Thread by @law_ninja

In the last one week, I have been to 3 cities and at least a dozen campuses. And I am clear that there are two kinds of people out there in our law colleges. This includes teachers, students, and administration.

#environment #victim #law #lawyers #lawsikho

There are some people who have come to believe that there are no opportunities, too many obstacles and that the sweet status quo is comfortable and they can sustain in it.

They remind everyone that better things are not possible and recount the number of past failures to justify no progress. They believe that luck and privilege is the key to all success, and there is no other way we can achieve any significant success.

Let's call them skeptics.

There is this other kind of people, who refuse to accept that things could not be much better.

They have a distaste for the status quo. They believe that they deserve much better and that they are eventually going to get there.

They believe that with their own hard work, creativity, and passion they can change their destiny.

Those are the people who have a spark in their eyes. Let's call them radicals.

Now, these two groups of people create two very different kinds of environments around them.

They are constantly engaged in a battle regarding what kind of environment it is going to be, and they threaten each other to no end.

If there are too many skeptics on campus, especially in important positions, then together they ensure that the culture of the institute is molded accordingly. Same for radicals.

A radical feels very out of place in a skeptical and conservative environment.

And the skeptics are very suspicious of radical environments.

However, you can guess from where we get the dreamers, entrepreneurs, and people who cause breakthrough success in various fields.

A lot of college campuses have the radical environment, due to a concentration of radicals.

There is a feeling in the air that anything is possible. I saw that when we studied at NUJS.

Something big was possible, we believed. We believed that we were going to succeed, and those big things in life awaited us. That we have not seen the best yet, that the future ahead is promising and we have to seize the day.

However, we always had professors and students who were super skepticals, and they created their skeptical bubbles.

There are extremely skeptical institutions where radicals create such bubbles for themselves.

Radical people strive to bring in change, to make things better even if by small increments, and hate the status quo with passion. Skepticals are driven by a need for self-preservation, a fear of the unknown and avoiding risk is the major theme.

They are ready to trade opportunities for the familiar and the comfortable options.

If you are reading my mails, I assume that you are a radical, because it is super radical. Any skeptical conservative would unsubscribe from it very soon.

I want you to imagine the impact of a skeptical environment, where you are asked to play small, play safe and not pull punches above your weight.

How does that impact you?

If you want to dream big, but told that you are overstepping your boundaries, and that you have no business dreaming, and that you are a fool for doing so, I know how it feels because that is exactly how I felt growing up a radical in a family and neighborhood of skeptics!

I could not accept the skeptical approach to life, and stayed a radical against all odds and swung out. I looked for other people like me. I found some refuge in literature, movies, libraries where the skepticism could not reach.

Only now I know why I used to spend more time with books than any human being as a kid. As I found myself to be part of more radical environments, my need to hide behind books went away, and I was happy to spend more time and engage with the people in my immediate environment.

If you are a radical stuck in skeptical-conservative environments, and if you are a lawyer or a would-be lawyer, join us. Let’s work together to chase our magnificent dreams, and make the impossible possible.

We can make the impossible possible because it is impossible only by other people’s definitions, while we know in our hearts that nobody has really delved deep into what is possible. Most people are walking blindly to the tune of the pied piper and avoiding risk all their lives.

Most of the courts, educational institutions and offices are crowded with skeptics. They do not believe that there are amazing opportunities out there in the market, ripe for the plucking.

They follow what the older generations have done like that is the only way to grow but they merely survive. And when they do not succeed, they either blame luck or the privilege of the successful people.

Nonetheless, everywhere I go, I meet young lawyers with dreams, who are battling against all odds and building new paths to success, wealth and contribution to the society.

However, it requires one to get off the well-trodden path. It requires one to take risk and figure out new ways that didn’t exist so far.

It is not easy. However, it is far easier than most people think it is, and that is what I have learned while walking this path, trying to create India’s most innovative legal education company, LawSikho.com.

Your approach and mindset to work itself makes the biggest difference.