There are many important conversations that take place during law school. Conversations with your professors (hello, Socratic Method), your classmates (study group, anyone?), and administrators (career services, I need a job!) are all essential parts of the law school experience. But the most important conversations are the ones you have with yourself. Your internal dialogue—the words you speak to yourself throughout the day—can impact every aspect of your law school life. Those internal conversations create your mood, affect your heath, and influence your study sessions.
“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” – Aristotle
At all times, you have the opportunity to choose between a depressing or an uplifting internal dialogue. Take, for instance, this short story:
A man came upon a construction site where three people were working. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third, he heard the man humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral!”[1]
Your internal dialogue—or the story you tell yourself—creates a physiological response in your body, which affects your emotional state in that moment. Ultimately, those internal conversations create your perception of who you are as a student and how law school is treating you. So, what story are you telling yourself throughout the day? While attending classes, studying, outlining, or preparing for exams, are you laying bricks or are you building a cathedral?
You are the director of your own script
“Every cell is eavesdropping on your internal dialogue.” – Deepak Chopra
When your internal dialogue is running, it may seem as if you are having a conversation with “someone else.” In one sense, this is true—you are, in fact, having a conversation with the cells inside your body. Each thought you have sends information to your cells, which then interprets that information and produces a corresponding chemical reaction within your body and your brain.[2] If your internal dialogue is largely negative, it will create a “negative” biochemical reaction (for example, the release of stress-inducing cortisol).
On the other hand, directing a more positive self-talk will produce a more “positive” biochemical reaction (for example, mood-boosting endorphins), resulting in a better mood, benefitting your overall health,[3] and allowing your brain to work more efficiently.[4]
The great thing about your internal dialogue is that you have a choice: you can listen to these automatic thoughts and react to them, or you can direct these thoughts and respond in a way that better serves your overall well-being. If you have negative thoughts about a particular subject, you have the ability to re-direct those thoughts. You are the writer, director, and star of both sides of your internal dialogue; write the script that feels the best within your mind, body, and spirit to give you the energy and determination you need to navigate the rigors of law school.
Small changes in your dialogue can result in big changes in your experience
It’s important to monitor your self-talk, but it’s even more important to learn how to make your self-talk benefit you. Neuroplasticity tells us that your brain is like a muscle, so if you want it to be more positive, you need to train your brain.[5] Learn to harness awareness of negative self-talk and develop the discipline to make those thoughts more positive. The end result: you will feel better about yourself and your law school experience.
To train your brain to be more positive, choose the words you tell yourself carefully. Even changing one word can have a big impact on how you feel. Constantly remind yourself that you don’t have to study for law school, you get to study for law school. Don’t tell yourself that you are spending a lot of time studying; tell yourself that you are investing time to be more successful. Consider how the following two sentences make you feel:
- I have to spend a lot of time studying tonight.
- I get to invest time toward my goal of being a lawyer.
The first sentence tells you that what you are doing is a burden—and the more you have similar thoughts, the more stress you are going to create for yourself. Alternatively, choosing the second sentence creates a more positive emotional state, better preparing your mind to process and assimilate the information you are about to study. Directing your thoughts may seem difficult at first, but consistency is critical to positive change. It takes time to build an amazing cathedral—but that discipline will always be better than simply laying a bunch of bricks every day.
One last note on your internal dialogue: a lot of law school stress comes from a subject or two that you just don’t “get.” If you are struggling with a subject, try adding the word “yet” to your vocabulary—so, rather than saying you “don’t get Property,” start saying that you “don’t get Property yet.” This small adjustment in your dialogue can make a big—and positive—difference in your overall mindset.[6] In every obstacle there is an opportunity.
The more you catch yourself in moments of negative self-talk and subsequently change the narrative, the easier it will become to choose a better script. If you have awareness of negative self-talk and cultivate the discipline to change it to more positive self-talk, pretty soon you will be saying that you “get to” do most everything—and you will feel better mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Like any good law school class, I’ll recap our big takeaways. First, the words you choose to speak to yourself can either energize you or deplete you, so choose them wisely. Second, if you are fortunate enough to be one of the select group of people preparing to be a lawyer, try to remind yourself that you don’t have to study, outline, and prepare for exams; you get to experience everything law school offers. Attending law school is an honor and a privilege, and you have worked very hard for this amazing opportunity. Happy cathedral building!
“Every thought we have is creating our future.” – Louise Hay
Chad Noreuil is a Clinical Professor of Law at Arizona State University, and the author of several books, including The Zen of Law School Success and The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam.
[1] Siobhan Kukolic, Are You Laying Bricks Or Building A Cathedral?, Huff Post, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/are-you-laying-bricks-or-_b_12387634 (updated Oct. 19. 2017).
[2] Chris P. Neck & Charles C. Manz, Thought Self-Leadership: The Influence of Self-Talk and Mental Imagery on Performance: Summary, 13 J. Org. Behav. 681 (1992); Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis et al., Self-Talk and Competitive Sport Performance, 26 J. Applied Sport Psych. 82, 87 (2014).
[3] Kimberly Holland, Positive Self-Talk: How Talking to Yourself Is a Good Thing, Healthline, https://www.healthline.com/health/positive-self-talk (updated June 26, 2020).
[4] Chai M. Tyng et al., The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory, 8 Frontiers Psych. 1454. (2017); Kimberly Holland, Positive Self-Talk: How Talking to Yourself Is a Good Thing, Healthline, https://www.healthline.com/health/positive-self-talk (updated June 26, 2020).
[5] John J. Ratey, A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theatres of the Brain 17 (2002).
[6] Saga Briggs, 25 Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset, Informed: Features (Feb. 10, 2015), https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/develop-a-growth-mindset/.
