I QUIT MY SIX FIGURE BIG LAW JOB
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Hi I just walked away from six figures and a guaranteed successful career path to do gig work and start my own law firm. Am I insane? Plz discuss.
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Nothing feels better than quitting a job you were told you were “lucky” to have.
OMG I FEEL SEEEEEN
Yeah nobody would let you quit the job that you are so lucky to have that causes you to have such a big paycheck that suppresses your true being
Considering leaving my job: Yes.
Scared shitless of leaving my job: Also yes
YUP!!!!
Have a plan. Have a plan. Have a plan. And then FUCKIN DO IT!!!!!!
@@danitellopeelio much easier said than done
@@chriscze6153 Of course! But speaking from experience in not having a plan before I left my position as Senior Manager of a team of producers at a Fortune 500 financial institution, it's 100% worth it. BUT have.a.plan.
same ☠️
I'm a career librarian and I think it's common to meet a librarian who loves their career. And I know many librarians who used to be lawyers : )
omg librarians are so cool... you've given me much to think about
@@LeejaMiller could totally imagine Leeja Librarian. :)
That really sounds awesome, good for you!
Librarians are wonderful. They help me find books on subjects I want to read about. Public libraries are one of the best aspects of world culture. Right up there with free education for all. They've helped people learn to read as well as provided support in the libraries. In this time of changing methods of communication, they have worked tirelessly to ensure libraries meet patrons where they are. From braille, large print, audible, video, digital books, and more, they've made it easier to be informed and entertained. Thank you, librarians, we can't pay you enough for what you do, but we should do as much as we can to make your support of this vital function possible. This occupation is a common good for all humanity., the prototype for AI, and much safer. 🙂
Just to add one more example to@@pauladufour7594's nice list of goods that Librarians do... at least some will also entertain us! The Seattle Public Library has(? - or at least used to have) a regularly-scheduled event called "Thrilling Tales", that was basically like story time in kindergarten, except for adults -- in an auditorium (no need to sit on the floor), you were encouraged to bring a lunch if you wanted, and just sit and listen while David (as coincidence would have it) would read some thrilling tale or other -- something like an Edgar Allen Poe story, though usually it was from more obscure (but very good) other authors. Fun times!
When my company hit 2 billion in profit and everyone got a coffee mug. Not a raise, not a bonus, just a coffee mug. Who are these capitalism losers that you speak of? 😂😂 🙋♀️🙋♀️
i was working on Star Citizen's (very wealthy game) website and all I got was a single more company paid day over the holidays, and the rest of the week was taken out of our personal vacations bank - I was OuTrAgEd
My company had 100% increased profits in our digital platform (which I work for). there was no bonuses or increase to our pathetic 2% maximum MERIT raises, just a yay be proud. Furthermore when asked what we were doing about lower retention (10% of our employees left this year for other companies) our CEO responded with you should be proud of your work and that is what should keep you here and "You'll never make a competitive salary in education". This right after the record profits of 100% increase announcement. Many couldn't believe he fucking said that like we were idiots or something...but I am stuck here for another year before I have enough experience to move elsewhere. So my resolution is just to coast cuz this job gives 0 fucks about what I actually produce.
open your own business then
Know what I got when helping the company I work for recently hit 3.11 billion? A group email saying “Thanks a billion…more like 3.11 billion!” I’ve never rolled my eyes so hard in my life. 🙄
@@metabarnak I'm sure the development team got a nice hefty bonus. Is the game after going to be released or did they take the money and run?
It's called the American dream 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it -- more power to you!
Lollllll
OPE
RIP George Carlin
@@gwyndlin you know what’s crazy, I never heard that one but I immediately thought “that sounds like a Carlinism” there’s a certain brand of pithiness that’s so distinctly his
God bless George Carlin.
This channel is now called "the radicalization of Leeja Miller"
YES I’m so here for it
Mmm late-stage capitalism is doing just fine on its own. Millennials are mostly not reading Marx but come to the same conclusion-workers not owning the means of production makes most of Americans peasants.
@@gateauxq4604Workers don’t necessarily have to own the means of production, but they have to be able to freely negotiate with them! 😤
Billable hours long term sounds like my worst nightmare. I'm currently doing contract work and despite 'working' 9-5, I only feel comfortable billing 3-4 hours a day because you're right, you can't be productive for 8 hours a day. I'd be working a lot longer than 9-5 if I wanted to bill 40hrs a week. Miserable.
Miserable!!!!
Totally understand. Just hearing the words billable hours gives me chills SMH.
I worked at an ad firm for about a year and having to track all of my hours was awful. The environment was awful. The people were awful. Never again.
Snaps, girl! I quit my big corporate gig so I could become a nanny again. I know it's cheesy, but if you don't feed your soul you'll lead a miserable life. Yes, it means we have a smaller apartment & less fancy stuff. But I want to spend time with my family, enjoy my job, & love my life.
When I was a kid I quickly learned my answer to "what do you want to do when you grow up?" was go on vacations, have dinners out, see movies. So my goal was never a job; it was the life outside the job. I've ended up in insurance for now - and we often joke that no one's dream is to be in insurance, and these is no prestige in working insurance, but I get to live my dream. Don't let the world trick you into dreaming about work, dream about living.
YES like mine was (and still is) to adopt a dog and a cat! LOL
Great insight! Really great advice!
this it it man. couldn't have said it any better
I wanna thank you for this video, I'm sitting here crying. Because I walked away for what I was told the best career I could ever get. I worked for a monster but because she was the best in our field, I put up with the late night calls, emotional abuse, 15 hour days, and practically trying to run my personal life. It was horribly exhausting and one day (after throwing something at me from across the room) I calmly shut down my computer and went to lunch and never came back.. I struggled with this decision for a while but after watching your video I now know that I made the best decision for me. Friends and family keep saying I was wrong but they weren't there and hearing you talk about your experience just reassured me that I did the right thing.... good luck to you and all your endeavors, I'll be watching a of your videos... thank you!!!
Aw thank you I’m glad you had the courage to get out of that situation!!!
Sounds like Devil wears Prada!
@@LeejaMiller - Lady, you are not alone and putting your story out there has debunked the corporate career LIE and this is going to help a bunch of people.
Well done!
Please keep it up.❤
Nobody deserves to be treated like that at work! Good for you, I hope you go on to something more rewarding.
@JamesEdwards-no5wo
If you’re reading this, would you give an update on how you’re going now? Full props to you for having the brass to walk out on that dumpster fire
I've just started my first job after graduating here in the Netherlands and I'm fascinated by the American hours and work culture. I get to make a median salary at 32 hours (not billable hours) a week, with actual regards for my life outside of work; overworking is frowned upon. I get to go on dates, play sports, go to concerts, do chores, or take naps. Once you're past the point of earning the money you need for survival and some extras for security and peace of mind, whats the point of the rest of it? You don't even get the time to spend it?
Agreed! It makes no sense!
Some people live to work, but if you're not into that, there's plenty of opportunities to do a normal 40 hour week. That's what I've done at every job. I will say, I wish 40 hours was not the norm and I wish we got more holidays, vacation time and longer breaks.
I'm about to start my first job after uni in the Netherlands. Looking forward to those dates and naps!!
you are so right, work kill you
It’s partly due to the unnecessary credentialism we have here. I suspect if law were still an undergrad degree and viewed more as a skilled trade (as it was prior to the mid-20th century), that large firm culture might still exist, but it’d be a far less coveted career track. Also, lawyers might be more likely to be unionized like teachers and nurses are (at least in some states) which would help immensely. They turned an undergrad degree (or an apprenticeship) into a fake doctorate and created a culture to reinforce that contrived prestige. Saying this as someone who’s actively prepping for the LSAT but clearly understands the problems with our current system.
“The systems our boomer parents built that we were meant to trust, don’t work for anybody”. That is one of the clearest and most succinct ways of summing up the state of our generation. Nicely said!
Even though I was born in 1963, I’m with you. Muther Hubbard ‘s have pulled up the ladder, then turn around and blame you for not "succeeding."
It works for the boomers who set up the system
Just be careful not to sell out like many of my cohort boomers did. We started with great ideals of equality of opportunity, pluralism, and freedom. Somewhere along the line so many started talking about property values, and bitching about "kids these days..." Providing a decent living for middle class workers gave way to obsessing over maximizing profit for the investor class who ended up making NOTHING but money. So many of my generation know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
@@robdeskrd Exactly: boomers set up a system that works for them, the new generations just have to do the same.
I was born in 1955, me civil rights, Disneyland and the Chevy small block. Dad was oak tree generation (WWII vet) and my daughters are millennials. Yes I started late. Dad got the GI bill that paid for a degree in engineering and then went to work for a huge corporation that made consumer goods and had big government contracts. In those days it was expected that you married your company and retired from it. He went from engineering to project manager to upper management working on projects like the hardened silo doors for our nuclear missiles, the Saturn V transporter and North Sea drilling technology. Then in the late 60s the top management decided that they could profit from breeching all their government contracts, laying off everyone in the contracting wing of the corporation including it’s upper management and taking a massive lawsuit from Uncle Sam. Dad lost his lifetime job and today that corporation exists in name only.
I’ve worked in many fields including radio broadcasting, technical illustration, music, precious metals, construction and mechanical work before I finally found something I truly loved, surveying.
Three of my small business owner bosses were committing fraud while they were taking every advantage of their clients and employees. It takes time as an employee of a company like that to find that there’s dirt under the carpet. I had to change jobs many times before it was called the great resignation. None of these business owners were boomers.
My oldest daughter worked for a big international non profit with a work environment similar to what Leeja describes in big law. Now she’s part of the great resignation.
Blaming any specific generation for our multigenerational institutionalized corporate greed which also serves as a model for way too many of our small businesses is missing the point.
In other words, boomers didn’t create this mess, they inherited it just like millennials have. While some have embraced it to take advantage, some have fought against it and still are, but most have just tried to navigate it’s pitfalls and survive just like everyone before them.
I love this!! Especially how a 'dream career' is kind of.. fake? Sad? I'm just finishing up undergrad and feel so grateful that these conversations are being held right now. I like being productive, having deadlines, learning skills, and being a part of a team, but that shouldn't come at the cost of my happiness, time, energy, and overall life. Vibe more work less (ideally)!
Absolutely!!!
I’m excited to work hard but it’s gotta be for me!
I love what Eartha Kitt had to say about dream jobs: “I do not dream of labor”
My sister works at a law firm in the Mid-West and she described their work culture almost word-for-word as Leeja did! Insane confirmation that this is true!
Ugh YUP
I have such respect for you leaving your job. I was in the military for 7 years, just recently separated because I was so miserable too. I really relate to the inconsistencies & pressure you feel from the people “over you”. You HAVE to be available 24/7 just to be abused and eventually reach burn out.
Ugh GOOD FOR YOU!!! Yeah it’s miserable
When you said millennials are having an existential crisis … I felt that
Meeeeee
Thats me, im millennial
Welcome to the party ...
Gen X
I'm feeling an "Elle Woods" interview moment lol
Alternative title: Leeja Miller realizes she's a radical socialist.
Welcome home! We all have similar stories, LOL.
I got fired from my job last year, because I said I didn't want to go back to work during the height of pacifier. They called me, telling me I can either show up to work on June 1st, or they'd have to terminate my employment. So I told them to term me. I was at that job for five years. I gave a lot of myself to that job, because I genuinely enjoyed doing it. And it was all for naught, because I was worried about contracting some freaky ass super virus that doctors didn't know anything about.
Right now, I an genuinely terrified of applying for a new job, because I don't want to get sucked back up into the minutiae of corporate work. I don't wanna jump back into a system that does not value me as a person, but only my labor. It's sickening the way that society expects us to go out of our way (to do whatever we can) to make money. There's gotta be something better than this.
Try working for a small company, there’s a big difference in culture that’s directly proportional to the size of any organization. I enjoyed working for small businesses but they usually can’t pay as well or offer as many benefits. That’s the trade-off you have to make. Paying bills does suck but it sure beats the hell out living in caves and throwing rocks at each other. This is the price we pay (literally) for the culture we’ve built and the technologies/comforts we enjoy. If you feel you’d be happier without those things, living a simple life then you’re not alone. That’s how people like the Amish, Monks/Nuns of various beliefs and more have chosen to live. There’s nothing wrong with that. For my Dad his job was just that, a way to support his family. We were the thing that fulfilled him and what he invested his time in every day after work. It helps to view it as a necessary evil and not what fulfills you in life, that must come from somewhere else. If we weren’t sitting at a desk pounding a keyboard for 40 hours a week than we’d be chasing animals through the forest all day and throwing pointy sticks at them to stave off starvation. Work is and always has been a necessary part of human existence, it’s simply changed forms over time.
How about becoming a therapist?
I don't want to sound harsh, but I think you made a good decision. Your colleagues are better off not having someone who doesn't pull their weight on the team. Good luck with your next step!
Literally quit my job a couple weeks ago as a paralegal and found a new one paying much more and totally what I’m worth. Totally relate and understand everything you’re saying. Good for you!!! You 👏🏽 do 👏🏽 you 👏🏽 boo 👏🏽
Thank you!!! And congrats to you!!!
i can’t stop but think about the “don’t be a lawyer” song from Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Geez! Just commented how she can watch the entire series 🥲 Don’t want to jump to that song straight heads tho 🤭
I thought the same and I've barely ever touched law. LOL
This! I kept singing it to myself during the video. Lol
🎶 Just say NO to the lawyer employer!!
Girl you are such an inspiration!! As a person who heavily considered law as a career, I’m glad to see an honest take on how demanding and ridiculous this industry can be.
As a recent grad I reaaally needed to hear that piece about “careers aren’t real anymore”
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
“People were put on this Earth to scavenge for fruits, make out with each other, maybe sing a song or two and just VIBE” 😂😂😂 had me literally dying!
I’ve been watching your videos for a while just out of enjoyment, I’m in a very different career line than you but I agree with EVERYTHING you’re saying! Thank you for putting this content out, I know TONS of people can relate 🙌🏼💕✨
Lollll thank you!!!
Well SOMEONE has to design and fly airplanes, design and operate computers, practice medicine, build and maintain roads and utilities, grow food, make clothes...
Civilization is hard. And complicated.
You can live in the trees and make out but when you get a cut and it's infected, having antibiotics and trained doctors is a blessing instead of dying at 23 from "old age" in those days.
It seems easier said than done but as a lefty IP focused lawyer based in Minneapolis, you should try to connect with famous Drag Race stars like Trixie Mattel, Jaida Essence Hall and Jaymes Mansfield. Perhaps it’s a stretch but my gut tells me it’s viable and your opinion and expertise would be welcome if they were aware of you and it would help grow your channel. Congrats on your journey and thank you for the ongoing entertaining and informative content.
Ugh could you IMAGINE????
@@LeejaMiller yes!!!! It’s only a matter of time I know it.
My husband works at a big legal firm and it’s exactly the way you explained it. His work schedule is insanely busy and unpredictable. It’s hard to schedule a date or a wedding or a weekend getaway without his work getting in the way. We just had a baby and it’s been the hardest caring for a baby with a work schedule that demands 10-12 hour days and weekends too.
Finally making yourself happy "you go Glen CoCo" #MeanGirls
Hahaha THANK YOU!
@@LeejaMiller you're my bestie in my head 😀
🎶🎵 Glen Coco, Glen Coco, Glen Coco...
Nurse here planning on leaving the American hospital system like so many are already doing. Even the best hospitals can still be pretty abusive towards staff and I’ve been doing it too long waiting for it to change. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing next year but I don’t want it to be part of making some CEO $10 million.
I work in a hospital right now and hate it. I wish I knew what else to do with my life . Sometimes I think about starting up my own online company. I am burnt out
@@ccalexander1924 I know some nurses who started their own med spas and other specialized places that require medical knowledge. So there are definitely options outside the hospital system. Thank you for all that you do & all that you've done, and I sincerely hope you find what you're looking for. 💜
As a new baby attorney, I’d like to say this video is the ONLY lawyer-related video that I’ve added to my “favorites” list.
Ugh THANK YOU honestly made it because it was the content I needed a year ago
Loved this vidio. I actually loved my job but the vaccine brought me to my knees. Just drained me totally. Laying on my couch trying to get back to myself I realised too I worked to hard for my money and I wasn't actually responding to my souls call...out of fear. So really having no where else to turn but to respond to my souls call I was forced to face my deepest fear.. And thanks to astrology I realised it was all in my head.. Probably due to many incarnations with hardship standing out as a woman and individual expressing my truth. I also during this process realised how much power the wealthiest have over the rest of us. We are just the gras under their booths and they treat the world as it is their football.. Playing it as they like. I want to be part of a new and more fair world order where people are no longer dying of hunger while others have so much more than they will ever need. Thank you for this vidio and the best wishes for your new carrier ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Have you considered politics. Us little people sure need people that understand the law that will work for justice ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I’ve worked in public accounting as a tax associate for about 2 years now and I TOTALLY feel you about the billable hours thing. My industry friends don’t understand when I say I can’t take an hour lunch b/c I have to meet my hours for the week and don’t wanna work until 9 pm every day 😂 I don’t work at a Big 4 accounting firm (thank God) so I don’t have it quite as bad, but billable hours requirements are not sustainable and lead to burn out so quickly.
Been there done that - big 4 (public accounting firms for those not familiar with the term) are not to be just as demanding as law and finance services firms! Surprised to learn that the military is not easy too! When you divide these so-called 6+ figure salaries plus bonuses into total hours worked, what sounds like a great salary deems in real terms (once converted into total pay/total hours worked). These firms are great for experience and exposure for young graduates and advisable to cut your losses afterwards, by having a side hustle or moving into less demanding roles or companies or industries. Great analysis Thanks and all the best with your future endeavors.
It's the same with advertising agencies.
This was me and the military. Stripped of most of my freedoms working in a place that told us regularly that we were replaceable was exhausting. Making time to meet fitness standards, doing volunteer work outside of our working hours, studying for the next rank, mentoring lower ranks, having extra duties on top of the job you were given that have nothing to do with your job, being pushed into taking college courses in order to get better performance reports, all while having to pack up your entire life every few years and move across state lines and even countries was too much. 10 hour + days were a normal and regular occurrence, and getting days off were few and far between if you were in a career field that was considered low manned. This isn't even taking into account deployments, which for me were minimum 12 hour work days in blistering heat. I commend those able to find their groove and make it into a career, but basically killing myself for a job that gave me less than 50k a year wasn't worth it anymore.
This huge essay is to say I totally understand where you're coming from, feeling like you're only a cog in a machine is demoralizing and dehumanizing. Congrats on a new chapter in your life, I wish you all the best!
I walked away from the Army too brother. I get out this month. Walked away for my mental health and now I'm pursuing software engineering. I'm much happier as a man now. No offense to this woman. She's very smart, and driven, but also wise to see what is really worthwhile. Life isn't all tied up in your job or a uniform. Once you walk away from that it's odd at times how it feels, but it's liberating. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
BAWLBAG!!!!
On the flip side I completely retired at 44. The military isn't for everyone and no one realizes how difficult it is to make it to 20+ years. Glad I stuck it out.
It's amazing to watch our legal system fall apart in front of us in real-time and recorded.
In 2010 when the USSC decided (wrongly) the Citizens United case, courts began a dramatic shift, esp. at the top where politics and corruption is applied to decisions rather than pure legal reasoning. The same sources of money fund both the politicians and some of the justices' extracurricular activities. ONE party set it up this way to stay in power and to be rewarded by very rich donors. The other party sort-of fights against it. The only possible correction I can see to this is sweep the more corrupt side out of office while we still can and to take corrective measures for the Sup Ct and Citizens United. Your statement is too vague to know precisely to what you are really referring; however, I will say that certain criminal and civil cases ongoing now against certain politicians and lawyers are evidence of the system still working, in spite of extreme, active interference. It shows that the law does apply to everyone and that criminals will be prosecuted (at least sometimes).
Shared the video with a friend who is in the process of leaving law school. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Oh wow!! Thanks for sharing!!
I love this. I find this incredibly inspiring. I feel like this should be a TED talk or something. You have your priorities straight ❤️
I’m a legal assistant and hearing her describe the life of an associate is so on point it hurts
OMG Are you quirky like the legal assistant from Jim Carrey Liar Liar
As a legal assistant, I wanted to wrap the new associates in bubble wrap. They looked like they were in shock half the time.
@@CF. i literally just heard an articling student lie to a senior lawyer that they still had capacity LOL
@@taylortheyummy lol that’s funny. 😆Honestly, I have to give them credit though. They have more guts than me. Nothing but respect at the end of the day. ❤️
I have a degree in architecture and from day one our professors would repeat to us that "an Architecture School is not made solely from architects." Because just as a student you are so overworked, and burned out, that yearly a ton of people quit the degree itself, and from those who graduate only a small percentage actually go on to work in architecture. I am one of the ones that quit the profession. So though it's not the same thing, I feel you.
That's exactly how I felt leaving my architecture job. Totally unfulfilled and wasted. I love being a nurse! It's been 8 years now but I still leave my shift happy and feeling like I've accomplished something.
Good luck to you and I hope this brings you happiness and satisfaction.
Okay now I'm even more impressed that you put out such high quality content while that insanely overworked at your big law firm. Thank you for everything you do, and thank you for solidifying what I, an incoming 1L, already knew, which is that I want to run as far away from big law as possible.
Honestly, the entire idea of having a fulfilling lifetime career isn't impossible (hopefully you're stepping in that direction!), but it's deff a dated concept that we need to understand doesn't apply to everyone. The fact that (in theory) at 16/17 you decide what you're going to do with the rest of your life is insane. You're still a child! I go through weekly talks with myself if I wanna change careers after 10 years in my industry - but nothing else seems appealing so I'm just sticking with it for now haha.
Leeja, I'm am proud of you for putting yourself first and leaving a job that quite obviously only cared about their bottom line. You're a badass and am sure that whatever you end up doing next, you will rock it!
Aw thank you!!!
Not thinking of quitting my job because I just got one haha. When I first started undergrad I wanted to be a lawyer, but I decided against that after further research revealed basically what you discussed in this video. I also noped out of consulting for similar reasons. Work-life balance is important to me, I want to do stuff outside of work! So I'd tell my fellow millennials and/or gen z that there ARE good jobs out there, there are industries that are not as demanding and soul-sucking, but unfortunately they are not the norm so you do need to look for them.
What is your job? :)
@@katherinepierce7948 I’m sorry that I’m so late but I stumbled back on this video and saw your comment. I’m a research associate at a social policy firm.
So happy for you! I'm for sure a "Should I Quit my job"-millennial?
Thank you!!!
You randomly popped up on my feed and I am so glad you did because it feels like you’re living in my brain. I’m currently strategizing my exit from my east coast big law job and this video was the sign I needed to further assure me that I am heading toward the right path. I so appreciate your candor and your ability to hit every point on the head. Looking forward to meeting you on the other side!
as someone who's had 3 "careers" so far before 40, 100% careers are not a thing. I had planed to go to school for environmental law but between thinking about how much my father worked and where environmental law went the last few years I'm grateful I didn't go farther
Omg I feel that, I thought about enviro law but non profit jobs are almost non existent and big firm enviro law jobs are defending oil and gas and I realized it just wouldn’t work
Had to text my friend immediately when you started talking about the great resignation 😂😂 we both handed in our notice to our jobs at the biggest bank in the UK 🙌🏽🙌🏽
Omg CONGRATS
you are literally that girl. i admire you so much. new sub here. saw your britney video and that’s what drew me in. i wish u much success🖤
Aw omg thank you!
“Or did you hope one day
That you'd find a way to spend four years
Working on a pharmaceutical company's
Merger with another pharmaceutical company?”
don't be a lawyerrrr
Your story really resonates with me & where I’m at right now, my fellow Capricorn! Thank you for openly sharing this; it’s not talked about enough!
It’s a brave, difficult act to walk away from stable income/a career, but I hope this shift brings you lots of happiness, opportunity, and balance 🙏🏻
Omg, my gf is literally going through an exact parallel experience that you're going through except she's north of the 49th parallel: finished law school during the pandemic, wrote the bar during the pandemic, did her articling during the pandemic at a mid-sized full service law firm, is 1 year in and already knows that this is not going to be her 'career' and is having an existential crisis about it. If you have any tips on other fields or jobs etc for recovering lawyers or resources that you found helpful in making your decision let me know, would be helpful as an S.O. of a baby lawyer who is full of anxiety. (P.s. don't judge the handle, I made my YT account in high school).
HI YES SO PROUD OF YOU SIS
I felt this video so much. I'm not planning on quitting my current job, but I have taken on the mentality of giving up on a "dream" job. If I am at a job that I mostly enjoy and make enough to mostly fulfill the lifestyle I want to live, that's enough for me, who says I need a "career"
This resonates so much with me! Except I left a job making less than half of that, not in law but in marketing. I didn't work that many hours as consistently, but if I didn't have my email and slack available 24/7 I was in trouble. Frequently people sent things at 10pm or later. And then the entire day I got attitude from one of several bosses. I am SO happy to be gone and I am SO happy you've left your life-suck job, too! I'm in a much better place now and I think your future is very bright because you know exactly what *not* to do (and that's half the battle)!
YES!! Good for you!!
long-hour culture (and general work culture for that matter) is designed by and for men, assuming all employees have male-needs, can easily divide their time between work and leisure, and have zero care or unpaid work responsibilities. the design is based on the assumption that all employees have a stay-at-home wife.
Yes omg I saw this point in a tweet recently as well! Mind blowing
No job with corporations is fulfilling. I work in dentistry, and I feel the same as you do.
Literally just resigned as a licensed financial investment advisor ! I realized the same thing … yes there was prestige BUT I was stressed beyond belief to complete someone else’s dream. Plus it just wasn’t worth it ! I’ve gone into being my own boss as now I’m my own business owner ☺️🙌🏽
Having the same realization in the last year of my PhD. The insane demands were worth it when I was doing presentations and 3 martini lunches around the world but now I’m just working in my apt bedroom all day in Ohio, and it’s exhausting and not fulfilling lol. Going to keep an eye out for what the core work entails moving forward instead getting sucked in by the flashy parts.
Ugh right???
Working on my PhD in Ohio too. I am already burned out and I haven't even finished. 😫
@@mifnp8887 keep with it! I'm now retired, but I remember that my thesis research could be exhausting, but also exhilarating when you realize you found something really new. The write up of my thesis took almost a year because I hadn't fully done the data analysis. But I got up every day and plowed through the draft which turned out to be 300 pages. Then getting my advisor to read and etc. What professional school students don't understand is that a PhD is not just coursework -- hardly any in the British system which I did -- but original research which involves imagination. It's not three years and done like law, but research which can take unexpected turns. There is a reason that a PhD is the top academic degree. I had 40 yrs career in academia, and wouldn't trade for sitting in an office in glass box building. So, go for it. You can do it.
I worked for a 10K+ employee company for 10+ years. I answered to damn near all 1OK+ of them. I loved the IDEA of my job - I despised the reality of it. I quit 20+ years ago. I thank myself so much for doing that. I hope everything goes well for you, too! ❤️
You are so talented at everything you do!!!!!! I believe in you dude!!!!! Also, I have the highest respect for people that quit and are still standing strong!!!!!!!
Eee thank you!!!!!!!
I love millennials!!! I quit a government after 16 years many years ago. I thought I was crazy afterwards... Long story short ...massage therapist.... personal trainer.... then I started my online fitness training business a few months ago. So when I hear millennials say things I totally get it... You all inspire me.
Ugh AMAZING!! I love it
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'm a designer and I left my job exactly 1 week after getting a very conflicting raise in November. Then I was unemployed for some months, which was fine because I wanted to heal properly from the abuse I experienced there. Then in March, I just started getting offers and now I'm making more than enough money and Im more happy and less stressed! The moral is, sometimes you have to just cut off the bad things in life so the good things can come floating in!
Congrats on the firm! I'll let you know when I start my own studio 💕
Yes!!! 👏🏻👏🏻
Fellow lawyer here, I totally relate and most of my friends and colleagues are overwhelmed and miserable and risking their health for the money. I understand why they're doing it though, the cost of living is ridiculous these days.
Absolutely!!!
PArt of me is like omg you’re crazy and the other is like fuck yeah !!
Hahahah ME TOO
Exit. Strategy. Never felt the overbearing NEED for a an exit strategy before I had a family. I was more of a hustlin-jill-of-all-trades kinda gal but that went out the window after adding the weight of dependents.
I am hyper-aware of how I spend my minutes and I hate it.
I just quit a one-in-a-life-time job I worked my whole life to get because I was miserable. My mom just like yours made her entirely life cleaning and we were poor. During the same global pandemic being threatened to work more, because we could be fired to "cut costs" while people were sick and dying. The burnout was real, I started wishing for my car to break everyday so I would get there later than sooner (this is the lightest thought I will share here). What I mean with all this is: you are not alone! Thank you for your voice! Thank you for sharing this moment with us, this makes me feel a lot better! We can do better for us and for other people!
So proud of you! As a recent graduate taking a break before trying to "get a dream job" this was awesome to hear.
Also, you can use your legal background to help so many people, especially at the border with immigrants in need of lawyers!
Iniital reaction in the first minute.... Bloody hell Leeja!! Gratz on the success of your channel that allowed you to do this. More to come after I've watched the whole vid.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You did the right thing. I am at the opposite end of my career, if everything goes right I can retire in the next 1-3 years. I am a government attorney. I look back and can't believe I spent so much time doing something I like (the work) for other people to look good and for not nearly enough money. If I had worked for myself, I could have tailored my life to how I really want to live and worked the cases I really wanted to work. I have been working since I was 15, I work really hard and do a great job and I did it for someone else. Existential crisis? Sign me up. Do what you want, make enough to be happy, love your life. Work can be fulfilling, unless we settle. Working for 30-40 years so you can decide what to do with your own time is a system for most of us to be unhappy and always want, or think we want, more. Don't do what I did. Congratulations on being smarter.
That's great that retirement is on the horizon! That's sort of what keeps me going too.
Girl I am SO HAPPY for you! It's great to hear other people being woke about selling their souls to the corporate devil. I just left my job of 2 years working for a healthcare-related software startup. Tbh I was a little desperate after college to get a job related to my degree and the pay was good but I was working 50 hours a week with the CEO and manager calling and texting me at 2 in the morning about tasks they should've handled. On top of all of that BS, they always told me to watch what I say out loud to ensure that investors didn't know about the problems with the software they were selling. Well peace out bitches because I'm going to grad school at Columbia this fall. I'm gonna make sure y'all never see me again and I get a job where I don't have to limit myself to pleasing investors.
Ugh GOOD FOR YOU!!! Absolutely soul crushing
I also graduated into the pandemic, didn't even get to start my last semester before things shut down. For a while I was reaally mad, it felt like the pandemic stole my future and my dream. I don't even remember what it was, it's not the same anymore. A year and change into it I realize my priorities have simply shifted, I want to be outside, I want to~vibe~, I DONT want to live in Manhattan and give my life and my valuable valuable time over to some company. I want to explore my interests and look forward to tomorrow
YES QUEEN!! ❤️ you explained everything so perfectly. i am a recent college graduate struggling with the concept of having a career and submitting myself to any sort of system where a “career” defines who i am as a human being. there are so many facets of life and work should not automatically be the number one. i want to live, love, and experience!
Yes!!!
I feel you on the career thing. I’m a chef and a little while ago I was asked to be promoted and I said “nah, I’m fine” getting paid a little more for 50 hours a week. If I’m going to work 50 hours it has to be for MY dream. I stay because my boss is really that awesome that when I said “I have to change my schedule, my depression is really bad” he did everything in his power to change it overnight. I love my job, but not enough to give up 50 hours a week of my life for them.
Ooof good for you!!
This video really encourages me to not be afraid of breaking the norm when it comes to school, career, and life. Thank you Leeja ❤️
you're so inspirational thank you, i'm a mid 20's (amateur) artist that works in hospitality and i genuinely feel like it's embarrassingly difficult to discuss my "lack of career" to strangers or family when they realise my 'goal' in life isn't to get a degree and a salary, but to legit just vibe and be happy. It's so not normalised to reject the career based system of life and I've never gotten to hear an academic person such as yourself feel these exact same ideas of self-fulfilment being nonadjacent to this brainwashed labour for "the man". THANK YOU for making your brave choices and sharing with the world!
I started watching your channel 2-3 months ago. Despite my sister being an attorney, I’ve got the mind of a very dysfunctional, very gay tortured artist who’s never been able to wrap my brain around the black magick of legal incantation.
That said, I fell in love with your personality from the first video, when I see one of your thumbnails I immediately click, and you don’t just demystify law, you give it the soul it’s lacking. You are Art, and I’m so fahking proud of you. From a fellow millennial; thanks for being an example of conventional success who can still see, like the rest of us, this system is broken, this sh*t ain’t it.
Much love. 💙
Omggggg I’m a lawyer - in Australia - and I just quit my job! Legit this week. I just found your video (FATE) Your video spoke to me and it’s exactly the way I feel and have felt. I’ve only been submitted to the bar for 1 & 1/2 years and I’ve burnt out. It’s just not worth it. I wasn’t sleeping, I was stressed and anxious all the time for the money it was not worth it! Can’t wait to see what journey you follow now xx
Wow I FEEL THAT. Congrats!!!
Such a wonderful video with an even more pertinent message a late millennial/zlennial she was killing me softly with this cogent appraisal of the specific hellfire that is being a young american in 2021 and much like Leeja im dying in spite of being a white person and the endless privelege that comes with such. Hell at this point is ask are you taking resumes for an associateship XD?
I'm an attorney who seriously thought about quitting years ago, although my hours weren't as bad as big law. You're courageous for leaving & sharing your story. Thank you & best wishes!
Myself and at least half if not more of me and all my late 20s and 30s year old friends have quit, stepped down or gone part time at our jobs in the last 3 months haha. I love to hear this is the great resignation. Peace out to all of you fellow job quitters
When you were talking about working remotely and having all those job perks being stripped away, that is the thought process I'm having. I'm in marketing for publishing and this is my first industry job. I've never been in an office and being at home for months really messes with my head. I'm just doing the brunt of everything with none of the fun things, especially since I do work in one of the coasts. I'm banking on the lifestyle before I've heard about and dreaming I'll experience that soon, if at all. I'm happy at my job, let me say that but starting where I'm at, is warping how I feel about the job field in general. The pandemic really shook up everything
You only have one life that you can remember at a time might aswell make it your best
AGREED
I quit my career of 15 years in January 2020, with zero plan other than, if I don’t get a job in 3 months I would get move home and work in a coffee shop.
I found a new job for a $40000/year pay cut in March 2020. Thankfully I was only laid off for 1 month after working for 2 weeks in my new role.
Anyways, 1 year later I’m enjoying it (lol, even though I’m working for the man), really feeling the pay cut now, and bc I was in a better place with my mental health, the man I met in February 2020 and I are moving in together next month. It’s not perfect, but I’m no longer burning out working 90hrs/week for a 6figure salary
👏👏👏 You are a great communicator. Very genuine and funny. I feel a lot of your pain being in the technology field for years. Total chaos.
Thank you!!’ God yeah I bet!
This is fascinating from so many angles!
I've always wondered what being a lawyer was *really* like, and you did a great job of illustrating the gory details of working in Big Law. I considered going to law school at one point, wanting to do something with conservation or medicine. Luckily I couldn't afford the LSAT and was denied financial aid to take it.
After some meandering I went to med school, which I'll be graduating in May. If I'm not one of the unlucky folks that don't match into a residency, I'll be spending 4-5 years as a junior doctor, which sounds like a fair parallel to being an Associate - but we get paid less than half of what you started at as an Associate while in residency. Resident work hours are now capped at 80 a week, but kinda like your billable hours, that's "official" work time.
In our 3rd and 4th years of medical school we do clinical rotations, so we get a good sense of what the work is like, but the responsibilities are still very different between being a med student, resident, then big-boy attending. So for as much time as I've spent in clinical settings up to this point, I won't appreciate the less glamorous parts of the job until I actually get there.
It's nuts. We go into these professions with stars in our eyes wanting to change the world, make a difference for people. And it's not that we don't or can't. But there's only so much time to deal with all the systemic bull crap and you end up doing far less than you went in hoping to.
I'm happy with where I'm at and my anticipated trajectory, but I'm already tired bro. I understand the feeling of being trapped because of how much time and money and tears and sweat you've put in and not wanting to feel like that's all been a wash. I'll have about $300k in student loans once I'm done. It's not like I can go back to my $15/hr lab job and make life happen.
Your channel is fantastic. I'm glad you stood up for yourself and left when you did, as horrible as I'm sure it felt to do so. Thanks so much for your content and speaking up on these fascinating topics!
I'm happy for you!!! I mean, if it's what makes you happy, then go forward lol. I really hope that you can find something you love and that you can do something that makes your proud, like this youtube channel.
Wow, this video really vibed with me as a millennial who doesn't particularly like his job. I've been considering quitting my job for the better part of a year now. I don't work in law, but I do work in environmental/geological consulting, so I am very, very familiar with the fun of billable hours. My company isn't as cutthroat about billable hours as it seems law firms typically are, but as a person who entered the field with a rough equivalent of two years experience, you are expected to be roughly 90%-100% billable in a 40 hour work week. I'm burnt out, and my productivity is bad, even the parts of my job that I do enjoy.
That said, just like you, I realized that my position at my company is probably a lot better than the equivalent positions at similar companies which really killed my desire to try and advance my "career" whatever that means by moving laterally. Even then, I realize that no matter where I work in the field, I'm going to be indirectly or directly supporting a company that has a part in accelerating climate change, since oil and gas exploration is very lucrative from a financial point of view. Even if I'm not assisting, or my office isn't assisting in fossil fuel crap, there is still a significant chunk of the company that is. It's hard to sleep with yourself sometimes when thoughts like these weigh over you.
Despite all this, I'm intimidated to try and do something else with my life, since I feel like starting a new job from scratch at 29 is a frankly terrifying prospect. You touched on it in the video, but the sunk cost fallacy is real and hard to get over. With a bachelor's and master's in a fairly specific set of fields, I spent 6.5 years of school just to get this job, and now I'm considering leaving the field as a whole? My boyfriend is going through a lot of similar feelings, and is half-jokingly trying to convince me to open a board game store with him, which sounds awesome and fun, but the practical side of me is fucking terrified to leave somewhere that I at least have a regular paycheck and health care.
Anyway, that's my stream of consciousness on the subject, and I'm sure there's more I could say, but this comment is already long enough. I really appreciated the video because I felt a lot of it on a personal level. I wish you all the best in all your new endeavors!
As someone who just graduated high school and is starting college soon, the instability of the job market right now is a large, looming threat
This has eery parallels with working in a high level advertising consulting firm 😭
I am actually just going back to work in September (teacher). This past year I have been on maternity leave (Canada) so I got to skip the figuring out how to work during a pandemic, nonsense. I am super excited to get back at it, but I very much understand that not having to work this year protected me from many of the dumpster fires 🤣. I also have a really good sense of participating in the larger picture which makes my work more fulfilling.
Congratulations on saying no to the sunk cost fallacy and chasing a dream! A scary but exciting step.
Thank you!!
Oof you saved yourself an ocean wave of....let's say f**kery. 18 professors in my school quit. From what I've seen, it might partially be a mix of burnout, IDK WHAT I'M DOING, and patience being tested beyond threshold. Imagine still being liable for children learning and failing miserably because the board decided grades and tests don't matter this year, so kids have 0% incentive to attend or pay attention. Oh, and 4+ sides questioning your capacity to teach because of that (e.g. parents, the school board, politicians, students themselves, keyboard warriors on FB, etc)
Large American law firms sound a lot like MLMs..
Super congratulations on your new freedoms though!
Thank you!! And omg I’d never made that connection but YUP PRETTY SIMILAR
partners don't understand command responsibility, huh? the system is so fucked
Newly graduated law student here feeling exactly how you feel as I’m studying for the bar no less 🙃. Thank you for sharing this it’s so comforting and is giving me the courage to seek a “non traditional” route myself!
When you started talking about your day to day work, it felt like a deja vu from my experience at a big four accounting firm! Down to the detail, except for the big paycheck unfortunately, that’s what made my job not as easy to quit. I was able to buy a small studio apartment before our economy went to shit AGAIN in 2019. In many ways our stories “align”, as much as they could, considering I am from a 3rd world country, getting pennies for 40-60 hours week while going to college at nights 😜 But I finally did it last year, I used to be a Project Manager and Team Lead for 17 people, loved the people and the excitement for 6 years, hated the job and bureaucracy. May 2020 I left without a new job, by October I was able to nail a job in design, which I have studied for the past decade, a transition I wasn’t able to do while in accounting. CONGRATS on following your gut ✨
Ugh thank you!!! And good for you!!!!
🥳Congrats on moving forward, very Capricorn-ucopious!♑ 1st time hearing this name "Leeja."😅 Subscribed to your (variety?) channel on the basis of potential further unpredictability...also, because Astrology was mentioned.🥰LOVED the honesty & your matter-of-fact p.o.v. 1st video i've listened to, excited to hear MORE from you! #NewFan
So many women I know have quit conventional jobs because they couldn't make the "form" of the job work for them, even though they were very much able to do the actual job. (Meaning, the hours, the workspace, extracurricular stuff, the way the work was to be completed, etc)
Please consider doing subjects of the law that are particular (and often exclusive) to women. There is not enough of that.
I really liked hearing your point of view on all of this. I'm about to graduate law school in Brazil and I'm obviously very concerned about working as a lawyer so it was really great to hear that it's ok to feel overwhelmed and quit an unhealthy job, even if others may envy you for having it because they only see its benefits but not all your sacrifices to maintain it.
I absolutely love your channel youre fabulous AF and I am so excited for you with this next step in your journey. Also, I too have been going through a bit of an existential crisis and didn't even know I needed this video, but I definitely did. So thanks for that!
How you fare in the future, will depend heavily on why you actually quit. Not why you're telling yourself why you quit. But ACTUALLY why.
I wish you luck. From one "quitter" to another. I quit the rat-race back in 1991. Best decision I ever made. I've spent the time since then volunteering and working for non-profits. Not the panacea I had hoped, but 1,000 times better than making money for the man.
Leeja: "my firm was as good as it gets"
Me: oh wow it must have been really hard for her to quit
Leeja: "which is why it made my decision that much easier"
Me: 👁👄👁
Hahahahah
Your such an inspiration!!! Please keep doing what your doing. Breath if fresh air!!!! 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🥰
I'm not going to quit my job, not because I like m job, but because i don't have a job to quit lol
haha nice ! and what do u do now ?