The Marble and the Sculptor by Lee Keith Robert

Author:Lee, Keith Robert [Lee, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61438-888-3
Publisher: American Bar Association (NBN)
Published: 2013-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Mastery is a Journey, Not a Destination

New lawyers often strive to obtain a goal of being among the best in their field of practice, or to have a perfect understanding of a set of Rules, or to achieve mastery of a given subject.

But find a great lawyer, one of the best ones in your city or practice area. Ask them when they became “the best” at what they do. When they achieved mastery and no longer worried about keeping abreast of their practice area or trial techniques or no longer kept up with industry news. You won’t find one. Great lawyers become great lawyers because they dedicate themselves to relentless improvement. Never resting on their laurels or taking their skills or position for granted.

Dedicating oneself to relentless improvement is not an easy task. In modern culture, we expect to get things instantly and with very little effort. Want to know the state bird of Wisconsin? Google it. Want to see photos from your friend’s vacation? Hop on Facebook. Want to know what’s happening right now in Paris? Thumb Twitter on your phone. It’s so tempting to let this ease-of-use suffuse itself into the rest of our lives.

Think back to law school. Nothing was instantaneous there. Law school requires tedious amount of reading and grueling amounts of study. Long hours in the library and creating boring, minuscule outlines. Dealing with gunner students and completely out-of-touch-with-reality law professors. All to get that JD. But the JD is not the goal of law school. The goal of law school is to get you to think like an attorney; understand case law, statutes, and precedent.1

You put in the effort and got the JD, but the JD is only the ground floor. Getting the JD is the price you pay just to play the game.

Just because you have a law degree doesn’t mean you are an expert. It doesn’t guarantee you success, a six-figure job, or celebrity. It’s just a signifier that you are ready to step onto the playing field. What follows is up to you. You are never going to be an expert, done-deal, time to put a full stop on learning. That’s not what being an expert is about. It’s about an ongoing dedication to developing expertise, evaluating best practices, and accumulation of knowledge and experience that allows you to differentiate yourself from your peers.

Therefore mastery is not an end goal to be achieved, but rather a process and mental state in which to try and envelop oneself. It will never be achieved, but that isn’t the point. The point is the effort, drive, and goal. The constant pushing of oneself to do more than they think they can. To develop a growth mindset and let it permeate every aspect of your life.

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