Month: January 2017

BIG HAIRY GOALS – it’s all about the small stuff

In yoga today, I almost fell over when we moved into “triangle pose”, also known as trikonasana.

The point is, how we move into and out of things makes all of the difference to what happens once we arrive.  After I almost fell, it took me a few breaths – or maybe I even held my breath – to recover and I then had some negative thoughts about how I should have paid more attention to what I was doing while I was doing it.  There I said it: In order to achieve big goals, you MUST pay attention to what you are doing each step of the way.  If you focus on the big goal and not on the little steps going towards your goal, you will never arrive.

Well, you may arrive. It is not fair for me to say you won’t arrive. You will simply arrive and spend the first while readjusting, reacting too, reverberating from what ever happened on your journey.

Does all of this sound too metaphysical to you? Let me bring it down to the level of say a Bar Exam.

As you may know, the Bar Exam has an essay day. I am coaching several folks who are studying now for the February 2017 Bar Exam and several have asked me: “Shouldn’t I just start memorizing as many rules that I can now?”

My answer is no.

My answer is: You should focus on writing out correct answers to every single correct answer you can find to any bar essay question.  Get your mind used to writing out the correct answers, the very sample answers in the back of your bar exam booklet.  That exercise of writing out say one hundred (100 = 2 per day for 50 days of study) is not really enough, but it will get you there. Then, your brain will already be adept at the small steps of writing out correct answers.

Each word in a Bar Exam question is a trigger word.  What I mean is that each word allows you to tell the reader in your answer that you know your stuff and that they can move on. So by focusing on writing out correct answers, taken from the sample answer in the back of your exam prep course, you are focusing on the small steps needed to get thru the big goal.

Now go out there and write out your two correct answers for today.

Good luck.

SLEEP AND THE BAR EXAM

I don’t know about you BUT when my SLEEP is INTERRUPTED I am in trouble.

And as the BAR EXAM gets closer, the more my SLEEP could be INTERRUPTED.
This morning, during my run I listened to the Aspen Ideas’ Institute podcast on Meditation. You should listen to if you get a chance: https://www.aspenideas.org/session/science-meditation
  • Science proves that mediation helps sleep and reduces anxiety.
  • Meditation can be either focused meditation (on a word, on your breath); it can be body scan meditation or it can be TM.
  • It is easy to learn and HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.
  • THERE ARE NO SIDE EFFECTS. Unlike drugs or meds or booze.
I couldn’t believe they said SCIENCE now PROVES it!
I didn’t need science.  I am on my sixth straight day of consecutive meditation using the CALM APP (https://www.calm.com/) which is FREE and have logged 88 total meditation sessions in 2016.

So, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR.

If you’d like me to teach you some simple meditation, please let me know, but otherwise, incorporate meditation TODAY, into your study strategy.
IT IS A GAME CHANGER.
ps.  You know how I talk about visualization alot? Well, check out Ashton Eaton: the world’s most fittest athlete – a decathelete who visualizes every race and every single obstacle before each race.  http://news.nike.com/just-do-it-2016/nike-athletes/ashton-eaton.  Search the word “visualize” see how often it comes up.  IT REALLY WORKS.