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Summer has always been my favorite season. I love feeling the warm sun on my face almost as much as I hate being cold - and living in New England, summer pretty much guarantees sunny days and warmth, while winter guarantees frigid temperatures and lots of ice.  

The ocean is my happy place, and when it first comes into view on a summer weekend, I feel my shoulders physically drop just a little, releasing a tension so constant I forget it's there until it’s gone.  I may be far too old for summer camp, but I still love fireworks on the Fourth of July and making s’mores just as much as I did back at camp in Maine.

Yet, summers have passed me by before. After a busy summer of negotiating contracts or drafting briefs, managing disputes or building businesses, it’s not that surprising. I've woken up on a cool September morning to realize the ocean was chilling again, school was back in session — and I'd barely gotten in the water, hadn't roasted a perfect marshmallow, and had failed to appreciate how glorious a summer sunset can be.

This summer, I’m as busy as I’ve ever been. And I know that if I’m not deliberate, I’ll blink and it will be September.

I bet you can relate.

Having a wonderful summer matters for the sake of it. Because happiness and joy are inherently wonderful. But is also matters because joy and professional success are directly connected. Joy, personally and professionally, drives professional success. If you didn’t read my previous issue about the Joy Dividend, it’s worth a few minutes now.

This newsletter issue is about what I plan to do to make sure I make the most of this summer, even though work is crazy busy. It’s based on years of experimenting as well as a lot of reading on joy and fulfillment.

Here are my approaches. Try them out and let me know what you think. Or let me know anything you’re trying that’s not on here - I’d love to hear more ideas.

Like many in-house lawyers, my calendar is often a mess despite my best efforts. I end up with double bookings, last-minute changes, and too often, limited time for heads-down work. My regular schedule does include intentional blocks for learning, goal review, and movement (more on that here), but not nearly enough room for the unexpected.

And the unexpected always comes. Whether it’s a call from the camp nurse, a colleague with an urgent deal that just materialized, or a press release that needs reviewing by COB. Those surprises happen year-round, but in summer, when long awaited weekend plans are involved, the stakes feel higher. Because what gets bumped still has to happen somewhere.

I've always worked weekends. In summer, I try to work less on them, even if that means more evenings. To protect weekend time, I block buffer time during the week. If something blows up, I have somewhere to put it. If it doesn't, I use that time for the important-but-not-urgent work that otherwise gets put off.

I love mentoring, but I'm limiting new mentees for the summer. On LinkedIn, I'm leaning on recycled posts more than usual. Today is my last planned speaking engagement until September.

You get the idea. There are so many things that in-house lawyers do because we enjoy them, and because they are important, but that aren’t strictly required. I’m putting some of mine on hold for a few months.

Coordinating one family's summer is hard enough. Add friends into the mix, and it can feel nearly impossible. Between kids on different camp schedules and parents with demanding jobs, I have literally resorted to Calendly just to hang out with a group of friends. It works. However corporate it may feel for people I’ve known since Abercrombie was cool the first time, it’s worth it.

On weekends, I delete social media apps (yes, even LinkedIn!). During the week, I use a Brick— you tap your phone on a small device to block distracting apps, and they stay blocked until you tap it again. I leave my Brick in a different room, which prevents the mindless evening scroll.

A few years ago, I stopped canceling plans when work got busy and started just . . . going anyway.

I've stepped away from a pool party to discuss term sheet redlines with outside counsel. I've finalized an executive's employment negotiations from my phone in a beach tent. I took an options call from a hotel bathroom in Croatia because the time difference meant my husband was trying to sleep.

None of those were perfect summer moments. But I was at the pool. I was on the beach. I was in Croatia. Partial presence beats total absence every time.

Like most working parents, I'm convinced school and camp calendars were designed specifically to test us. My son's camp starts later than school did but ends at the same time — and then the schedule shifts again mid-summer, just to keep things interesting. I am one of the lucky ones. He is in camp. We have help. And it is still chaos.

If you manage people with kids right now, give them all the grace you've got. They're doing the math on seventeen different schedules while also trying to do their jobs.

September will come regardless. The question is just whether I'll meet it having actually shown up for the summer, or having watched it through a window between meetings.

I'm choosing the ocean.

I'd love to know what you're doing to protect yours. Hit reply and tell me — I read every response.