I was listening to a little Joe Pug (a new favorite) while studying for finals…
…and I got to thinking about all the classes, journals, trials, negotiations, teaching assistant-ships, briefs, oral arguments, interviews, etc. that will likely dominate my life next year. And here’s what I realized, however obvious it may be:
It’s easy to deceive oneself into thinking that taking on MORE is the difficult route. But it’s much more difficult to choose a few things, do them really well, and avoid over-committing.
I think the tendency of law students to over-commit and under-deliver is why alot of people think it’s a soul-crushing institution. What ever happened to spending 5 minutes writing out a birthday card? Only choosing a few activities but being a leader, rather than a drone dragging their feet to finish their assignments? It’s the nature of the beast that we want to collect laurels for our ever-important resumes – but it’s prioritizing and following through on those little things that keeps us human.
This has been your M.P. finals time public service announcement.
I like minimalism. I’m hoping to do a journal next year and TA a course. And classes. That’s it.
That seems like just about the bare minimum from a 2L perspective.
It’s way too easy to over-commit and end up spreading yourself too thinly.
Though it’s easy to understand when you look at the hyper-competitive environment all law students are groomed to enter. :-/
Sometimes taking a step back can do a lot of good!