• A Day In The Life of Bar Prep

    I’ll admit it – studying for the bar exam is hard, lonely work.   My days are long and boring.   I’m trying to keep my stress in check, and it’s starting to be a challenge.

    I initially felt guilty when I banned everyone from house for the duration of bar prep, but now I’m so grateful I did that – and so is everyone else.  I can do my own thing all day without bothering anyone and then I decide when I interact with the world.  It sounds self-centered (and it is) but it’s necessary.

    In case you wanted to know, here’s what a day in the life of my bar prep looks like.

    • 5:45am: Get up, Work out, Shower, Breakfast, Check email.
    • 7:30am: Study – often using the Pomodoro Method.  I turn the French doors into my to-do list every day.
    • 11:15am: Lunch.
    • 12:00pm: Meet up with my carpool group.  The highlight of my day is getting to play with my friend’s dog, Oscar.
    • 1:00pm: BarBri class.
    • 5:00pm: Relax, Dinner.
    • 7:00pm: Study, sometimes in the pool when I need to avoid all distractions.
    • 11:00pm: Bed.

    Studying for the bar involves a lot of sitting which results in my body getting all types of sore.  During my study breaks, I often ice my sore back, neck and shoulders.  I’m grateful when my massage therapist, Thomas Porter, runs a special so I can afford him.  I told him that he needs to run one the week before the bar exam.

    My one weekly indulgence is still watching Deadliest Catch on Tuesday nights.  It reminds me that studying is nothing compared to working on a crab boat in the Bering Sea.

    Every so often I have a mini freak out and I reach out to my lawyer friends who have survived the bar.  Their calls and emails keep me grounded.  They all say that if I follow the BarBri program that I’ll be fine.

    Here are my tips for everyone who has a loved one studying for the bar:

    • If you’ve never studied for the bar, you have no idea what this is like.
    • A lot of the time, we’re not in a good mood.  Don’t be surprised if we have a short fuse when it comes to distractions and annoying things.
    • Don’t take it personally if we don’t have time to hang out or even return phone calls.
    • We can be optimistic about passing the bar and not be pleasant to be around in general.
    • If we’re in a bad mood, it’s not your job to make us laugh.
    • When we take a study break, there’s a good chance we don’t want to talk about how studying is going.  We may have nothing to talk about because all we do is study so fill us in on what’s going on in the real world.
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