Category: Mindset/Psychology

Posted on - No Comments on 3 Things to Stop Telling Yourself Before the Bar Exam

3 Things to Stop Telling Yourself Before the Bar Exam

Have you reached success in other parts of your life? School, relationships, a new hobby, an extracurricular your mom forced you to do in middle school?

Why not the bar?

As you try to push through this final stretch, you might have some doubts, frustrations, and a general sense of uncertainty. You can’t wait to abandon the bar like a New Year’s resolution and just be done with it!

“That’s normal. I can’t help it.”

The future is full of hope, however, because you don’t need to be extraordinary to pass the bar (although I’ll try to get you there). You can be “normal” and still become an attorney. It’s just a matter of when.

But what you can’t do is self-sabotage. You can help it if you choose to.

Here are three things you should stop telling yourself (one week before the bar exam, two weeks before, anytime you’re doubting yourself during preparation):

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Posted on - 1 Comment on The Courage to Enjoy Your Mistakes Now

The Courage to Enjoy Your Mistakes Now

Our first date ended with her car getting towed.

She was the type of person to schedule her showers by the minute because of her absurd rotation schedule in med school. Yet she had taken three hours out of her life to meet me again for a second date.

I wanted to hold her hand so bad. A perfect pretext to see how she felt about me… that I ruined because I lacked three seconds of courage.

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The Year of Extraordinary Results: 4 Ways to Pass the Bar This Year

Happy new year! It’s that time again when everyone suddenly forgets the correct year.

By the way, I don’t believe your “resolutions.” Look at your friends saying, “Hey, I’m SERIOUS about my New Year’s resolutions. THIS time it’s for real.”

Sure buddy. If they really wanted to do something, they would have started or done it already.

I won’t let you simply declare your resolve and call it a day. Anyone can have good intentions. Anyone can be interested. Prove that resolve by actually showing me results.

Let your results speak for themselves.

Before you start shouting at the wrong person (aka me), let me ask you this: How are those resolutions from 12 months ago going?

Thought so. Vague wishes are unsustainable for most people, myself included. Estimates put the “failure” rate of resolutions around 75-92%. But I don’t want you to be just another ordinary citizen.

Just smile and nod at people who want you to be mediocre
Just smile and nod at people who want you to be mediocre

No, I want your next year to be AMAZING. I want you to get everything you want, whether it’s to…

  • Pass the bar and leave it behind you forever
  • Get your dream job, start that career, make everyone proud, and trick them into thinking that everything in your life falls into place effortlessly
  • Live a normal life like the rest of your friends

Let’s do it. How can we mark the new year (and every year after that) with extraordinary results? My two cents:

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Posted on - 3 Comments on How Do I Get Motivated to Study?

How Do I Get Motivated to Study?

Man… I see this question more often than I want to. And if you look closely, it’s basically people just complaining that they don’t want to study.

How did they graduate law school? If finally becoming an attorney doesn’t entice them, I don’t know what to say. More like I hold back on giving a huge answer every time I see the question!

HOW do you get motivated? How DO you get motivated? How do you get MOTIVATED?

You don’t. Asking about it is just going to get you into a pity party with other people who also “don’t have motivation.” The blind leading the blind.

To be fair, it’s a gray area. Who wants to study for the bar exam?

You might as well moisturize your outlines with sandpaper because this exam is one of the driest, most boring things in existence. It’s natural to be uninterested if you’re looking at this huge, seemingly insurmountable goal—even if it is a high-stakes exam.

If you’re asking about motivation, though, don’t count on it to come to you first. “Motivation” and “inspiration” are fleeting. It comes and goes based on the situation, difficult to summon at will.

Keep reading to find out:

  • My answer to the titular question (or what doesn’t get you motivation)
  • 3 approaches to getting my own work done (and how you can apply this to your bar prep)
  • 5 productivity tactics (that don’t require you to give up on sleep)
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