Late August/September — this time of the year is like New Year’s time in January for those starting a new school year or starting their first real lawyer job after taking the July bar exam. You may feel anxious but excited, scared but proud. And you may be feeling like you have some things you want to accomplish by the end of the year or fall semester.
This post is designed to help you do that in three steps!
1. Spend some time thinking about what you want and not what other people want for you. Sometimes the goals that we set aren’t really what we want, but what we think we should want, or what we think sounds good.
For example, maybe one of your goals is to be on the executive board of a student organization or community organization, but your motives for doing so is to beef up your resume because it “looks good,” when in actuality you are not passionate about the organization or serving it in a heightened capacity. In this example, perhaps there is another way you could demonstrate leadership ability without signing yourself up for something you don’t really want to do. Remain open-minded about how to approach your goal, and don’t just rely on how other people have done it. One of the problems with setting goals that you don’t actually care about is that you will not find joy in the journey to achieving the goal, which, in some cases, is more important than achieving the goal itself. Taking time for yourself to meditate, journal, and pray/talk with God about what you truly desire and why is the first step to setting goals you will achieve and will actually enjoy achieving. Staying open-minded about how you will achieve a goal will also help you enjoy the journey to achieving it.
And one more thing while you’re spending time figuring out what you want for yourself; don’t just only think about school-related goals or job-related goals. You are more than law school. You are more than your job. Think about the other parts of you that you want to grow and improve as well.
2. Write your goals down somewhere you will see them often. This is a simple suggestion but it can have a huge impact on whether or not you achieve your goals. Sometimes we don’t achieve our goals because we don’t write them down with enough specificity (don’t get too hung up on the details because those will be revealed to you in time, but you probably do want your goals to follow some variation of the SMART goals framework), so we lose steam because the end goal is not clear. But, even more basic, because we forget. Have you ever told yourself “yeah, I’m gonna do xyz,” but you never write it down and then you end up forgetting that you said you were going to do it in the first place? The same thing can happen with an unwritten goal, or a goal that is written down but never gets looked at.
The saying “out of sight, out of mind” applies here, so do what you can to make sure your goals stay top of mind — whether that means saving them as the wallpaper on your phone, taping them to your bathroom mirror, or keeping them in the front of your daily journal and making it a daily habit to review your goals!
3. Find a way to keep yourself accountable to the goal (and reward yourself when you achieve it!). This could involve you telling a trustworthy friend about your goal, joining a community (like the one I created), finding a coach or mentor to guide you through implementation, or making a personal promise to God to pursue a particularly meaningful goal. Another reason we sometimes fail to achieve a goal is because we fall off in our consistency and stay off because there is no one around to tell us to get up and try again. While self-motivation/willpower is ideal, it can often be hard to come by when you’re feeling overwhelmed or discouraged — and that’s where planning ahead and having a go-to come into play. A reward for yourself other than achieving the goal (which is often a reward in itself) can also help give you the extra push you need to remain consistent, such as rewarding yourself by buying tickets to a show you want to see. And it’s like a double dose of happy to look forward to — achieving the goal and celebrating that with another reward!
Hopefully these quick tips help you as you set goals for this exciting new time of your life. What are your goals for the new semester or your new lawyer job? Tell me inside of Grace for the Grind®!
Grace for the Grind® Career Mastermind is a FREE private online community for Christian women lawyers, Bar exam takers, and law students who want less stress and more of God’s grace for the professional grind. You can join for free and access our discussion forums, group devotionals, Bar exam webinar replays, and Bar Exam Resource Library at https://app.graceforthegrind.com!
