I am my best friend. At times, I am sure that I can and have been an enemy to myself, as well. But most days, I tend to count on me to make the decisions that I know fall directly into my own, personal lap. I take the good of me and make it better and I take the bad (sic) of me and try to at least keep myself from traipsing downhill.
I became my best friend because I needed an advocate for me. Someone who would have my back e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y. I needed someone who wanted me to win, or at least, best myself, as often as possible. I needed someone I could count on during the good and the tough times. That is when I realized that the person that I was looking for - - was none other, than myself!
And no one should want more for you than yourself. No one. We like having other people in our corner, shouting our names, and wishing us the very best in this career, and in life, generally. But, really, isn't it your responsibility to put you on the market. Aren't you your own walking advertisement? When you talk to others about yourself, do you create a personal Public Service Announcement? If you have not come to that decision, I want you to try something for me.
Start being your best friend. Right this second. I mean, now. Within the next nanosecond.
This means that you are looking out for yourself.
This means that you are looking at your own exams. This means that no matter how you feel or how you want to feel about your work that you are your best friend, which means that you are your best critic, too. You can take the criticism because it comes from you, it is about you, and it is all about making you better. You are not scared of you, are you? You are willing to tell yourself how much or what you need to do to be better, right? I am.
It's not always pretty, and it does not always happen (truth) all at once, but once I signed on the dotted line about my love for me, I realized that the game was on - - for real.
Are you willing to look at the words you wrote on the exam, the answers you provided the instructor, the grammar and punctuation, and the sentence structure? Are you willing to look yourself in the mirror and say, this is my best, or not my best? Will you talk to yourself about your exam work product? Can you announce to yourself that you could have provided a better product to Professor X?
Or, are you willing to say, I know I have a great product, but I could stand to work on something else. Something else that has been bothering me for some time. Perhaps, I need to read more. Perhaps, I could brief my cases better.
Perhaps, I know that I need to stand up in class and recite, not throw a "pass" to the professor, moving the question to another classmate.
Use a critical set of eyes. Tell yourself the truth about who you are, what you do, what you need to do, what you haven't done, and what you have to do to be better.
The interesting thing about being your best friend - - especially as it relates to law school exams, etc., is that the relationship is between you and you. You can tell yourself anything about you, right?
What are you going to do to you to make you a better student in law school this semester?
What is your personal, soon-to-be lawyer Public Service Announcement?
Prof. Smith
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