Worried about Your Job? A twelve-step program to liking your career path, Part One.

I rarely read the business section of the Washington Post on Sunday. After all, who wouldn’t rather be doing the Samurai Sudoku instead?
Yesterday, the logic of the Sudoku escaped me, and found myself in the midst of the angst of unsatisfied law students instead. Anne Lowery reports that law school is a bum deal. Once, apparently, it was a sure thing.
A quick overiew of the article describes the disenchantment some recent grads suffer as they try to make their way into the job market. One student offered to leave Boston College in exchange for his tuition. Others have set up blogs to warn potential law students that law school is a scam or at the very least a really bad investment.
Okay, I’m get that we’re living through an unrelenting recession. The market for lawyers is pretty bad. but that doesn’t mean your legal education is a bad investment, or that law schools are purposefully defrauding their students. C’mon.
If you think your law school education was a bad investment, I want to let you in on a little secret. SUCK IT UP. You need to take 100% responsibility for the decision you made to go. If you went to law school to earn a living, then get out there and make your investment pay some dividends.
Once you’ve taken responsibility for going to law school, you’re ready for these twelve steps, which I’ll cover in detail in subsequent posts:

1. Remind yourself again. Look in the mirror and say, “I chose to go to law school because __________.” When I found myself out of law school and unemployed, I found this exercise really cleansing. Especially when I finally was able to say, “I went to law school because I could act and get paid for it.” That helped a lot, especially since I was waiting tables at the time, just like any out-of-work actress.
   
2. Stop complaining. Nothing ever gets better by complaining about it. Instead, go back to the mirror, and ask, “So now, what are YOU going to do about it?”
   
3. Immediately begin to look for ways to reduce your debt load. This is pretty self-explanatory, but involves asking for help, which law students and new lawyers are notoriously bad at. Short of filing for bankruptcy, you probably feel like you’ll never be out of debt again. Take control. Immediately begin a strategy of understanding your debt, and find the quickest way to pay it back.
   
4. Actively seek out mentors. This is sort of like acknowledging a higher power. There are people in this world who have done this before. They will help you for free! Some will help you for a price: these people are called coaches. Either way, Don’t look for them in the usual places, either. Look for entrepreneurs and other business people who have, somehow, managed to succeed.
   
5. Start networking. Odds are, if you don’t have a mentor, or a job, out of law school, you didn’t network while you were in law school. If you’re reluctant to print out some business cards and head to the next Chamber of Commerce meeting, start using social networking sites to build your business and reputation.
   
6. Learn how to set up a business. If anything, it will at least keep you occupied between shifts at WalMart. We’ll explore business models in a later post, but right now figure out what you like to do that will put $500, $1,000, or $1500 extra in your pocket NEXT MONTH. Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to include practicing law.

That’s plenty for now. Later on, I’ll post the next six.
Let me know what you think, and start looking for future posts that will tell you how to implement the twelve-step program. If you’re depressed about your future in the legal profession, we are here to help.