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What Flamin’ Hot Teaches Us About Success
First, if you haven’t seen Flamin’ Hot—you must! It’s a great American story and Eva Longoria knocks it out of the park with her directing. I’m probably going to watch it a few times because there were so many moments in the movie that resonated deeply and symbolism that’s worth re-watching. But when I was watching it, the piece that jumped out at me like a huge neon sign on How to Succeed happens towards the end of the movie. Not when Ricky pushes himself to be the best employee despite his circumstances; not when he gets the courage to advocate for himself and his idea; not when he recognizes that…
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Why You have to be Twice as Good
It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair–I know. It’s not fair that we have to be twice as good to get the recognition and acclaim and basic respect as some mediocre/average people who happen to sit in positions of power and privilege. If we do twice the work, we should get double the rewards! But sadly, we’re not there yet. A resounding common-thread of advice that successful Latina lawyers share is that you have to be doubly prepared to exceed expectations and gain traction in your career. The reason for that is two-fold. One, we want to blow dumb asses that question our abilities out of the water.…
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Celebrating the Bar Exam
Way back when I was researching and planning my law school applications (so a while ago), I remember reading about post-Bar exam trips. This was pre-recession, and what seemed like truly gilded times. The idea was that you had a job lined up pre-graduation and so after you took the Bar, you wouldn’t start until September, giving yourself a month’s time to do something awesome, like travel to Europe. As I write this, it seems so laughable to me. These ridiculous standards that were set (and sometimes are still set) by the status quo just seem so out of reach for most of us. But regardless, that was how it…
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What Happens When You Hate Law School?
There’s a (completely not true) saying that people either loved law school and hate practicing or they hated law school but love practicing. Obviously, the winning combo is the latter because you do that for longer. But having to do something that you seriously dislike for three years really takes its toll. And law school often has it’s highs and lows, so there are moments you’re loving it and times you really believe you’ve made a huge mistake. That kind of love/hate relationship is super common, but then there are also situations for people where there aren’t many highs with constant lows. You get to a point where you seriously consider…
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The Question to Ask during Mid-Terms: Am I doing Ok?
One of the most common problems with law school is that we barrel past every week without thinking much about what you just learned. This makes sense because who has time to sit down and think about past topics when you have so many new ones to learn, on top of papers, job applications, life… But it’s a big misstep to not stop and ask yourself during mid-terms: am I doing ok? And I’m not referring to mental health (though do stop occasionally to think about that). Rather, are you understanding the material? Do you get what the professors are trying to teach you? Are you forming and flexing the…
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Mastering Law School Classes
Law School classes are like no other because aside from reading often arcane cases and trying to figure out just exactly what’s happening in those crazy fact patterns, you also go into class with terror in your gut that you’ll be the one called on today and omg, what happens if I freeze?! It’s really quite stressful. The fear gets easier overtime, but what you really need to cultivate during the early part of the semester is paying attention so that you actually understand. I know it seems like a no-brainer, but law school is tricky. It tricks you into thinking you can listen and browse the internet at the…
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Setting and Achieving Goals
We’re keeping things a little light and easy since we’re easing back from the holidays, and are eagerly waiting for the New Year. During the new year, I really love taking this time to assess my current station in life and see where I can create change and improvement. I know some find New Year’s resolutions a little cheesy, but I think it makes sense to start the year with a clean slate and make an effort to progress in either our personal or professional lives. The problem, of course, is the difficulty in creating healthy habits (or stopping bad ones). So today we’re offering a few steps to take…