By: Jim Giudice (L’17)
Over my seven years in the military and two years in law school, I have done a lot of thinking about what it takes to be successful. When I became a second-year student advisor, my advisees wanted to know what it takes to thrive in law school. After thinking long and hard about what it takes this is what I came up with: If you want to be successful in law school, you have work incredibly hard, consistently over a long period time. I can hear the groans now, “really….work hard, that’s your advice??” In essence, yes, but let’s dig a little deeper into what that means.
Over the summer I came across an article written by Angela Duckworth. Dr. Duckworth, a professor of psychology at University of Pennsylvania, studied successful people and tried to pinpoint what sets them apart. The term she uses to describe the trait unique to those who succeed is grit, which she defines as “passion and perseverance over time.” Being successful in law school is more than being focused for a day, a week, a month, or even a semester. It requires putting in the work day-in-day-out for a very long time. This applies not only to classroom studies, but also to other areas like networking and professional development. Now you might be thinking “ok, fair enough, not only have to work hard, but do so consistently for a long time…that doesn’t sound too hard.” I agree, it doesn’t sound hard, but in reality many (arguably most) of us fall off the hard-work bandwagon and struggle to get back on. One of the main reasons this happens, I believe, is our over-reliance on “motivation” and misunderstanding of discipline.
During my time in the Marine Corps, discipline was beaten into my brain for over seven years, but it wasn’t until law school that I fully appreciated its value. In the military, many of the tasks requiring discipline were also very active and exciting, which kept the motivation factor high. Law school is a different animal. There is nothing glamorous or exciting about spending hours on end at your library carrel, but if you want to succeed that’s what it takes. People say all the time “I need to get motivated to do this,” or “I have no motivation to do that.” I’ll let you in on a secret – motivation is fleeting and you shouldn’t rely on it to carry you through the hard times.
Think about it. We all have a song that used to motivate us during a workout but eventually its power fades; or that inspirational quote that once sent chills down our spine, and now just doesn’t have the same effect; or even the start of first year when everyone is motivated, but then October rolls around, the excitement wears off, and you are stuck in the grind. This is where discipline comes in. Discipline is nothing more than doing what you don’t want to do, because you should. If you want to succeed in law school (and life), first conquer yourself. Then get comfortable doing things you don’t want to do, and finally keep at it and don’t give up. Once you do this, the question is no longer if you will be successful, but when.