What Did I Forget?

Some people obsess about the things they understand.  Some obsess about the things they can control.  My failing is to obsess about the things about which I can do nothing.  You know what I mean; I obsess about what the judge is going to do after the trial is over but before the decision is rendered.  I obsess about what I could have/should have said in oral argument.  I worry about how I could have handled a situation better.  Certainly some of this introspection is necessary for me to do things better in the future, but I think sometimes I take it to extremes.  It doesn't paralyze me from taking action, but it does cause me to lose a lot of sleep.  The funny thing is that I do this only in my professional life.  I don't worry nearly as much about the what ifs and the what might have beens in my personal existence.  It's not that things don't matter just as much when it's about me.  I worry so much at work because what I do and how I do it have an impact on the rest of someone else's life.  If I make a mistake at home, I live with it.  If I make a mistake at work, my client lives with it.  The two feel so different because they are. It's just part of life here in the Trenches.