Category: Motivation

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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Passing Is Inevitable

As the exam gets closer, just remember that you are capable of passing the bar.

You may pass this time, or you may not. Let’s trust our preparation, be arrogant, and do our best anyway. Our best now is enough even if our future best will be better.

But if you can graduate from law school, you do have it in you to make this your last time.

Like Kathleen who was a mother in her late 40s who graduated from a barely accredited law school.

Like Steph who was in prison for 32 years (who told me that checking for bar results was more stressful than checking on parole status).

Like Naoki and Ferdinand who never even went to an American law school.

Like Sam and James and other foreign-trained attorneys.

Even if you fail the bar, it’s not going anywhere. It’s going to stay in the same spot, while you keep getting closer and closer like a predator moving in on a prey. Therefore, passing is inevitable.

It doesn’t matter where you start. This is an acquirable skill. You can always get better. It’s always a work in progress.

You will get to a state of being where the exam is over (possibly for good).

On the upside, it won’t be as bad as the months of waiting in anxiety and ennui you’ll have to go through. But you can worry about that later.

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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Posted on - 15 Comments on The Barbri Regret: How to Recognize the Trap and Decide for Yourself

The Barbri Regret: How to Recognize the Trap and Decide for Yourself

Bar exam results.

Tens of thousands across the country face them time and time again. Hope and despair, rinse and repeat.

They endure the onslaught of “aww… you got this” and “I’m sure you passed!” for weeks and months.

Anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty squirting into their heart every time you thought of the moment of truth. Waiting is the hardest part. Uncertainty is being locked in a padded room alone with your hopes and worries.

Then… the ruthless truth. This is the result of all their work, condensed into one screen. It declares that their efforts were not enough.

Maybe for the first time, a humbling moment. Maybe not your first time, even more painful. 

How do you face your family and friends? How do you face yourself?

You “trusted the system.” What needs to be changed?

"The more I review, the more I realize what a waste of time the big bar prep programs are. . . . Never will I 'trust the process.'"
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