I speak with lots of lawyers—several hundred in any given week—about mental health, substance use and personal well-being, especially in law firms. As you might imagine, I get a lot of feedback and answer many questions, the bulk of which tend to focus on getting at the root causes of the poor mental health and overall lack of well-being experienced by many.

This past week however, one comment stood out, so much so that I thought we should all take a minute and talk about it. The comment involved a phrase often associated with feats of endurance, which might seem harmless enough on the surface: “Just make it happen.”