You Are Not Trapped
I spent years trying to leave the law. Eventually I did. But for a long time, I felt like I’d never get out. I felt trapped. You’re reading this because you probably feel trapped too. Now that I’ve left the law, this is what I’d tell myself if I could go back in time.
If you want to leave the law, you will leave the law.
Never forget this simple truth. If you want out, you’ll get out. Eventually. It may take longer than you want and you may have to make some sacrifices. But you definitely aren’t trapped.
I remember what it felt like to be trapped. You’ve spent 3 years in law school and have years of experience practicing law. You have a good salary. How can you suddenly just switch from practicing law to not practicing law? Without taking a financial hit? What non-legal skills do you have? How can you convince somebody to hire you and pay you well to do something other than what you were trained to do? How do you even go about finding a nonlegal job? Can you take an entry level job in a new field? If so, why are you any better than a new college graduate? And why would a prestigious lawyer be looking for an entry level job?
You’ll never run out of questions, and before you know it, you’ll picture yourself doing the same exact thing 20 years from now. Still practicing law. Because you couldn’t get out.
But that isn’t really true. If you want out, you’ll eventually get out. The ones that stay are the ones that didn’t truly want to leave law. Deep down, they were OK with practicing law. So maybe they didn’t do much to actually leave. They said they wanted to leave, but they never did anything about it.
But if you want out, you’ll eventually get out. Leaving the law is not like trying to eat healthy or life weights. Those require almost daily commitments. Leaving the law doesn’t. Your career is a much longer commitment. If you commit to eating healthier, you may make it a few days until you’re tempted by a slice of chocolate cake. Even though you know you shouldn’t, you devour the cake. Now that I had one piece of cake, I might as well have to, you think. And another. And then you fell like you’ve blown your diet, so you don’t get back on track the next day. Or the next day. And after a few days, that’s the end of your diet.
But leaving the law is different. Your career has a much longer time horizon. Around 40 years. You don’t need to maintain daily consistency to leave the law. You just need to continue to take action to leave the law.
The way to avoid feeling trapped is to imagine having already escaped. The purpose here isn’t to think about *how* you’re going to leave the law. Just picture yourself 3 years from now, having already gotten out of the law. Don’t imagine what you’re doing instead. Don’t try to imagine yourself in an alternative job. Just imagine yourself as a former lawyer. Everything that you dislike about the practice of law is gone. Don’t worry about what has as replaced that. Just imagine it being gone.
Imagine 3 years from now. You’ll be out of the law.
If you want to leave the law, you will leave the law.
Never forget this simple truth. If you want out, you’ll get out. Eventually. It may take longer than you want and you may have to make some sacrifices. But you definitely aren’t trapped.
I remember what it felt like to be trapped. You’ve spent 3 years in law school and have years of experience practicing law. You have a good salary. How can you suddenly just switch from practicing law to not practicing law? Without taking a financial hit? What non-legal skills do you have? How can you convince somebody to hire you and pay you well to do something other than what you were trained to do? How do you even go about finding a nonlegal job? Can you take an entry level job in a new field? If so, why are you any better than a new college graduate? And why would a prestigious lawyer be looking for an entry level job?
You’ll never run out of questions, and before you know it, you’ll picture yourself doing the same exact thing 20 years from now. Still practicing law. Because you couldn’t get out.
But that isn’t really true. If you want out, you’ll eventually get out. The ones that stay are the ones that didn’t truly want to leave law. Deep down, they were OK with practicing law. So maybe they didn’t do much to actually leave. They said they wanted to leave, but they never did anything about it.
But if you want out, you’ll eventually get out. Leaving the law is not like trying to eat healthy or life weights. Those require almost daily commitments. Leaving the law doesn’t. Your career is a much longer commitment. If you commit to eating healthier, you may make it a few days until you’re tempted by a slice of chocolate cake. Even though you know you shouldn’t, you devour the cake. Now that I had one piece of cake, I might as well have to, you think. And another. And then you fell like you’ve blown your diet, so you don’t get back on track the next day. Or the next day. And after a few days, that’s the end of your diet.
But leaving the law is different. Your career has a much longer time horizon. Around 40 years. You don’t need to maintain daily consistency to leave the law. You just need to continue to take action to leave the law.
The way to avoid feeling trapped is to imagine having already escaped. The purpose here isn’t to think about *how* you’re going to leave the law. Just picture yourself 3 years from now, having already gotten out of the law. Don’t imagine what you’re doing instead. Don’t try to imagine yourself in an alternative job. Just imagine yourself as a former lawyer. Everything that you dislike about the practice of law is gone. Don’t worry about what has as replaced that. Just imagine it being gone.
Imagine 3 years from now. You’ll be out of the law.