If you are procrastinating, or falling off track with bar prep, you understand why it’s crucial to shake out of it ASAP.
And before you think, I just need to get into it again, then everything will be OK
Your academic regimen isn’t going to help with such issues as motivation or procrastination. In fact, it may make it worse.
To move past procrastination, you’ll have to look at the other side of Bar prep, the mindset.
So what mindset issues cause procrastination and loss of motivation?
And what can you possibly do about them?
I’ll cover that right now.
The mind is hardwired to meet your needs. First, survival needs, then emotional needs. If you’ve got the money to pay for bar prep, have a quiet place to study and ate some food in the last 24 hours, you’re probably not in survival mode.
So we’ll pay attention to emotional needs, because this is the center of the issue when your brain isn’t obeying your instructions to buckle down and study.
Since your brain is hardwired to get its needs met, if you are trying willing it to engage in an activity that doesn’t meet your needs, your brain will rebel. This is the root of procrastination.
To your brain, there are lots of needs that you could be risking, by studying for the bar.
These could be present-day needs, or fear of missing out on future needs.
Present Day Needs
Maybe you’re too isolated. A need for human connection is natural. If your bar prep time means hours an hours of isolation, this can be the cause for procrastinating.
It’s key to find a way of meeting. Your human connection needs that also supports your bar prep. Many bar takers go wrong by plugging themselves into study groups.
I’ve personally seen bar takers, who have high connection needs end up people-pleasing to the point of neglecting their bar prep while supporting other study group members.
I encourage Bar takers to get their connection needs met while prioritizing themselves, so that everyone gets to pass the bar.It’s a win-win community effort.
Future needs
Maybe you have a feeling of danger or insecurity when it comes to your attorney future. For obvious reasons, safety, and survival are the number one mandates of the brain.
So, if passing the bar could lead to an uncertain future, studying for the bar may exacerbate this fear of uncertainty. In my coaching, I found that most fear of success, and fear of the future is because of beliefs you have about some undesirable aspect of law practice.
These beliefs could’ve been unknowingly implanted by listening to stories from other lawyers, reading articles, or even watching TV. However, you came to the belief the brain thinks it needs to protect you from being a lawyer.
So your brain will do this by sabotaging your bar prep.
They are examples of very real needs and the misconceptions that could lead the brain to think it’s doing the right thing by keeping you away from bar study.
It’s important you find out your the deal is, so that you can negate those incorrect beliefs, replace them with more productive ones, get your needs, met, and do anything else that’s required, mindset-wise to get back on track with Bar prep.
Below, I’m including some resources that you can use for various common reasons behind procrastination. But if you want targeted personal advice without the guesswork, I highly recommend you book a consultation, link also below.
➡️ Study type - find out what your study personality is saying about your needs. And where you can start to meet them through Bar prep so that bar prep actually feeds your soul.
➡️ Manual to bust through bar exam blocks - writing exercises to take you through the most common career fears that make students sabotage their bar prep
➡️ Confidence Kickstart call - stop guessing, start solving. Book this call to get an expert view on your personal situation. Find out what’s blocking you in Bar prep, so that you can pick the right solutions and move on with your career