How to deal with neuroticism in big law Forum

[Anonymous User]

I’m a lit second year at a large firm in NY.

I think I do good work and I’m well regarded.

I recognize that most of us are probably extremely careful in our work, which prioritizes accuracy in every aspect. But I find myself going overboard: checking citations multiple times after I’ve submitted something up the chain, reading something and then immediately doubting my own mind / eyes and reading it again, etc. usually I’m not catching mistakes on these multiple checks, it’s just to calm myself down.

It’s a waste of time and makes me crazy.

I’m wondering if anyone has similar tendencies and how you’ve overcome them. Anything I can do to be more confident in my work as I’m doing it, to avoid checking it multiple times after I’m done?

[Anonymous User]

I take anxiety meds. 60% of the time, it works every time.

Obviously this isn't why I started taking the meds, but it's been a nice bonus that I no longer second-guess myself on a lot of work stuff. It's easier for me to accept that if I misplaced a comma, neither the partner nor the client is likely to think much about it.

[Anonymous User]

You're only a second year. This neuroticism will go away with time, as you gain more perspective on how the practice of law works and how your work is actually being assessed by your colleagues. It's like when you're a 1L and you freak out about what you said when you were cold called. By 2L year, you realize cold call performance doesn't actually matter at all in the grand scheme of things and you're less neurotic about it.

[Anonymous User]

I've had and sometimes still have the exact same issue. Third year here. What I sometimes do, hen I inevitably go back and check something for the fifth time is stop and tell myself "what is the worst thing that can happen? They're not going to fire me." and then just send it. I feel like these verbal affirmations help me.

Because logically, what is the worst thing? Nobody ever catches the mistake and it doesn't matter at all or that someone does catch it, lets you know, and you can fix it.

[Anonymous User]

I try and check my work multiple times because I have found mistakes even on the fourth read, but that's for drafts of papers that are close to being filed. Then I will print them and do a hard copy edit, which makes errors (especially formatting errors) much easier for me to catch. Neuroticism is helpful in this profession to an extent, but like everything it is about balancing speed with accuracy. And the person who said it will improve with time is right -- you will gain confidence in your work as you go. So unless your neuroticism is disabling and prevents you from working at a reasonable pace, think of it is a plus -- it's way better than being sloppy and sending something out that is wrong or poorly edited.