One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
– Arthur Ashe

Let’s face it, preparation breeds confidence. Only a fool would enter an endeavor with confidence in absence of preparation. If you want to succeed as a trial attorney you need to be prepared. What does success entail? Scholarship, discipline, investigation, organization, vision, curiosity, knowledge, practice, industry, humanity, wisdom, experience and talent. Preparation is the glue that holds these disparate elements together in a cohesive fashion to form that elusive goal, success. The book, “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell, lays out the “Ten Thousand Hour Rule.” Gladwell throughout his book chronicles and recounts the experiences of persons who are extraordinarily successful, such as, Bill Gates and the members of the Beatles. He repeatedly references the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to success in any field, whether music, business, sports, law, ect., is to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task related to the endeavor for a total of around 10,000 hours. Success is rarely an overnight phenomenon or simply a gift from the gods. When you dig deep down into a person’s success you find that basic hard work and practice is the key. Why aren’t more people successful? The truth is, few people have the discipline and focus to stay with the program long enough to achieve the rarified air of true and long lasting success. So roll up your sleeves, dig in and get busy. The clock’s ticking.