Goal Setting as a Law School Student

Why Set Goals in Law School?

Top-level athletes, successful business-people, government and military leaders, and high achievers in every field use Goal Setting. Goal setting gives you a long-term vision and oftentimes much needed short-term motivation. It allows you to focus your acquisition of knowledge and helps you to organize your time and resources in a way that allows you to make the most of your life.

Setting clearly defined goals allows you to measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. Every goal that you reach will increase your confidence and allow you to continue to excel in what you put your mind towards doing. You will see progress in something that, at one time, may have seemed like a long, arduous, and almost impossible task. Furthermore, you will notice yourself moving further ahead of your peers and achieving excellence in that which you do. Setting goals psychologically helps you become excited about meeting those goals, and you may even notice that setting goals and working towards them becomes somewhat of an addiction. If you are not used to goal setting methods to get ahead in your life at this point, you will want to seriously apply them now that you are in law school.



I am confident in stating that the top grades in your law school classes and the top jobs will go to those who have set out and worked toward their goals. There is no reason why this cannot be you.
When I entered law school I saw students that seemed more intelligent than me. I honestly wondered how I could hope to compete with many of these individuals. However, I knew that if I wanted to have a chance against them, I would have to have goals that I would work towards. I continued to surprise myself when I would meet one of my goals and create new goals that were built on those previously met goals. Although I did not have a background in law, nor had read books about law school before starting, I held my own against my competition and came out very near the top of my class.

Goal setting is not something that you will just want to use in law school. It will be an integral part of securing a job later on as well as living a successful life. Goal setting can be used in any capacity. No matter what task you have ahead of you, taking the time to take an inventory of the tasks that need to be completed, the results you want to achieve, with the steps to see it through, will help you design the life that you desire.

How to Use Goal Setting In Law School To Your Advantage

• Before you start studying, write down what you hope to achieve during the semester.  For example, do you want to get top 5% grades, do you want to get a summer internship with the DA?  Write those large goals down immediately.
• Create a game plan of the course of study you want to pursue.  Do you want to get a certificate in Business Law?  Are you considering possibly going for an LLM after law school?  Are you focusing on International Law?
• Do you want to transfer?  If so, write that down.  What schools are you looking to transfer to?  Do you want to be in a particular city/state?
• Are there any activities you want to be a part of?  If you are looking to be in Moot Court or Law Review, write this down as well.  

Once you write down the big goals, take some time and create a road map of how you hope to achieve those goals.  You will want to create small goals such as "study for three hours after class daily" or "get to know the Criminal Law professor for a good letter of recommendation."

Here is an example of goal setting in the law school context:

Tips for Effective Goal Setting:

• Keep a "goal notebook" and write down your goals in it immediately.
• Keep track of your progress daily.
• If you mess up or miss a day, don't fret.  Get yourself back on track.
• Don't be afraid to edit or rework your goals.
• Take your goal notebook with you everywhere.  Open it in the morning and mark of what you did in the evening.
• Continue to add new goals and reflect on what you want to achieve.