My first year of law school was probably the craziest and most stressful year of my life. That’s because, in the legal world, a lot of your future career prospects are based on the grades you get in your first year. To make things even more stressful, almost every class I had that year calculated my entire grade based on a single essay exam at the end of the semester. The grades were curved too, which means, in a real sense, I was competing against my classmates for my grades.
Up until that point, I’d never really been a hard worker, at least when it came to school. In college, I didn’t do much work and would basically pull all-nighters and cram the day before final exams. It wasn’t the healthiest or smartest thing to do, but it worked out for me. When I started law school, however, I approached it very differently, determined to do the best that I could.
A lot of what drove me was fear. I took out student loans to go to law school and was terrified of graduating with no job and tons of debt. As a result, I approached my first year of law school with a seriousness I’d never had before (if you’re interested in a breakdown of my student loans, you can read more about it here).
Here’s what my schedule was like most days:
- 7 am – Wake up
- 8 am to 5 pm – Classes and studying at school
- 5 pm – Take the bus home
- 6 pm – Eat dinner
- 7 pm to 12 am – Continue studying
- 1 am – Sleep
For the most part, I spent about 14 hours every weekday going to class and studying. During weekends, I probably spent another 4-8 hours studying. It was a crazy and completely ridiculous schedule, but it paid off for me – I finished my first year ranked 13th out of about 250 students. And it put me in a position where I was able to get a lot of interviews and was essentially guaranteed to land some sort of prestigious summer associate position.
Looking back at it, it was nuts. I was basically doing investment banker-type hours, but for school. I probably didn’t need to study that much either, but as I said, I was terrified. I’d read way too many horror stories of young lawyers graduating with no job and tons of debt.
But there’s an interesting lesson here. You can do anything tough and crazy like this for at least a little bit. But it’s not something you should do forever. Too often though, a lot of us end up doing things like this for most of our lives.
You Can Grit Through Anything For A Little Bit
When I look back at it, I know exactly how I was able to work 14 hour days for weeks on end. Every semester was 15 weeks long, with my fall semester stretching from September to mid-December and my spring semester stretching from mid-January to mid-May. This gave me a set time limit for how long I’d have to put in these crazy hours.
I was stressed out and working hard. But I also knew that I didn’t have to do it forever. All I had to do was make it through a few months. I had it marked on my calendar exactly when I would fly home for the holidays and be off for four weeks before I’d have to do it again. Then when the summer came, I was off for 3 months before I had to go back for what would hopefully be an easier and less stressful second year of law school (the second year was still busy, but I definitely didn’t work as hard and I definitely wasn’t as stressed out).
The lesson to take away from this is that I think most of us can grit through tough work that we don’t want to do and consumes most of our waking hours, so long as we have a set time limit on how long we have to do it. And ideally, our time limit isn’t years. It’s hopefully weeks or months at most.
But You Can’t (Or Shouldn’t) Do It Forever
You can grit through anything for a short, defined period of time. But many of us end up gritting and grinding through our work for long, indeterminate periods. We tell ourselves we’ll stick it out for one more year, which turns into many more years. Or we tell ourselves we have no choice and just have to tough it out (it’s how my parents approached their jobs for their entire lives).
Or the thing that I think we really trick ourselves with – we break up our jobs into periods of time, gritting through our jobs for a while, then taking a two-week vacation, then going right back into it again. Our lives become periods of quasi-rest mixed with periods of dispassionate, life-consuming work.
At first glance, that’s sort of what it looks like I did with my first year of law school – gritting through my days for a set period of time before taking a period of rest. But that’s not exactly what it was. With school, I knew that once I was done with that semester, I was done with it forever. There wasn’t any catching up I had to do or worrying about what the state of my work would be like when I got back. Instead, once I finished my semester, I never had to look back at it again. And I knew that once I got through these two crazy 15-week periods of my life, I’d be able to move on.
It’s Why I Went On My Own Path
I spent 5 years of my life trying to figure out how to make things work with my legal career. I wasn’t happy with my first job, but I tried gritting and grinding through it. Then I found my way to another job, again gritting and grinding my way through it, hoping that I could make it work for me.
This dissatisfaction with how my working life was going is what led me to find the financial independence movement. I figured that was my way out. All I had to do was grit my way through life for a set period of time, save enough money, and then I could relax and do what I wanted.
But the problem with traditional financial independence is that it asks you to sacrifice a lot of your life. Even a 50% savings rate would have meant that I’d need to grit my way through the majority of my waking hours for almost two decades. That’s simply not sustainable in my view.
Could I do it if I had no choice? Absolutely I could – and a lot of us aren’t privileged enough to have a choice. Most of the generations before me didn’t have a choice when it came to their work – they just did what they had to do and gritted their way through their lives because they needed to pay the bills.
I’m fortunate though. I was born in the right time period. With the right technology. And with the right privileges in life. There are a lot of you reading this that might be in the same position as me.
I think most of us aren’t looking to stop working. We just want to do something that we can handle and that we enjoy – not grit our way through most of the waking hours of our lives.
That’s why I opted to go my own way, doing work that I find enjoyable (in this case, writing, blogging, and side hustling). For years, I used to dread Sunday evenings. Now, I don’t think about it.
I’m still working hard. I’m definitely not the richest I could ever be. And I have no idea if this whole self-employment thing will work for the long term. But life is long. And I’d rather live my life, rather than grit and grind through most of it.
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Great point. I’ve never been one to grind like for extended periods, but I sometimes forget that I’ve definitely done plenty of it for short periods, just like you did! And it pays off. But definitely not ideal in the long term.
Yep, we can all definitely do it in bursts when we have to or if we have no choice. But it’s also easy to fall into the grinding through our days, weeks, months, and years without even realizing it.
I really enjoyed this post. So many people grind, grind, grind for a bigger and better promotion, and then once they have that it’s grind, grind, grind, and grind some more. I am in my early 20’s but luckily I have seen and heard enough to understand how quickly life can pass by. My two life goals are to 1) not die doing something stupid and 2) not reach a point where when I am 40, 50, 60, or any other age after that where I sit back and think “man, life really flew by and I don’t have a lot of good memories.” So I think that this is another post I will save in case I ever get caught up in the rat race.
Glad you found this post helpful. Luckily for you, you have a long time left. Don’t be afraid to try different things out!
13 out of 250 students is great! I forget, but did you land a big law job after graduation?
I grind it out in banking for 13 years and then negotiated a severance. I just wanted to last five years. But moving to San Francisco really extended my longevity because the balance of work and life was better here.
I think if you can do anything for 10 years in a row, generally really good things can happen.
Life feels long and short at the same time.
Sam
Hey Sam, Yes I did land biglaw after graduation, which was good for me financially as it helped me save up money and pay off my student loans before I tried my hand at other things. I like to think I gave it a good shot – I practiced for 5 years before I ultimately realized it wasn’t working out for me.
On the other hand, I’ve been blogging for 5 years now. If I can stick it out another 5 years, I agree that really good things can happen!
I wonder though, is it maybe a better path to find a career you enjoy that requires little grit, pays extremely well and provides fulfillment? I mean nobody is forced to be a lawyer, or an engineer. You get to research the field ahead of time and with a little self awareness decide if it sounds like a blast or a grind. I researched my engineering field in middle school and I knew I would enjoy it and be very good at it. I realized I was extremely gifted in math and science and problem solving, and maybe that made it easier for me to find a dream job. Maybe a lot of people haven’t figured out who they are at 16? Maybe it is generational, most of the other boomer engineers I worked with enjoyed their jobs. There was so much laughter and real affection between coworkers, we shared family events like weddings and funerals. We played cards or tennis or went fishing together on weekends. We helped even our toughest competition succeed. Work kind of felt like an extended family. And that’s not the way most millennials or Xr’s feel now it appears. Maybe as the children of great depression parents we just had low expectations and defined mundane jobs as fun? It is inspirational that you did not stay grinding away and found your unique path to happiness. I have known many people who stayed for decades in jobs that did not contribute to their happiness.
I think the trouble is – how can a 16-year-old (or 18-year old or 22-year old) really know what they want? Do they even have that self-awareness? Our brains don’t even stop developing until our mid-20s and often we’re telling children to make these really big decisions at these ages when we’re not even fully developed. For me, law was just a mistake on my part – I didn’t know what else to do and naturally gravitated towards there because it was something that was easy to fall into.
Yeah, I guess that’s the rub. I like to think I was smart but I was probably just lucky to pick something that fit me. I certainly couldn’t have really known adult me as a kid. Survivorship bias on my part, certainly you are extremely smart but just didn’t have a way to know at that age what an older you would thrive at. I bet in truth I could have just as easily found myself in something I didn’t enjoy. I hate it when someone points out I’m not really being logical, especially when they are correct!
Spot on. I second the *slow clap* comment.
Also why I left my high paying job. I was done gritting it out. If I stayed longer, I may never have been able to get out.
Glad you made the decision that was right for you! And who knows what the future holds!
was a good one kevin. can relate to it.
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it!
* Slow clap*
🙂 Thanks!