What does it Mean to Believe in Yourself?
The most important thing you can do in law school is believe in yourself.
That sounds cliché, I know.
Believing in yourself is one of those stock pieces of advice we hear and give out to others, but probably have given little thought to what it means - much less what it means in the context of law school.
It is not the same thing as having CONFIDENCE. You have confidence when you know, definitively, that you can do something. Usually, you have done it many times before, and you have heaps of evidence proving that you can do it.
Believing in yourself, as the name implies, is an act of faith. It happens when you have no reason to believe that you can do something, yet you think you can anyway. It’s self-confidence. Trusting yourself not to give up until you’ve achieved your goal.
Belief in yourself does not come from other people. It exists regardless of, and sometimes even in spite of, other people.
In law school, it is important not to mistake belief in your school, your program, or professors, with belief in yourself. Sometimes we think we believe in ourselves, because we believe that our school or our professors will get us where we want to go. Sometimes this belief can get you pretty far. Maybe it’s even gotten you to where you are today. But it is unreliable in the long term in law school and in the legal profession.
Here’s why…
When you rely on your belief in someone else to take you where you want to go, your belief will falter as soon as that person expresses doubt. For example, if a professor gives you a less-than-desirable grade -- or even tells you outright they doubt if you're cut out for the law. Or if a career counselor says that a career path isn’t available to you. When that happens, you will immediately experience self-doubt, and self-doubt is a major saboteur. It creates a lot of obstacles to achieving what you want, and can be extremely difficult to overcome.
However, if you truly believe in yourself, and you hear those things from a professor or a mentor (or a parent or a friend...), it would be like them telling you that the Earth is flat. You wouldn't believe it. You would just think - OK, OBVIOUSLY THEY’RE WRONG - and you would keep moving towards your goal. That is the power of believing in yourself.
If you want to work on creating useful beliefs that will keep you motivated and on track toward your law school goals, check out law school coaching at lawschoolproject.com.
