFORM for five hours on an exam.

That shit sucks.

But I actually think it has benefited us as founders.

We were comfortable waiting to film and release our movement series because we needed practice. We needed to understand what lawyers and law students actually wanted before we built something for them.

So we taught pop-ups. We ran two bar exam movement programs. We researched. We met with more deans and professors than I can count. We talked to licensed therapists. We talked to fitness studio owners. We listened to students and attorneys tell us what they struggled with. Alex pulled from her experience as a former D1 athlete. And I pulled from my experience as a fitness instructor. At the point of filming, I’ve taught nearly 400 in-person classes.

We are also both fully practicing attorneys. We give real legal advice. We manage real matters. We have the kind of responsibility you simply don’t have when you’re fresh out of law school, and, at the same time, we’re experiencing firsthand what it actually feels like to build a career as an attorney.

All of that eventually distilled into two goals:

1. Create movement that actually feels accessible within a lawyer’s or law student’s life.

2. Create movement that gives you more than just a workout.

Enter: Bar Buddy’s Virtual Movement Series.

The series is designed around progressive overload: not only for your body, but for your mind.

If you want the structure, you’ll take 15 minute workouts that follow a weekly schedule and move through four phases over the course of the program:

Phase 1: Build Confidence
Start moving, build a foundation, and get comfortable doing something before you’re perfect at it.

Phase 2: Build Endurance
Classes get harder as you practice staying with discomfort, physically and mentally.

Phase 3: Refine
Repeat, improve, and notice what feels different now that you’ve built a foundation.

Phase 4: Keep Momentum
Use movement as a tool to carry yourself through the busiest, most stressful part of the semester instead of abandoning it when things get hard.

Body

Each class is designed for the body of someone who spends a lot of time at a desk.

Think: tight hips, tired shoulders, a stiff back, hours spent hunched over a laptop, not enough sleep, and a nervous system under a lot of stress.

We’ll work, strengthen, stretch, and release the parts of your body that tend to take the biggest hit from studying and practicing law.

Mind

At the same time, each phase will use movement to practice some of the mental skills that law school and legal practice demand from you.

Trying something before you know you’ll be good at it. Staying calm when you’re uncomfortable. Recovering after you mess something up. Building confidence through repetition. Learning that discomfort does not automatically mean you need to stop.

If you can practice staying present while your legs are shaking, you can practice staying present when you get cold-called. If you can learn to breathe instead of panicking when something gets hard physically, maybe you get a little better at doing the same thing when an assignment lands in your inbox and you have absolutely no idea how to start it.

Sound body, sound mind

By the end of the series, our biggest hope is pretty simple: movement feels like a normal part of your life instead of another thing you’re failing to make time for.

Hopefully, you feel stronger. Hopefully, your back hurts less. Hopefully, you sleep a little better and have another tool for managing stress.

But we also hope you walk away feeling more confident tackling something new, better able to reset when something goes wrong, and more comfortable being uncomfortable.

Because those are skills lawyers need too.

[stay tuned] Eventually, we also want to find a way to recreate our pop-ups virtually on a quarterly basis: movement + education + community + CLE credit.

And we’ve heard you loud and clear on live classes: we’ve had requests across the board for live virtual movement, especially how important community is, so those will be included in membership too. We’ll start with one live class a week and build from there.

A few things we’re doing very intentionally while filming

1. We’re filming in a living room.

The videos will be filmed from my dad’s apartment, which, admittedly, is beautifully decorated and therefore gives us the aspirational/aesthetically pleasing background we wanted.

But it’s still a living room.

Because we expect most of you to be doing these workouts from your living room too.

2. We are not trying to look picture-perfect.

We won’t be filming in pajamas (although we fully expect some of you to roll out of bed and do these workouts in yours.)

BUT we will be wearing the same comfy yoga pants and Bar Buddy shirts we wear on an every day basis.

The goal is for the virtual workouts to feel polished enough that you want to press play, but normal enough that you don’t feel like you need to get your life together first.

3. Mindfulness is built into the workout.

There will be meditation, mindfulness, breathing, and intentional cues incorporated throughout the classes.

Those cues will change depending on where you are in the program, so the mental progression follows the physical progression.

4. Everything is equipment-free.

You can add a Pilates ball. You can add weights. We’ll cue places where you can make things harder.But you should never need equipment to participate.

The entire point is to remove as many barriers as possible between you and movement.

No studio. No commute. No equipment. No hour-long class.

Just show up as you are!

We’ve spent eight months thinking about this. This weekend, we finally get to start making it real.

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Miserable lawyers love to say that “law school is not a fashion show”.

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WRONG!

As much as your legal prowess and ability to whip up a killer memo as a new attorney can weigh on your reputation at your first job out of law school, so can a frumpy suit or a too-small-and-too-tight work blouse.

If your reputation at your first job out of law school isn’t enough to scare you into getting serious about your style as a law student, what instilled the fear of God in me (personally) was my fashion choices affecting my ability to make friends my first semester of law school. Enter: my fashionista bestie, L!

As L & I I watched my 1L classmates pile into class with pink stilettos and foam slides in the shape of sea creatures, our shared admiration for fashion helped us find love friendship in a seemingly hopeless place. It only took a few months of us being in law school for the both of us to agree that we never wanted to lose the part of our brains that inspires us to style and take creative risks with our wardrobes, even when it means sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of sweatpants.

That being said, I definitely struggled with finding my stride when it came to styling outfits for class during my first few months of 1L year (shoutout the black blazer I wore with jeans at least once a week in 90-degree heat). While styling streetwear comes very naturally to me, curating a rotation of outfits that rides the balance between formal and relaxed felt out of my wheelhouse during that first year. Aside from the fashion of it all, my outfits for the classroom seemed to face new obstacles with every passing day of law school. Like why is the library colder than the inside of my fridge and can everyone smell my stress sweat through this sweater???

In an effort to help our BB 1Ls combat the scaries of choosing practical outfits for that fateful first week of classes, I’ve created a small guide that will hopefully make finding your law school style a little less daunting.

1. Capsule Wardrobe or Bust!

Never underestimate the importance of a capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a small collection of basics that you can swap out with each other to create multiple outfits, which gives you a more cohesive closet and a signature style.

Here’s a few ideas that can create a strong law school capsule wardrobe:

1. A few pairs of jeans in multiple colors/ washes (minimal/ no rips and not super baggy)

2. A few good quality t-shirts in neutral colors

3. A few good quality tank tops in neutral colors

4. A few pairs of straight leg/ wide leg slacks in colors that match a few tops in your wardrobe

5. A few cardigans in solid colors

6. A few relaxed button- up long sleeve shirts in solid colors that match a few items in your wardrobe

While these choices may sound BORING, your creativity comes in when you style around this wardrobe. By adding a statement baseball cap, a brightly colored pair of flats, a cool belt, a stack of bracelets, or even by adding a statement top or jeans that are already living in your closet, you can add hints of your streetwear style into your semi-professional capsule wardrobe outfits without overdoing it.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by choice when deciding what you want your style to look like, but a capsule wardrobe can help you narrow down those choices and prevent you from overcrowding your closet with more clothes than you need.

If you have no idea where to start in terms of cleaning out your closet to create a capsule wardrobe, I leave you with the advice of fashion icon Emma Chamberlain if you need help getting started

1. Layering is King

I learned the importance of dressing for every season the hard way whenever I started attending class during my 1L Fall. Going to law school in D.C. meant that it would be 90 degrees outside during the summer, 40 degrees in the library, and a humid 80 degrees in (certain) classrooms.

I quickly learned that I would be adding and removing layers all day, especially when I’d walk out of school after 6 hours and realize that the temperature had dropped 20 degrees.

A collection of cardigans and button-up shirts that I could easily take off if needed (or even store in my school locker if I was feeling extra) was a lifesaver for me and so many of my classmates.

3. Get Comfortable

While the idea of stunting on the rest of your section with your outfits during your first week of 1L may be exciting, let me remind you that comfort should be one of the most important aspects of any law school outfit. While you might be feeling amazing in that skirt at 8:00 a.m. on your way to class, you might feel differently when you’re inevitably bloated after lunch and your thighs start chafing after your third class of the day.

Try to wear more pants or longer skirts with comfortable waistbands, tops that you know you won’t be adjusting the neckline of all day, shoes with a minimal heel, and shirts that don’t ride up your stomach to maximize your chances of having a comfortable day on campus while still staying in style.

Rapid Fire Do’s and Don’ts

DO:

1. Invest in Matching Lounge Sets

Sweat sets and lounge sets are perfect for wearing to finals week exams or spending all day in the library with your friends (while still looking somewhat put together).

2. Fun Accessories

Class outfits can get pretty monotonous sometimes, especially when you’re working with a small closet. Keep your outfits exciting by adding colorful shoes, a statement baseball cap, or any accessory that’ll make you feel like you’re really styling your clothes, vs. just wearing them.

3. Get Inspiration from Your Classmates

I remember vests with fun patterns were an item that I loved watching my classmates style during my 1L year! Also, location will always and inevitably inform style. Give your capsule wardrobe some personality by drawing from what other students are wearing in your city!

4. Stay Stocked with Emergency Supplies

Accidents happen! While this has less to do with styling and more to do with being prepared to spend all day at school, make sure your bag is full of essentials so you can avoid any fashion emergencies (such as a tide stick, safety pins, and deodorant).

DON’T

1. 6-inch Stilettos

Law school fashion can be fun without also being wholly uncomfortable and a little too try- hard. Find balance!

2. Workout Sets

You would think it goes without saying that you shouldn’t wear a sports bra as your top to class.

3. Crop Tops

I feel like this one also goes without saying, but you’d be surprised. While I love a tasteful midriff, maybe keep this fashion choice out of the classroom and save it for your study’s group’s next casual happy hour!

Regardless of what you end up wearing to your first law school classes, confidence is always the best accessory! With this article as your guide, you’ll sleep peacefully knowing that when you flop on that cold call, you’ll at least have a killer outfit to do it in – I’d know from experience.

1L Outfit Inspo

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Half the time we’re studying case law from 100 years ago. We’re eating dinner thinking about a brief due next week. We finally take a much-needed day off and spend half of it calculating the billable hours we’ll need to make up on the back end.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been scared to go to sleep because I know emails are still flooding my inbox from West Coast clients.

The legal profession rewards us for living everywhere except exactly where we are.

We look backward. We anticipate. We issue-spot. We think three steps ahead. We run through every possible outcome before it happens. See

Those are useful skills when you’re practicing law.

They’re considerably less useful when you’re lying in bed at 11 p.m. responding to an email that hasn’t even been sent yet.

And this is one of the reasons I think movement matters so much for lawyers.

Your body is always in the present

After the warm-up in my workout classes, I’ll often bring everyone down into child’s pose.

Forehead pressed into the mat. Shoulders relaxed. Focus on your breathing.

Because while your brain can be (and, if you’re a lawyer, probably is) somewhere in the past or future, your body doesn’t have that choice.

Your body is always here.

Your feet are where your feet are. Your lungs are taking this breath. Your heart is beating right now.

So one of the easiest ways to pull yourself back into the present is simply to bring attention to your body. See

Child’s pose and breathwork are obvious ways to do that. But something else is happening when you repeatedly practice movement, especially a practice like Pilates where you’re constantly coordinating breath, balance, control, and body position. See

You’re training a sense you probably don’t think about very often.

Your sixth sense

We’re taught that we have five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

But there are other sensory systems quietly helping you move through the world all day long.

One of them is proprioception: your body’s ability to sense where it is in space. See

Close your eyes right now.

You still know whether your hands are on the keyboard. You know whether your knees are bent. You know whether your feet are touching the floor. You don’t need to look at yourself to know.

That’s proprioception.

It’s how you toss a pair of dirty socks into the hamper without carefully watching your arm. It’s part of how you bring a fork to your mouth. It’s how you walk through a dark room without staring at your feet. And at the most extraordinary end of the spectrum, it’s part of how someone like Simone Biles can know exactly where her body is while rotating through the air. See

Your proprioceptive system is constantly receiving information from receptors throughout your muscles, joints, ligaments, and spine. See That information helps you stabilize yourself, control your posture, coordinate movement, and make tiny adjustments without consciously thinking through each one. Id.

Your core is especially important here.

Functionally, your core acts as the link between your upper and lower body. It stabilizes your trunk while force and movement travel through it. But the muscles around the spine are also rich in sensory receptors that help your nervous system understand the position and movement of your trunk. See; See Also

So when you practice controlling your core, you aren’t just working toward stronger abs.

You are also repeatedly practicing the communication between your body and your nervous system that tells you where you are.

Pilates is basically a proprioception practice disguised as a workout.

Think about what I’m actually asking you to do during a Pilates or barre class.

• Step your right foot back.

• Bend both knees toward 90 degrees.

• Keep your hips square.

• Engage your abs.

• Lift your back heel.

• Now lift that leg off the ground.

• Keep your pelvis still.

• Open your arms.

• Keep breathing.

When you’re new, this can feel borderline impossible.

You look at your instructor. You look at yourself. You adjust your foot. You wobble. You put your leg back down. You try again.

But eventually you don’t need the mirror as much.

You start to feel when:

• Your knee is roughly over your ankle.

• Your weight shifts too far forward.

• You feel yourself wobble and your body makes dozens of tiny corrections to keep you standing.

That awareness is a skill.

And like most skills, it improves when you practice it.

Which is part of why movement can improve both core endurance and proprioceptive ability: you are repeatedly asking your body to stabilize, sense its position, adjust, and try again.

But this is where proprioception becomes much more interesting to me than simply having good balance.

Knowing where your body is may affect how you experience yourself

The primary job of proprioception is physical: stability, posture, coordination, protection.

But proprioceptive information also appears to play a role in something much more fundamental: our awareness of our own body and our sense that we are the person controlling it.

In other words: proprioception helps create the feeling of this is my body, and I am the one moving it. See

There’s another closely related sense called interoception, which deals with what is happening inside your body. See

• Your heartbeat.

• Your breath.

• Hunger.

• Muscle tension.

• That fluttery feeling in your stomach when you’re nervous.

Your proprioceptive system helps tell you where your body is.

Your interoceptive system helps tell you how your body feels.

And movement asks you to pay attention to both.

When I tell you to notice your breath in child’s pose, you’re tuning into interoception.

When I ask you to lift your leg behind you without turning around to see where it went, you’re using proprioception.

When I ask whether your shoulders are tense, whether your weight is evenly distributed, whether your core is engaged, whether you can breathe while holding a difficult position then you’re moving attention out of the endless stream of thoughts in your head and into what your body is actually experiencing.

That matters because our emotions and our bodies aren’t operating in two completely separate universes.

Emotional state can influence how accurately we perceive and control movement. See Stress can change the way we experience sensations in the body. See. And some forms of body-based therapy specifically use attention to internal sensation, movement, and body position as tools for helping people regulate chronic stress and autonomic arousal. See.

Lawyers are particularly good at leaving their bodies behind

I think a lot of us in law live from the neck up.

But there’s a reason practices centered on movement, breath, and bodily awareness show up again and again in conversations about stress.

Your nervous system is not separate from the rest of you.

And learning to direct attention toward physical sensations can give you another place to put your attention when your brain is stuck replaying yesterday or rehearsing tomorrow.

So I’m an attorney, and I take breaks from work to go work out, which sounds simple, but is actually really hard for to do. See

I know most of the time I have to go back to my desk and finish a project. I know there are emails I still need to answer. So even while I’m taking a “break”, part of my brain is already thinking about what I need to do when I get back.

And that’s the problem.

Because as an attorney, there is always going to be a next thing. If I wait until everything is done before I let myself fully step away, I’m never actually going to step away.

So I’ve realized I need to practice not just physically leaving my desk, but mentally leaving it too. Movement can be the answer to that.

to say i was shellshocked during 1L was an understatement. i decided to go to law school late in life and it felt like all of my classmates had been dying to be here since birth. it was competitive. people were kind of obnoxious. i felt out of place and kind of stupid. the law interested me, a good job interested me, i liked my classes enough but i didn’t love them. i didn’t eat, breathe, sleep law school. and after a few weeks i decided in comparison to everyone else a GRAVE mistake had been made. this was decidedly not for me.

i’m writing this now after coming home from a day in big law in my cute nyc apartment. my group of friends from law school are forever friends, even though we’re all over the country now. big law isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. and law school wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be either.

Note: i work big law but i was not a gunner in law school. i was passively involved in clubs. i did journal but definitely not law review. i think you’d be surprised that a lot of the gunners don’t go big law/aren’t at the top of their class, a lot of the average joe’s might sneaky be.

admittedly, this title is click bait (you’re welcome bar buddy). i did hate law school during 1L. but after 1L people calm down, you realize pretty much everyone is faking it till they make it, you find clubs or a journal you like. professors who really make you think. for me, i didn’t have the lifechanging experience that i had in undergrad. but i had an okay experience.

the important thing for me was that law school never really defined who i was. and once i became okay with that, and less freaked out by the people who eat/slept/breath law school the more i started to be okay with law school.

the one piece of advice i would have for anyone reading this is to shed that all or nothing mindset. you don’t have to love or hate law school. you don’t have to do all or none of the readings. you don’t have to completely understand every case, you have to just kind of get it.

the other piece of advice, which isn’t true for everyone, is that, as shitty as 1L is or how annoying your classmates may be or how much time and money and life you deducate to law school, you might not regret it. it’s okay if you do. but for me i didn’t have to love law school to be glad that i went. i like the people i work with. i like the paycheck. i like that i use my mind on a daily basis. it sometimes sucks when my friends are getting cocktails at 4pm on a wednesday and i’m still very much at the office. but that’s something i got used to during law school.

so.. if you’re hating law school that’s okay. if you’re loving law school that’s …okay. and if you’re mid you might end up loving that you went after all.

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We love using workout studios, coffee shops, parks, walking routes, and other “third spaces” as part of that. Places that remind you that you are, in fact, a real person outside of school or work.

That’s a big part of what Bar Buddy is trying to do.

We want to pull people in law out of the environments where everyone is wearing a suit, talking about work, and performing some version of being a lawyer, and put them back into the real world for a minute.

You might be on a hot girl walk next to a first-year associate, a partner, or a judge for all you know.

You’re just people, moving your bodies, endorphins flowing, talking to whoever happens to be standing next to you.

For those first few events, we were honestly still surprised that people were showing up at all. More than 50 people signed up for this particular event, which felt completely surreal at the time.

But what surprised us even more was how many people came alone.

After class, two law students came up to talk to us.

They went to different law schools. They didn’t know each other before the event. They had just happened to sit next to each other.

And during the course of the event, they realized that they were both about to be summer associates at the exact same law firm.

They had both shown up by themselves, but they left together to go get coffee.

Again: this is a completely real story.

And we were so freaking happy.

Because, it felt like Bar Buddy was working.

These two students were about to walk into their summer jobs already knowing someone. Something that could have felt intimidating and unfamiliar suddenly had one familiar face in it.

But the part we loved even more was what had happened because they ever found each other.

They signed up for something where they didn’t know who would be there. They walked into the room without a built-in friend. They committed to moving their bodies, meeting people, and doing something outside of the normal law school environment.

And almost immediately, they experienced the payoff.

Yes, the movement felt good.

But they also learned something bigger: there is community available to you if you’re willing to step into it.

That is something we hope lawyers learn really early.

Because law can be stressful. It can be isolating. There will be seasons where work gets intense, school gets overwhelming, or you feel like your entire world has shrunk down to whatever is sitting in front of you on your laptop.

Our hope is that experiences like this become foundational moments.

You remember that the last time you were brave enough to show up, it paid off.

You remember that moving your body made you feel better.

You remember that there were other people there.

And maybe, the next time things get hard, you know to lean toward those things instead of away from them.

Of course, we want Bar Buddy to be one avenue for that. We want to make movement and community as accessible as possible, so we create the classes, organize the pop-ups, find the spaces, and give people a reason to walk through the door.

But the goal is not for you to need Bar Buddy forever.

Honestly, one of the best possible outcomes is that you outgrow us.

You meet the person at our event who becomes your workout buddy. You discover the studio around the corner from your apartment. You start going on walks with people from work. You find your neighborhood coffee shop. You build the group chat. You leave our event early because you met someone you want to go get coffee with.

That is the point.

We are not interested in spending the next 30 years simply telling lawyers that they should work out more, find community, take care of themselves, and have a life outside of work.

Everyone already knows those things.

We want to make it easier to actually do them.

Give people the place to start. Show them how accessible it can be. Let them experience the payoff for themselves.

And then, hopefully, watch those habits, and those relationships, follow them through the rest of their careers.

Maybe that’s how you start changing the legal community.

Now, I’m a barred and practicing attorney, a founder, and a fitness instructor. But there was a time when I was an unsure-of-herself law student and very much not a workout girl.

When I moved to Philly for law school, I didn’t know a soul (which was actually a big part of the appeal.) I knew I wanted to have a life outside of law school. I wanted to explore Philly. I wanted to make friends who had no idea what an LSAT score was, or what Torts meant, or why cold calling could ruin your entire morning. I wanted people around me who could keep me grounded.

I also knew one other thing: I was stressed.

One of my friends told me that the best way to meet people after college, especially in a new city, was to find a local workout studio. Find a place with instructors you like. Find girls from your neighborhood. And then be brave. Introduce yourself to people. Compliment their workout sets. Keep showing up.

So, even though I was decidedly not a workout girlie, and very shy, I found a studio I loved.

The owner/instructor was a young mom who lived in our neighborhood. She knew all of us by name. People came to class together, left together, saved each other mats. New moms showed up with literal babies in bassinets when sitters bailed. There were girls my age, women in their 40s and 50s, grandmas. Everyone belonged.

The best way I can describe it is that it was a soft environment, which was exactly what I needed in contrast to the categorically harsh environment that is law school.

And yes, I found a safe place to land. I made new friends, friends who, years later, have helped me as I founded my own company, and stood by me at my wedding. (pictured above).

At first, I was the girl hiding in the back row, back corner. I took every modification. I took endless breaks. I wanted to disappear into the room. But I kept showing up, because I felt good after class.

And then.. slowly…

I started to feel stronger, obviously. I got better at the workouts. I went up in weights which, by the way, someone please explain why going from two-pound weights to three-pound weights in barre is basically impossible.

But the bigger change had nothing to do with my arms.

I started feeling more confident in my actual life.

I was less scared to walk into a room where I didn’t know anyone. Less scared to be “seen.” Less afraid to speak my mind. I started trusting myself more. And when something stressful happened, I noticed I could rebound from it faster.

During 1L, when shit got hard, I was at that same workout studio constantly, sometimes twice a day. I started branching out. I went to the gym. I tried boxing (and loved it btw). I tried solidcore..and also kinda liked it?! I tried running, and hated it, but hey I tried.

During finals, I developed a routine: wake up, take a workout class, take a practice exam, finish the day with yoga at home.

And then suddenly 1L was over.

That summer, I moved to Chicago for an internship. Another city where I knew almost no one.

I arrived over Memorial Day weekend, when seemingly every person I knew was on some fun trip with friends, Chicago was empty, and I was sitting alone in a new apartment wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into.

I felt lonely. I felt unsure of the summer.

So I did what I had learned to do in Philly.

I got moving.

All summer long, I fell back on movement to make myself feel at home. During lunch breaks, I took hot girl walks along the river. In the mornings, I went to workout classes and made new friends. On weekends, we rode bikes along the lake.

Movement became the thing I could bring with me anywhere.

Law school came and went. And then came the bar exam.

By this point, somehow, I was a fitness instructor.

I still couldn’t quite believe it.

Three years earlier, I had been hiding in the back of class hoping no one would look at me (very similar to my approach to law school itself.) Now I was standing at the front of the room teaching it.

People are always surprised when I tell them that I wasn’t always a gym girl, an athlete, or even someone who liked workout classes.

But I really wasn’t.

Movement does not come particularly naturally to me. It takes me twice as long as everyone else to figure out a new move. I’m pretty clumsy. I played tennis in high school, but I genuinely do not have a competitive bone in my body.

I think that’s part of what makes me a good instructor.

I always say that the math tutor you want is the person who used to suck at math but figured out how to get an A. Not necessarily the genius who has always known the answer and can’t explain how or why.

But that’s an essay for another time.

The point is: when another insanely stressful period of my life arrived, I moved.

Throughout bar prep, I worked out every day. I taught classes three times a week.

During the actual bar exam, when I had so much adrenaline coursing through my body that I thought I might throw up, I went into the bathroom and secretly did squats in a stall just to get some of that nervous energy out of my body.

Months later, when I was waiting for my bar results to post (we had been given an hour-long window during which they could just appear online at any moment which is cruel) I went to a workout class.

Of course I did.

Now I’m a practicing attorney, and moving my body is non-negotiable.

Not in an obsessive way. Not because every workout needs to be hard. Not because I’m constantly chasing some fitness goal.

It has just become part of how I take care of myself.

Whatever crazy workday, schedule change, trip, move, or life season I’m in, I find a way to fit movement somewhere inside it.

And when I’m really stressed, I’ve learned something important about myself: move first, react second.

Sometimes that means an hour-long class.

Sometimes it means a walk.

Sometimes, apparently, it means squats in a bathroom stall during the bar exam.

But nine times out of ten, I come back thinking more clearly. I’m less reactive. Less critical. More grounded.

There are a million reasons people tell you to work out.

You’ll sleep better. It’s good for your heart. You’ll “look better.” You’ll “feel better.”

All of those things may be true.

But for me, movement did something much bigger.

It made me comfortable with who I am.

It made me confident in a career where you constantly have to trust yourself. It gave me something steady to return to through the highs and lows of law school, the bar exam, moving cities, starting a career, and just… growing up.

Because when you take even a few minutes every day to come back into your body..to feel your heart beating, your lungs filling with air, your legs supporting you, your feet grounding into the floor… you start to build a relationship within yourself.

You learn: I can do hard things. I can be uncomfortable. I can take up space. I can trust myself. I can come back to myself.

And that kind of confidence follows you long after the workout ends.

That’s what movement gave me.

And, genuinely, it changed my life.

We love working w Gretchen!! learn a bit more about her below:

1. What is your name, your business’s name, and horoscope?

Hi! I’m Gretchen, founder of Club Lemon - and I’m an Aquarius.

2. Where are you answering these questions from? (Desk, couch, subway, office kitchen, etc.)

On an NYC bus on my way to the office!

3. What is your favorite TV show you’re watching right now?

I’ve been rewatching Downtown Abbey (my comfort show!) lately and have been loving The Pitt.

4. What does a normal weekday look like for you, and where does the creative part actually fit?

Most weekdays start early. I usually wake up and spend a little time working on Club Lemon before heading to a workout - lately it’s been Barry’s. After that, I’ll go straight to my job in interiors. After heading home and having dinner, I try to squeeze in more time for orders (and wedding planning!) where I can. It’s a full day, and I’m learning to be more intentional about carving out time to wind down.

5. Do you remember the first version of the idea? What was it originally supposed to be?

I’ve always been someone who makes things. In college, I minored in silkscreen printing, and that’s where I created the very first print that eventually inspired my initial bag collection. The moment it came to fruition was in the summer of 2024 when I designed my first bag prototype. That sample became my every day toiletry bag and from there, I knew I needed to make more. It took months and months to perfect the final bag design with the signature ruffle - it was SO worth the wait!

6. What’s your actual full-time job, and what does it not give you that your side project does?

I’m a classically trained architect who now works in interior design, so thankfully creativity is already part of my day job. A lot of the project management skills show up in how I run Club Lemon. What my business gives me that my job doesn’t is, of course, complete autonomy, which is a double edged sword for sure. I’ve loved creating this from the start, but it can be intimidating not having a set of strict guidelines (I am such a rule follower!!!) to show you how to operate. At the same time it’s been incredibly fulfilling to create this and be intentional in taking on custom projects and carefully planning where I want this to go. There’s something so empowering about creating your own standards and “figuring it out”.

7. What’s one skill from your day job that unexpectedly shows up in your side work?

Definitely managing timelines. We’re always thinking about lead times - construction schedules, custom furniture, wall coverings - you name it. The same thinking applies to designing, sourcing, and fabricating custom bags and stationery. Behind every creative idea (& not creative!) there’s usually a very detailed timeline holding it all together.

8. What’s one constraint from your full-time job that’s secretly shaped your creative work for the better?

The obvious constraint has been time but I’ve become really intentional about using small pockets instead of waiting for a full free day. A few hours here or there keeps things moving, and that consistency adds up more than I expected. I’m grateful for how it’s forced me to carefully grow and not get ahead of myself.

9. What’s the hardest part of doing both that no one really talks about? (Energy, time, guilt, attention, boredom.)

Two answers to this -

First: Time (of course!) and being present. Living in NYC means I’m usually running from one thing to the next, and it can feel overwhelming at times. But I also know this is such a special season of life, and I’ll look back and miss the fast pace and world of opportunity.

Second: I have so many things I want to do with this but waiting for the right time is so important. My notes app and vision board are quite chaotic. It’s been a lesson in patience, that’s for sure! So much goes on behind the scenes of running a business - the admin takes up most of my time.

10. What’s something small that reliably improves your day? (Food, walk, outfit choice, sound, ritual.)

Exercise is a big one. My morning coffee ritual is another non-negotiable: two shots of espresso with a splash of milk and a dash of cinnamon. And putting on an outfit that makes me feel like myself is major. Those three set the tone for the day.

11. What’s one wellness “rule” you’ve stopped following and feel better for?

The “never drink coffee on an empty stomach” rule…which I politely ignore…for now. I know it’s criminal (!!).

My favorite part so far has been working on custom orders - collaborating with Origins was a major pinch me moment and weddings have been some of my most special projects to be part of. Being trusted to create for such meaningful moments has been an absolute honor! I’ve loved designing pieces for my own wedding this summer too. Very full circle!

That’s all for now. Thank you for being here You can find Gretchen on Instagram @club__lemon and her website is www.club-lemon.com. Welcome to the club!!!”

ICYMI

Claire led us through a 10 min glute routine - but make it chill bc we got to lay on the couch/bed during it. but dont be fooled it still kicked my ass. every week im impressed by the power of a 10 min movement session. it is short but worth it!

Then our star, mikesha, took center stage and let us in about her experience during law school. as a former (recovering) KJD student she explained what it was like going into 1L straight from college. despite the obvious nerves and potentially tragic outfit choices during that first week/semester of classes, we chatted about why none of that really matters (because everyone else is feeling the same way). even though you live and die by the curve that first year, there’s comfort in knowing that the masses feel just like you do during that first week/semester.

Mikesha’s First Week Don’ts? Maybe don’t wear a blazer every day. Especially if you’re starting school in August in DC.

For more on Mikesha beyond what we talked about last night read on :)

1. What is your name and horoscope?

My name is Mikesha Withanachchi, and I’m a Cancer!

2. Where are you answering these questions from?

My apartment in Brooklyn, NY!

3. What is your favorite TV show you’re watching right now?

I just finished Love Island All Stars and now I’m watching the JFK Jr. / CBK docuseries (extremely late to the game I’m aware).

4. What does a normal weekday look like for you, and how do you fit your outside interests into that schedule?

When I was in the office from 9 am to 6 pm five days a week, it was tough for me to find a time to stay active during the weekdays. To make movement a priority, I tried to spend my lunch breaks by the water or choose a lunch spot a bit farther away, so I could fit in a walk. Outside of the workweek, I also made it a point to keep my weekends full of plans with friends. Maintaining a strong community beyond my law school network has been especially important to me, because I believe that truly “unplugging” from work requires stepping away from work- centered conversations, even when the job feels stressful. Through these friendships, I have learned a so much about work life balance, as well as the importance of prioritizing the “village” of people who support you as an adult.

5. What’s one skill from law school that unexpectedly shows up in your creative/extracurricular interests?

Attention to detail! I recently came across a few emails I sent to supervisors during my 1L summer and was actively cringing. While the emails were not grammatically incorrect, they lacked the professional tone and precision that now feel like a natural part of my written communication. Looking back, I do not think that growth would have happened as quickly without persuasive legal writing, which strengthened my ability to communicate clearly and with greater attention to detail throughout law school.

6. What’s the hardest part of doing both (working and studying) that no one really talks about?

I went to law school right after undergrad, so my professional experience was largely limited to summer internships. I did not anticipate how exhausted I would be after working in the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. while also keeping up with coursework. I’m not going to act like I’m the first person to unlock what exhaustion feels like after a “9 to 5”, but that feeling did require me to adjust my expectations about how productive I would be with schoolwork after work. While I thrive on routine, this experience pushed me to become more flexible, whether that meant waking up earlier to get readings done or shifting more of my studying to the weekends (which was especially challenging during 3L year).

7. What’s something small that reliably improves your day?

When the weather is warm, I love being in the sun outside! Any activity in the sun makes me feel a million times better.

8. What’s one wellness “rule” you’ve stopped following and feel better for?

I think being a swimmer for most of my life instilled in me the belief that workouts only feel “productive” if they are done as part of a team or through a structured workout class multiple  times a week. Since I moved to my apartment not too long ago, I’ve been mostly working out at home while trying to find an affordable workout class I like and that’s convenient to commute to.  However, I feel stronger and healthier now than I did when I was in a workout class multiple times a week! One of the biggest lessons I have taken from this realization is that if you find a fitness routine that truly works for you and supports your healthiest self, it is worth letting go of the idea that you need to spend a million dollars on that workout class to stay consistent (even if that means not being able to take cute pictures in the studio anymore 💔).

ICYMI

we chatted about goal setting and how she decided to open her own law firm. we talked about the who gave u the right to do xxx mentality which i think can really bring some people down. all of the what ifs, or i dont have enough experience, or im not ready yet etc slow people down. sometimes those doubts can be so detrimental that you may not even feel like you’ll be able to accomplish anything at all. shirin’s thoughts on that? dont let yourself spiral. she says you need to think confidently and push those thoughts out.

shirin explained how she’d break through that type of mental fog. she advised ppl to just get up and do it: make a list of the daily goals you need to do to eventually tackle the larger goal in the end. she said she has a rule that she gets up at the first alarm ring - if she snoozes or delays it any further, it throws off her day.

maybe that seems a bit hardo, but i think its the opposite. that’s the promise she made to herself to get her up and ready for the day. your promise to yourself doesn’t need to be that but her point still carries through. you’re prioritizing yourself as well as the goals youve set for yourself that day and beyond. her point isn’t to set an insurmountable list of goals per day, but instead focus on one or two concrete daily goals to build consistency. that consistency simultaneously grounds you and creates momentum - so when you look back one day you can see tangible results of what you’ve accomplished.

For more on Shirin beyond what we talked about last night read on :)

1. What is your name and horoscope?

   Shirin — Pisces.

2. Where are you answering these questions from?

   At my desk at home

3. What is your favorite TV show you’re watching right now?

   Bridgerton.

4. What does a normal weekday look like for you, and how do you fit your creative interests into that schedule?

   I recently started my own law firm and have been running everything virtually from my apartment, so it’s definitely been an adjustment from a traditional 9–5. Being home all day can be challenging, so I make it a point to get out for a walk every day. Outside of work, my creative outlet is creating content, which I fit in wherever I can

5. What’s one skill from your day job that unexpectedly shows up in your creative/extracurricular interests?

   Storytelling. As a lawyer, so much of what I do is about shaping narratives and communicating clearly, and that translates directly into content creation.

6. What’s the hardest part of doing both (full-time job + creative interest) that no one really talks about?

   How time-consuming content creation actually is. It looks simple from the outside, but there’s a lot that goes into it, and balancing that with a full-time job can be tough.

7. What’s something small that reliably improves your day?

   Getting outside for a walk, no matter how busy the day is.

8. What’s one wellness “rule” you’ve stopped following and feel better for?

   Trying to have perfectly balanced days. I’ve learned it’s more realistic to have some days that are more work-focused and others that allow more space for everything else.

claire’s dispatch is below!

move on tues is right at 6:30 PM. when you’ve been hunched over your desk like a shrimp for 8 hours. it’s time for dinner. if you’re old like me, your knees are stiff.

It would be a great time to move…

but… (and yes here comes the buts)

• but it’s hard to stop working

• but also what about that shower you said you’d take in the morning?

• but u need to make dinner?

• but you need to finish one more project before the new episode of summer house (you will NOT find a kyle cooke apologist here) is on at 8!

Replace BUT with BUTT:

get your ass out of that chair. brace your hands against your desk. (okay r u flirting with me???). toes apart, heels together. and press those heels together like you’re two preteens grinding at a bar mitzvah. and start to plié.

that’s what we did with our guest today. he was wearing business casual on top, and gym shorts on the bottom. he probably never thought he’d be pliéing in business casual at his desk, but that’s what bar buddy is all about.

Shine bright like a diamond.

let’s talk about the diamond plié. this is deceptively easy. with your heels together and toes turned out, it’s a full lower body workout. and when you lift those heels (relevé) your core is engaged whether you like it or not.

a lot of times when we work out, our quads take over. quads are like that overbearing drunk guy at the party that keeps barging in on your conversation. inner thighs are like the cool girl with a pack of superslims that you’re desperate to share a drunk cig with. she’s elusive, you gotta ditch the obnoxious drunk guy and put in work for that drunk cig.

when we start to hinge forward, our glutes join the party (bb = big booty after all). they control the bend and straightening of the leg (the diamond). add pulses and suddenly your ass hasn’t burned like this since that ill-fated trip to cancun. this whole time, while you’re getting your reps in, and realizing that I lied to you when I said 8 seconds (because it’s definitely been more than 8 seconds), your abs are keeping you balanced and stabilized. and that’s the real key here.

our standing desk series is simple. literally all you have to do is get up. we got you to focus on the butt instead of the “but…” and snuck in sneaky posture therapy. because when you’re sitting all day you get tight, shortened hip flexors. in a plié, your hips open and lengthen. especially when you tuck slightly in that pelvis and drop straight down. this is decompressing your spine and bringing you back to natural alignment.

the best part is that all it took was standing up from your desk. you likely won’t even break a sweat. you can do it in whatever you’re wearing. you can do this in your office! you can literally do this in between sending emails, and then sit your (fatter) ass back down.

+14 IG followers (209 → 223)
LinkedIn launched (10 page views, 2 followers)
Philly pop-ups: 83.33% attrition rate
NYC pop-up: 70% filled

Sunday Stats is a biweekly stats update that charts our growth across platforms. since we’ve been tracking these stats, our goal here is to show what slow and steady growth looks like over time.

Platform Breakdown

Instagram

+16.1% IG follower growth (last 30 days)
4,585 views this week
53.7% of views from non-followers

Accounts reached came in at 1,666 this week, down 44.3% from the prior period. The drop appears to reflect a normalization after event-driven spikes, along with a shift in content toward Stories, which tend to reach existing followers rather than new audiences. Despite lower overall reach, follower growth increased and engagement remained strong, with over half of views coming from non-followers. The takeaway is that while fewer accounts were reached, the audience was more targeted and more likely to convert into followers or event participants.

Stories drive the most reach (46.4%)
Reels (27.4%) outperform posts (26.2%) for discovery

OVERALL: Reach down 44.3% week-over-week, but follower growth up

Website (Squarespace)

442 visits (+46% month-over-month)
Peak traffic aligned with event timing

Traffic Insight

~90%+ of site traffic is direct
Minimal search/referral presence

LinkedIn

Launched this week —> 2 posts
Early traffic: 10 page views, 2 followers

This is a new frontier for us. Interested to see how our message does on this platform vs others especially considering the amount of time spent on LinkedIn by law students and lawyers.

Community

Philly Event: 83.33% attrition rate
NYC 3/28 Event: 70% capacity at this point. Hoping to capitalize on the lessons learned from the Philly events to ensure that we can lower our attrition rate for the NY event.

NYC Interest - Across Schools:

• Columbia: 57.1%

• NYU: 14.3%

• Cardozo: 14.3%

• Fordham: 14.3%

Grade-Level Engagement

• 1Ls: 57.1%

• 2Ls: 7.1%

• 3Ls: 35.7%

according to google’s ai overview:

Event attrition is the percentage of registrants who fail to attend a scheduled event. Currently, attrition rates are high due to increased uncertainty, often requiring a 25%-30% "oversell" strategy for free events to meet targets. Mitigation requires conservative booking, clear contracts, and attendee engagement.

Key Aspects of Event Attrition:

• Definition: The gap between expected attendance (or contracted room nights) and actual attendance.

• Common Causes: Scheduling conflicts, last-minute cancellations, attendee apathy, or poor planning.

Mitigation Strategies:

• Require Deposits/Fees: Prepayment increases commitment.

• Engagement: Use teaser content and ensure a high-value agenda.

• Strategic Scheduling: Avoid, or plan around, holidays and competing industry events.

an astute reddit user adds:

I would say for a free event I usually estimate about 50% will show up because they don't have any skin in the game to show up. That is just a easy estimate though and there are a lot more factors that affect this.

in the fall, my fav influencer lol ran a few of in person events to sell her book. by all accounts, she is more established, better branded, and more experienced than us. but even she said she was super nervous about ppl actually showing up to her events. she wrote a substack about it called 72 throwing events is a humiliation ritual. very true sister.

here are the main points that are relevant to our discussion:

1. Online engagement does NOT translate to real-life attendance

Even with a large audience, showing up in person requires a completely different level of commitment.

• Liking a post = passive, low-effort

• Attending an event = time, money, weather, effort, social energy

Basically:

You cannot reliably predict attendance from follower count or online engagement. This is the fundamental driver of attrition. There’s a massive drop-off between interest and action.

for our event this weekend our attrition rate was 83.3% !!!!! like that is crazy. but understanding this metric is extremely important in helping us learn to improve our future events. it helps us consider: whether the investment paid off, whether attendees are taking our desired action, such as posting about our org on socials or joining our summer program, whether our marketing channels were appropriate, both in terms of timing and format (which channels were used), and whether it’d be worth hosting the event again.

we were emphatic that despite a high attrition rate, it was completely worth hosting and worth hosting again. it was our first ever event and to think it’d turn out any differently would be naive. especially considering the rather n00b-level missteps we made!

however, what we learned from the “practice of” rather than the event itself was game changing. we’ve already made numerous changes that have yielded real results. for instance, using pre-existing infrastructure is better than inventing your own. for this first pop up, we used a sign up form on our website - nothing wrong with that but its out of the way, required a lot of emailing back and forth, and was difficult on the day of to send out an email blast.

so for our next pop up, we decided to use partiful - easy to use, clear, and best of all, everyone has it already/used to using it. unlike brenda, our socials don’t have much reach at the moment. so social media posting doesn’t really help convert viewers to attendees. but partiful allows our invite to be sent out and spread easily among students themselves. that takes a bit of the onus off us and allows for social capital (trusted friends sending to friends vs unknown entity reaching out) to enhance the status of our event.

2. In-person events compete with friction

Brenda’s event was different from ours in many ways, but mainly:

• Cost (e.g., $80 book)

• Weather (cold NYC Sunday)

• Effort (getting dressed, traveling)

• Opportunity cost (people default to staying home)

Thus, her takeaway was that even interested people will opt out if the friction is too high.

For us, although cost was not a barrier because our event was free, we had numerous high friction elements:

• we hosted over st. paddy’s day weekend (WRONG - we get it, you’re hungover hahaha)

• we hosted while one of the other major law schools had their barrister’s ball on friday night (DOUBLE WRONG - again we get it, you’re hungover lmao)

• we hosted while one of the major law schools in the area was on spring break (TRIPLE WRONG - you get the picture…)

• we hosted over a warm ish, sunny weekend post freezing cold winter (chalking this one up to an act of god)

  

but these are easy, immediate changes we can make when planning the next event. learning this lesson firsthand allows us to pivot instantly.

3. People attend for more than the “content”

Brenda discussed intentionally building reasons to show up beyond the core offering such as:

• Aesthetic environment (photo-worthy)

• Social interaction (meeting her, meeting others)

• Free items (stickers, coffee, etc.)

• “Something free to do” in an otherwise expensive, limited social landscape

Thus, events succeed when they function as experiences, not just transactions.

For us, we had two beautifully aesthetic pilates studios so that wasn’t the issue. Without a doubt, we hit the “something free to do” category, but more weakly addressed the social interaction and free items categories.

This is where, in brenda’s case, her following obviously comes into play. At the time of the event, we had 209 followers on instagram, our largest following across all socials. This stat is more reflective of where we’re at now (state of the state type shi) vs a complaint - were we to have more followers, especially earlier on in our building process, it would have been overwhelming and undoubtedly would have clouded our focus from addressing critical items (hammering down our core idea, streamlining our internal operations etc.)

because we are a relative unknown, especially to the law school world, genuinely why would anyone want to come meet us and learn more about bar buddy? this is part of the reason why we are focusing a lot of our energy over the next month to our weekly series Move on Tues, where we do a short 10 min movement and 10 min conversation with a law student or new attorney. our convos range from the importance of adding movement into the study routines, to foreign practicing attorneys, to lawyers who love or HATE working big law lol, to lawyers with amazing creative side passions etc. the purpose of this isn’t really to introduce ourselves to our audience but to show them why we started this. by showcasing tons of different types of lawyers who can offer real advice, we highlight all sorts of perspectives and experiences within the legal field. for a field that’s bombarded with “advice” panels or “insightful” networking events, much of what young attorneys hear is outdated, uninteresting, or just plain unhelpful. if we can create a channel where students and new attorneys can have access to advice or experiences that are actually useful/relatable, i think that will pay dividends in improving our social capital among our target audience.

4. Repeat attendees (“VICs”) matter more than mass turnout

Her most important concept: Very Important Customers (VICs)

• A significant portion of attendees were repeat visitors

• These people came back because of prior positive experiences

• She values them more than trying to convert new, passive followers

Thus, she argues that you should focus on your most engaged 1%. That’s more effective than chasing the uninterested 99%.

Here, she hits the nail on the head. For us, a VIC would likely be a student who attends a pop up and then decides to become part of our summer program and then maybe stays on as a bar buddy alum. part of what makes our bar buddy universe actually useful is the circular nature of it, one day you’re a student using our program and the next you’re an alum who can pay it forward by grabbing drinks with a law student and offer real advice or maybe even friendship. creating a supportive “network” (we hate that word but idk what else to call it) is part of our goal and our vic’s will play a huge role in creating that.

A traveled down via TRAIN (dont ever get me started on the U.S. train system, looking at u ) and stayed with C. from cyber friends to real life!! we crafted, blew up balloons, and got our studio set up down to 13 min flat.

we also got the chance to explore some neighborhoods in philly through our pop up partners who helped sponsor the spaces and giveaways. our pop-up partners were incredibly generous and really turned our event into something special. one thing that really stood out to me was how local small business owners in Philly show up for each other. you could feel the camaraderie among the owners, many of whom understood how difficult it can be to launch something new and convince people to trust it enough to try it.

when there are so many options out there, why pick us? is a question every small business asks itself. what we saw in Philly was that sometimes the difference isn’t a product or a strategy but personality. our pop up partners showed us that being supportive and welcoming can be its own form of differentiation.

Takeaways: Notes on what we learned and where we’re adjusting next

on practice makes perfect.

the first time you host an event, you imagine something chic. something out of a glossy magazine or vintage-coded insta mood board. a clean studio. music playing. perfect people floating in like it’s a scene in a kendall jenner pilates campaign.

what actually happens is that you are sitting on the floor tying balloons while your business partner asks where the tape is (and you dont know) so then you ask, “did anyone bring scissors?”

no one brought scissors.

you start to panic a bit, feeling the rise of emotion in your cheeks. you tell yourself it’s fine. no guys, like really it’s fine!! it’s unfinished but in the cool-girl french bun way right?!

you’re fifteen minutes behind schedule and it’s windy as hell outside. like aeolus personally objects to your business model and rlly fucking hates your balloons.

we set up our second pop-up this weekend, held on sunday in nolibs, in thirteen minutes flat. thirteen minutes isn’t all that impressive in the grand scheme of human achievement. but if you had seen our first attempt you would understand why we briefly considered framing the stopwatch time like an olympic medal.

people love to say practice makes perfect during bar prep. it’s one of those phrases that sounds motivational but is annoying when you’re staring at a multiple choice question that seems written by an evil drunk legal professor.

practice does not make perfect. but practice is what gets you there.

in the bar context, the first time you do an essay you panic. the fifth time you panic less. the twentieth time you realize the examiners have the same five tricks and they are not even trying to hide it anymore. in other words, you get used to it. you get used to the panic and you learn how to deal with it. you move through it and eventually figure out how to get what you need out of it.

we have learned that events work the same way. the first in-person event is difficult. especially if you have absolutely no background in the events space. bags are everywhere, and anyone who knows me knows i hate being a bag woman carrying 1000 bags. balloons are escaping because the uber opened the trunk too soon. people are asking logistical questions you have absolutely no answer to.

and the second event? its still messy. but now you know the drill; the speaker magically appears in the correct corner and the mats somehow land where they belong.

you begin to develop what athletes call muscle memory and what linkedin founders call “grindset” and what tiktok calls flowstate. the third, fourth, and fifth events will undoubtedly be easier. not because the situation itself changes, but because you’ve practiced enough times to stop panicking about the process.

now here is the part where you might expect a motivational speech about achieving perfection.

but we’re not here to push that narrative. if we were preaching practice makes perfect while secretly expecting everything we do to be perfect on the first try, we would be idiots. and hypocrites!

bar buddy exists precisely because things do not go perfectly. bar prep doesn’t go perfectly. workouts don’t go perfectly. and studying certainly doesn’t go perfectly. some days your brain fires on all cylinders and some days you read the same paragraph three times and absorb absolutely nothing. some days it is 2 much - even for us.

so perfection is not the goal here. the goal is much less glamorous and much more realistic. our goal is to keep showing up long enough to figure things out. because that is what happens when you try things in the real world. events are messy. businesses are messy. life, unfortunately, is very committed to this concept. you try something, it’s messy, you adjust, and hopefully, you try again.

people like to imagine entrepreneurship as some visionary genius moment. and maybe it is if you’re phoebe gates lmao. but for the rest of us it looks more like two girls sitting on a studio floor tying balloons while discussing the u.s. amtrak system.

then the next weekend, you do it again. and suddenly you realize you packed the scissors this time, the balloons stay where they’re supposed to, and the whole studio somehow comes together in nine minutes.

HIGHS ONLY: ALERT THE NEWS MEDIA - we had fun!! we planned this and put our vision to life this weekend and genuinely had a great time doing it. we were even looking at some of the photos and seeing some of the biggest smiles made us feel so great. we planned, we executed, and most importantly, we enjoyed. i think ppl are kind of scared to admit when theyre really having a good time these days esp when it might come across as pretentious or cringe or insert whatever negative word. but knowing that we had fun and we made the students who attended feel welcome was the best feeling. claire said it best - whether its 1 or 100, we want to make anyone who attends our events or joins our program feel welcome and make sure they have a great time!

agathe is a French-American illustrator who grew up in a very French household in the middle of Texas. her words not mine, need i say more. yes, i must!

agathe is one of my longest & tallest best friends, the smartest & funniest person i know, a former national team and d1 collegiate level athlete, artist galore, expert gnocchi maker, AND, most importantly, we were roommates.

when she isn’t making ceramics at her mom’s ceramics studio in texas, tending to her rose garden, dancing in the middle of the forest at cool french raves, she is drawing, painting, and creating.

check her out here: https://www.agathedenis.com/ and for commissions contact her at: adenis.illustration@gmail.com or @dessin.agathe on insta.

1. What is your name, your business’s name, and horoscope?

My name is Agathe Denis, my business’ name is also Agathe Denis seeing as my business is myself and the illustrations I make! I am a gemini, which I feel represents me pretty well despite the fact that it is apparently the most hated horoscope.

2. Where are you answering these questions from? (Desk, couch, subway, office kitchen, etc.)

I am currently sitting in an impossible position on my very comfy couch. I am one of those people who no matter where they are seated cannot sit normally.

3. What is your favorite tv show you’re watching rn?

I am currently re-watching Derry girls, which I love so much. Not only is it hilarious, but I love that it is a show that is just based on normal people living their lives, and that it shows how “normal” lives are full of moments that are just as big as the more “exceptional” people we would typically see in tv series. I also love the way it portrays girlhood, and the friendships you build at that time in your life.

4. What does a normal weekday look like for you, and where does the creative part actually fit?

Normal day looks a bit like this: wake up a bit too late, bike through the beautiful streets of Paris until I get to my office, I work for until 6pm, and then bike back home, go for a run in the woods by my apartment, then I usually draw for a while, eat dinner, and draw some more until I have to go to sleep. Since most of my day is taken up by my PhD, which does involve a bit of creativity from time to time but mainly is meticulous and rigorous work, I really try to allocate as much time as possible to painting and drawing in the rest of my day.

5. Do you remember the first version of the idea? What was it originally supposed to be?

I cannot remember a day in my life in which I did not paint, or draw. I feel like it is something that has always had a grip on me and which always will. When I was a child I loved the children’s books my mom would read to me and I would pour over the books of my favorite illustrators dreaming of the day in which I would have my own books to my name.

6. What’s your actual full-time job, and what does it not give you that your side project does?

As I mentioned before, my current job is completing my PhD in economics in Paris at Sciences Po. Completing a PhD is an interesting experience because you typically work in subjects that interest you, however it is also a long-term effort which often requires long hours of drudge work in order to get to the interesting parts. People often think that research is “creative” because you get to choose your subjects and because it requires innovation, which is sometimes the case, but in my experience most of the time it is almost the opposite. It requires rigour, methodology, and a lot of meticulousness which often leaves me feeling constrained. To answer the question more directly, my PhD does not feel like it gives me the freedom to be loose, to explore, to have fun.

7. What’s one skill from your day job that unexpectedly shows up in your side work?

While a lot of the more concrete skills of my PhD (coding, statistics, maths etc) don’t come much into play in my art, a lot of the softer skills do. In both you often have a long phase in which your work seems muddy and you are not sure to have a result in the end, but with perseverance and confidence, you often end up finding one in the end.

8. What’s one constraint from your full-time job that’s secretly shaped your creative work for the better?

In connection with the last question, my PhD has shaped my illustrations by pushing me into new areas. At the beginning of my PhD I started illustrating live the weekly seminars which I participate in as a PhD student, trying to boil down an hour and a half of lectures into one page of illustrations. This has actually ended up being a very consistent aspect of my last four years and has challenged me into thinking how one can efficiently summarize complex results in an “instinctive” way. The challenge of having no time at all to think about what you are going to draw, while trying to capture the important parts of the lecture has pushed me to develop a better sense of storytelling which I didn’t have before.

9. What’s the hardest part of doing both that no one really talks about? (Energy, time, guilt, attention, boredom.)

I would say the hardest part of doing both is the uncertainty. Uncertainty of the time you should allocate to one or the other, of if you should give up one side for the other, or if maybe you would be unsatisfied without both aspects in your life. Another challenging aspect is that because I know that I allocated so much of my week to the PhD, I have a very strong sense and almost excessive sense that I need to protect / allocate the rest of my free time to drawing, that any minute I am not doing so is time wasted. That is obviously an unreasonable approach, but I cannot seem to help it (so far).

10. What’s something small that reliably improves your day? (Food, walk, outfit choice, sound, ritual.)

Food obviously, anything really as long as it’s delicious (which luckily enough it often is). Sports is another thing that reliably improves my day even if I go in in the grumpiest of moods, I will always come out of it feeling better. Lastly, sleep, the solution to all problems.

11. What’s one wellness “rule” you’ve stopped following and feel better for?

Diets / food restriction or regulation generally. I eat healthy because that’s what I love and how I was raised, but that’s it.

feb is usually my least favorite month, but the winter olympics have got me plugged IN y’all. i love them so much. something about the highs and lows, wins and losses, and true display of mental strength that always amazes me. im sad theyll be ending soon, but that means one thing… its almost MARCH! we’re having two pop ups in march (our olympics) and we seriously can’t wait!

stay golden, pony boy.

What We Did This Week(s)

Feb 9, 2026

• FIRST BB APPLICATION SIGN UP AND FIRST BB POP UP @ PHILLY SIGN UP! Website has been up and running just fine! Have come a long way from the google form.

• draftin bb updates and revising the bb study buddy guide. the one we created in november. there was SO much usable info/content from but its amazing to see how far we’ve come. it was way too wordy, too much info, too confusing, too much onus on the student. much better now with the revisions we’ve made over the past few months.

Feb 10, 2026

• tons of email prepping and sending today. this is part of our outreach efforts to let schools know about us in addition to students. C leading the charge on this and made an amazing excel to keep us on track.

• 4 new sign ups for the pop up!!!! Now we have 5/18 slots filled. I was so freaked out on sunday that no one would come LOL but now im like what if we have too many ppl! i know im getting ahead of myself here but its crazy how much can change in a few days.

• Really worked over the language of the outreach emails. we created a color code check process and an organization method for our inbox. Very good for us. Will make things more efficient.

• C made a great flier for the pop ups to send to the schools. So cute.

Feb 11, 2026

• had a meeting with the wellness coordinator for a NYC-area law school

• interesting and useful discussion! appreciate the opportunity

• working on something cool for NY pop up!!!

Feb 16, 2026

• still working with said NYC-area law school….we shall see :)

• in the meantime, worked on a contingency plan and reached out to Practice Room NYC, a super cool pilates/yoga studio in noho and williamsburg.

• chatting with their owner this week and their legal counsel/ops next week!! both are super lovely. excited to just talk with them about their processes, their own experiences etc. would love to collaborate with such a wellness-oriented and welcoming studio. we feel very aligned in many ways.

Feb 18, 2026

• finished some of the big admin tasks that have been hanging over us. GO US bc we were procrastinating but had to get them done. let this be a lesson to all to just rip the bandaid and do it bc in the end it wasn’t that hard, just have to sit down and do it.

Takeaways: Notes on what we learned and where we’re adjusting next

communication is key but trust is key-er ??!

communication is obviously important. we all know that. every podcast across the board has told us that. but communication without trust still feels lacking. polite and clear, yes, but there’s nothing behind it.

trust, on the other hand, is far more important imo. being able to trust when someone says they’ll get xyz done. now that is the benchmark for me of someone i want on my team.

so much of school, work, and group projects trains you to hover a little. you check teams again or you reread the shared doc. you casually “just making sure!” someone. or in the worst case, you have to do (or redo) the whole project on your own because your team just didn’t do it or didn’t do it well enough.

but when you trust your partner, that background stress disappears. you don’t need to monitor, you can just move onto the next task. and in that way, you can cover more ground.

here’s a great example from this week. claire is in charge of any type of outreach (to schools administrations, to law student groups, to journals, to clubs.) she’s made an extremely comprehensive chart that systematizes how and when she’ll reach out. while shes busy (and i mean BUSY) doing that, I’ll take care of other things like the substack, the website, and planning for the pop ups. with two of us dividing and conquering, and trust grounding us through this process, it makes our efforts each week effective AND efficient. to me, it wouldn’t be possible otherwise. and, as an added benefit, it makes it fun and enjoyable!

this is just an example from this week. claire and i usually have a semi-fluid management style, meaning we start tasks and sometimes the other will pick it up and carry it to the finish line. to me, having aspects of our working partnership that are fluid and ones that are more formalized makes the process stay true to ourselves. we’re learning as we go along, so there’s a huge benefit in remaining flexible throughout this process. as we progress, perhaps our operations will become more clear cut but for now this is what is working for us.

in case you’ve never done outreach before (shout out all symposium editors in law school i KNOW you know what this feels like) i stg this is how feels sometimes when doing outreaching (emailing school admin, pilates studios, students etc) hahahaha

so even tho vday is over, our kissing booth is very much open :’)

HIGH: things are really moving along! and the outpouring of support truly has been exciting for us. the amount of messages we’ve received from lawyers who said they wish they had for themselves this during the bar has be so meaningful. it shows us we are resonating with people and moving in the right direction!

LOW: damn it can be hard so hard to do outreach and get ppl to know about us! even when it feels like we’re doing everything we can to get the word out we still feel like there’s more to do. and while that is probably true, its about striking a balance between what is reasonable for us to do and what isn’t. finding that balance has been hard this week!

our website is now live! a work in progress, with many more good updates to come.

What We Did This Week//Takeaways//Highs&Lows

i really wanted these interviews to be a way to highlight the ppl behind our partnerships, so you can learn a bit more about them and enjoy their creations as much as we do!

Bespoke embroidery designs ☘️stitching the perfectly imperfect (wabi sabi) find her on insta @macg_designed

McKenzie is amazing in every way and I love working with her but more importantly i love being her friend. we went to law school together - did someone say trauma bonded?! i said this before but working w your friends is cool (as long as its the right ones ;) ) dont let anyone tell u otherwise!!

1. What is your name, your business’s name, and horoscope?

Mckenzie Gallagher, Mac G Designs (bespoke embroidery), Leo sun & rising with Cancer moon.

2. Where are you answering these questions from? (Desk, couch, subway, office kitchen, etc.)

I am answering these questions from my kitchen island (make shift work from home desk lol) in my loft in Chicago.

3. What is your favorite tv show you’re watching rn?

I am loving Traitors (season 4 right now) but also have been dabbling in a series on YouTube called DIRT created by Huckberry which is just a guy traveling around to different places and trying their local foods. Would recommend!

4. What does a normal weekday look like for you, and where does the creative part actually fit?

My normal weekday schedule is usually getting up around 6am, having coffee on my couch which is a non-negotiable, working out either pilates or lifting and always a 30 min treadmill walk, and then breakfast and another coffee before starting work. At lunch I try to get outside for a quick walk. After work I have been loving going to the local sauna studio down the street from me (s/o Contrast) and then coming home to have dinner. My work on Mac G usually does not emerge until after dinner, but I think it is important to keep myself open to creativity throughout the whole day. I find keeping my eyes open and soaking in the world while I am out and about in it helps get my creative juices flowing.

5. Do you remember the first version of the idea? What was it originally supposed to be?

I remember I saw someone on instagram who was sewing and embroidering on knit sweaters and I thought it was super cool! I had been promising myself I would learn to knit for the last two years but between law school and bar studying it just never happened. That’s when I started to look into embroidery because it looked a bit more digestible and then I bought a how-to kit and taught myself. The idea for Mac G kind of sprouted from there. After the summer of studying for the bar and then a few months of anxiously waiting for my results I had ample time to bring my idea for Mac G to life. My first designs were just for me and then I started making some things for my friends who loved them.

6. What’s your actual full-time job, and what does it not give you that your side project does?

I work full time as a contracts attorney for an environmental engineering company in Illinois. My Mac G work gives me the ability to create something bespoke for other girlies and to be experimental with designs, fabrics, etc. whereas transactional attorney work has less room for experimenting or artistic creativity. I think the combo of the two strikes a nice balance between the rigidity of transactional attorney work and the free flowing creativity in embroidery.

7. What’s one skill from your day job that unexpectedly shows up in your side work?

The best skills from my job that translates well into my Mac G work would be time management and organizational/planning skills.

8. What’s one constraint from your full-time job that’s secretly shaped your creative work for the better?

Anyone doing more than one thing at once must be a master of time management in order to succeed at both. I think working full time and the constraint that has on my time during the day has shaped my Mac G work for the better because I have to treat my time very preciously. My days must be organized and my to-do lists must be made the day before or neither my full time work or my side gig would get the best version of myself. Without this constraint on time I don’t think I would be as good at allocating as much time to Mac G.

9. What’s the hardest part of doing both that no one really talks about? (Energy, time, guilt, attention, boredom.)

I think the hardest thing about doing both is knowing you are really passionate about the side gig and wanting to give it your all but at the same time knowing your other job often is the priority. I also think that as attorneys we are often perfectionist and don’t want to show something to the world until it is polished and polished again so I have been trying to get rid of that mentality with my Mac G work and let it be a little bit wabi sabi (perfectly imperfect).

10. What’s something small that reliably improves your day? (Food, walk, outfit choice, sound, ritual.)

Sauna and cold plunge after work. It’s amazing the mental clarity it gives me. Orrrr my oat milk latte in the morning (basic beech).

11. What’s one wellness “rule” you’ve stopped following and feel better for?

One wellness rule I have stopped following is the all or nothing (100% all the time) approach to any health and wellness trend. More joy in not being “on” or perfect all the time. My favorite quote on this is “Everything in moderation, even moderation.” So yes to the treats and glass of wine always!!