I listened to the first two cassettes in my LEEWS system today. It all seems like common sense to me. But I keep hearing that everyone at law school comes in with experiences of easy A’s in school, being at the top of the class, etc. So what makes me so confident that none of this will change? Come December, we will see if my confidence pays off. But for right now, I am honestly not worried about it. This is personal. The LEEWS program recommends being angry at exam time. That shouldn’t be hard. I am angry. Come hell or high water, I am going to do well in law school. And when I am done, it is very important that I be at the top of my class. Because….that is what creates the opportunity to do whatever I want with this degree. Anything less and I will be forced to take what is offered. I don’t want to take what is offered. I want to have my pick.
I have not come this far in the world because I sit around and wait for luck to strike me. Nor do I expect to be given anything that I haven’t earned. I work hard, and it pays off. I don’t expect that to change. I am prepared to do everything necessary (assuming a very high standard of ethical behavior) to succeed at this mission. It is personal and my performance needs to reflect that. So what about the rest of the people? I don’t really care about the rest of the people. If they come out ahead of me in a legitimate way, they will deserve that position. I am going to worry about myself. And I have learned that when I apply myself I can succeed at whatever I set my mind to. I don’t expect law school to be an exception, and I don’t plan on changing my opinion on that. There are many things that I would like to do, and in order to do those things I need to master the art of law school, exams included. So that is what I am going to do. I suppose there could be other people who are feeling the same way right now. But I suspect those people are in the large minority. There is a very personal internal motivation involved for me. Am I angry? Yes. About many things. And anger can be put to very purposeful use.
