Aside from legal matters what do you usually read? What videos or audio content do you consume? What information or ideas do you regularly put into your brain?
I hope that you dedicate at least some of your time to reading about the lives of people who have done what you want to do. It doesn’t have to be a lawyer. You can learn a lot about building a successful law practice by reading biographies of people who built great businesses or led great armies. You can learn a lot about leading a successful life by reading about people in any field or calling.
No matter what you want to learn or accomplish, there is someone in the world who has already accomplished it. As Tony Robbins put it:
Many great leaders have proven that the fastest way to master any skill, strategy or goal in life is to model those who have already forged the path ahead. If you can find someone who is already getting the results that you want and take the same actions they are taking, you can get the same results.
As a young lawyer, I read biographies of successful lawyers and their remarkable careers. I also read novels and and watched TV shows about lawyers. (Earle Stanley Gardner, author of nearly 100 Perry Mason novels, was a lawyer before turning to fiction.) Aside from learning what they did and how they thought, their stories inspired me on my chosen path.
How about you?
Go find something written by or about a lawyer you would like to emulate. If they have written a “how to” book, even better. If you already do this regularly, go find books written by or about other accomplished people who can guide you towards becoming a better leader, speaker or writer, or leading a better life.
Learn from people who have done what you want to do. Let them show you, from the printed page, what they did and how they did it, and let them inspire you by showing you that you can do it too.
