In this final blog on my Code of Whole-Person Professionalism, I cover the final six pledges and associated “annotations,” i.e., pertinent or supportive quotes, as well as some parting thoughts. I hope that you enjoyed it. 

• To order my affairs and conduct my work in a manner that minimizes the work for, and surprise to, others, and to give others reasonable notice when extra work either after hours or on weekends will be necessary, and then to work mightily to minimize that intrusion, and to make it up later.

Always do right – this will gratify some and astonish the rest. Mark Twain

Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any. Ralph Waldo Emerson 

• If I work under the supervision of another lawyer, to treat that lawyer as my client. 

We would rather have one man or woman working with us than three merely working for us. F.W. Woolworth 

• To be a lifelong learner and enthusiastic lover of life.

Life is too important to take seriously. Corky Siegel

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily. Collossians 3:23

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s a beautiful day. Let’s play two. Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks

I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits. John Locke

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. William Butler Yeats 

• To smile, internally and externally, and be of good cheer, even singing aloud if the mood strikes me.

Let us go singing as far as we go; the road will be less tedious. Virgil

You gotta start off each day with a song

even when things go wrong

you’ll feel better, you’ll even look better

I’m here to tell you that you’ll be a go getter

 

Now the way that you shake my hand

will tell me now I stand

 

Isn’t it better to go through life with a smile and a song

Than walking around with a face eleven miles long?

Now you know that you can’t go wrong

if you start off each day with a song.

Jimmy Durante “You Gotta Start Off Each Day With a Song”

 

Joe how are you?

I guess I am okay.

Joe whatcha do?

I rub rub rub all day.

Why do you smile?

I’m happy all day long.

I’ve got my health and I’ve got my job

and so I sing this song.

 

Oh when the day is bright and sunny.

Everything is milk and honey.

Joe he makes a lot of money.

No one rubs, no one scrubs like he can.

He’s a joy to every lady;

keeps his eye on every baby

Life is just a bowl of gravy

for the window washer man.

H.Malanga-M. Barry “The Window Washer Man” (recorded by The Mills Brothers)

 

There’s one thing to think of when you’re blue,

there are others much worse off than you.

If a load of troubles should arrive,

just laugh and say it’s great to be alive.

 

Keep your sunny side up, up,

hide the side that get’s blue.

If you can’t buy lobster and cake,

you’re in luck, your tummy won’t ache.

 

so keep your sunny side up, up,

let your laughter come thru, thru,

if you meet with gloom,

don’t fall down go boom,

 

Keep your sunny side up,

Keep your sunny side up, up,

hide the side that gets blue.

If you have nine sons in a row,

baseball teams make money you know.

 

so keep your sunny side up, up,

let your laughter come thru,

stand up on your legs,

be like fried eggs,

keep your sunny side up.

 

Just let a smile be your umbrella

and keep your sunny side up.

 

Johnny Hamp (“Keep Your Sunny Side Up”)

• To be able to heartily laugh at myself at a second’s notice.

I really admire your ability to get paid for this. Scott Adams The Dilbert Principle 

We are all here for a spell; get all the good laughs you can. Will Rogers 

• To “walk the talk” of this Code by affirmatively encouraging and allowing my staff and other lawyers under my supervision to live according to this Code, and to encourage other lawyers as well as others to do the same.

Walking your talk is a great way to motivate yourself. No one likes to live a lie. Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you advise others to do. Vince Poscente

Parting Thoughts

Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. Albert Einstein 

[I]t is always hard work to find the mean in anything, i.e., it is not everybody, but only a man of science, who can find the mean or centre of a circle. So too anybody can get angry–that is an easy matter–and anybody can give or spend money, but to give it to the right persons, to give the right amount of it and to give it at the right time and for the right cause and in the right way, this is not what anybody can do, nor is it easy. That is the reason why it is rare and laudable to do well. Aristotle 

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. Marcus Aurelius The Meditations

It’s okay to find yourself in the problem, but don’t tarry there, because your time is far better spent in the solution.