Desiderata: Keep Going...

Law and Yoda

Many of you like myself spend today reflecting on what a year it has been and look forward for what's to come in the following year. As I sat down and thought about my journey thus far with the LSAT and what is to come, I felt compelled to share words of encouragement with this wonderful community.

I started this journey more than a year ago now and with wishful thinking that I could study for 3 months and put it behind me. Once I realized that it wasn't that simple for me, I had to readjust and become comfortable with delaying not one but now two application cycles. I share this for those who feel immense pressure to stay on a directed path and deadline. If you have the opportunity to forgo an application, do not fear delaying, do not fear time. Seriously, don't let the fear of how long it could take to achieve your goal stand in the way of getting there. Remember that it isn't the destination but your growth in the journey. "Never give up on your dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it, the time will pass anyway" - Earl Nightingale

One of the worst mistake I made in the beginning was putting myself down and questioning whether I was even "smart enough" to make it. Don't sabotage yourself by adopting negative attitudes about your intelligence or abilities to reach your target LSAT score. The pursuit of creating success should be you taking care of yourself first which means not putting yourself down. Success happens when you show up powerful and through believing yourself. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts" - Marcus Aurelius

Failure. There is no such thing with the LSAT, it took me quite some time to understand this. I thought my diagnostic of a 147 was a failure, that getting an entire problem set wrong was a failure, that not seeing improvement meant I was failing. All of these aren't failures. I started to think of each question as a rung on a ladder; you go rung by rung, one step at a time. Sometimes you don't think you're progressing until you step back and see how many steps you've climbed. Every missed question is just an opportunity to get better, be persistent in your mindset and keep trudging through until you achieve results. I'm a huge sports fan, so I'll use this analogy for anyone out there who may be able to relate. When you drop a basketball it bounces. Every time you let it bounce without touching it, it becomes lower until it settles on the ground. If you keep dribbling, it will keep bouncing. You have to keep dribbling, you have to keep bouncing back despite how many times the test tries to make you settle. Even if you don’t yet know how you will resolve the task, keep bouncing. "No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself" - Seneca

Be ready to face any challenge and overcome it. Be hungry for success. Keep going no matter what.
Remember, "Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor" - Alexis Carrel

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Best of luck

canihazJD

Great post. Happy new year B.

axbSunDev

What an amazing, heartfelt, and stoic post. You quoted some of my favorite stoics too! haha as someone who had to forgo TWO application cycles, I felt this to the core. Thank you for your encouragement!

Jennifer 2021-1-1

Great Post !!! Happy New Year 2021!!!

Confidence150

Wonderful post!! Thanks for your encouragement. Cheers to 2021!! Happy New Year.

cole.davis10

Love the encouragement and the quotes! Thanks for taking the time to post this. Having decided to delay a cycle myself, it really resonated.

whatsmyname

Nice post! Have you watched Mandalorian? Enjoyed it and recommend it.

I also realized 3 months wasn't enough... and before starting, I thought I could ace it after 1 month of study, ha ha.

Out of curiosity, what are you PTing at now?
and what was your PT 6 months into studying?

Cheers!

Law and Yoda

@whatsmyname said:
Nice post! Have you watched Mandalorian? Enjoyed it and recommend it.

I also realized 3 months wasn't enough... and before starting, I thought I could ace it after 1 month of study, ha ha.

Out of curiosity, what are you PTing at now?
and what was your PT 6 months into studying?

Cheers!

I finished the CC in 6 months and had improved to a 152 with a 168 BR. I’m currently at a 158 with a 175-180 BR. Still have a lot of room to improve!

sliu17

Thank you!!! I needed this post.

whatsmyname

@"Law and Yoda" said:

@whatsmyname said:

I finished the CC in 6 months and had improved to a 152 with a 168 BR. I’m currently at a 158 with a 175-180 BR. Still have a lot of room to improve!

The clock definitely FSU! Good luck!

laura_lolo

Thank you for your post on encouragement. I really liked reading it!

swanganie

Great post going into the new year. Thanks for the encouragement.

angelaylee97

I needed this, thank you

oneclimb

Great quotes!

BadReasoning2022

happy new year!

Alice003

Thank you for posting this wonderful post here! It is very inspiring us! Yes, LSAT is hard but we can overcome it.

Platinum

Outstanding!