When conducting legal due diligence for M&A or other corporate exercises, despite thorough planning, I often find my team under time pressure. This is due to the narrow window between receiving the necessary information from the relevant parties and our delivery deadline.

I’m often asked when we can provide our draft legal due diligence report or draft submission documents when the necessary documents have not even been provided to us to do our work. This question feels especially pressure-loaded when it’s asked repeatedly and in the presence of other advisers.

Such situation used to make me anxious. Nowadays, I try to focus only on what’s within my control.

I was introduced to an app called “MindShift” a few years ago to manage anxiety. The app comes with coping cards aim to ease anxiety in the moment by readjusting thinking with helpful coping thoughts.

Two cards particularly resonate with me:

“I can’t control everything, so there is no need to try so hard.”

“The world won’t fall apart if I make a mistake or if things aren’t perfect.”

My takeaway is to focus only on what’s within my control and not fret over what’s not.

One way to maintain some sort of control for corporate exercises is by establishing a clear system of what needs to be done and who is responsible for a task.

Stress and anxiety are bound to creep up in my work as a corporate lawyer, but having these coping mechanisms provides clarity in moments of chaos.

Ultimately, we aim to do our best for clients, but this sometimes depends on external parties completing their part first. Having a Zen mindset goes a long way.

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This post was posted on LinkedIn on 9 May 2024.