Setting Myself Up for Failure

So, I have developed a the debilitating habit of waiting until the absolute last minute to do anything. I mean ANY. THING.

Prime example, I have 3,000 word memo due tomorrow at 1PM. I have done all of the easy stuff. But for some reason, I have waited until the absolute last minute to do the actual analysis. I must confess, I still have not started the analysis. And what on Earth am I doing? Blogging.

I was contemplating this terrible trajectory I’m on the other night, and ended up having a nightmare about it. In the dream/nightmare, I had graduated from law school, passed the bar and landed a job at the Cook County Public Defender office. My first day in court was the next day, and I had yet to crack open a single book for preparation. I had no idea what the legal basis for letting my clients go would be. and it was around 8PM, I had to be in court in 12 hours!

I began frantically reading through books a the office trying to develop analysis of the issues and come up with a defense strategy. I never left the office, but I did have a toothbrush in my desk for situations just like this.

I made it to court, and then things got crazy. I was yelled at by the judge, I yelled back and was held in contempt of court and jailed for quite some time. I missed out on helping any of my clients and also pissed away any chance I had of getting continuances. Upon my release, I was informed that I had lost my job because I was ill-prepared and had no respect for the bench. Because of these awful traits, I would not be able to effectively serve my clients.

I woke up so sad, and resolved to change my ways. (I’ll do it after this post. I promise.)