There is power in writing down your goals. Throughout Law School I would create lists of goals I had each month and for the entire academic year. It would feel amazing to look back and see what I achieved (almost everything). A vision board is based on the same premise but is slightly different. It is defined as: a collage of images and words representing a person’s wishes or goals, intended to serve as inspiration or motivation. In this post I explain why vision boarding can be very powerful for the aspiring barrister.
Why should you create a vision board as an aspiring barrister?
A big problem I have recognised in a lot of people aspiring for a career as a barrister is that they cannot actually visualise themselves as one. They know that they want to do the work, but they struggle to imagine what their life as a barrister would actually look like.
One factor is that the traditional image of a barrister (white, male, middle class, Oxbridge graduate, heterosexual) is one that a lot of people don’t recognide themselves in, leading to the endemic of people in and around the Bar suffering with imposter syndrome and an overall fear that they simply do not fit in. By creating a vision board you can take control and visualise yourself in your career and what you want your career to look like. That way if you will have your own vision of what you want to be like as a barrister to motivate and guide you.
What to put on your vision board
A vision board does not have to be majorly sophisticated and it does not have to the exact the pictures of what you want. The images can be general things that you may want to have or see around you when you are a barrister. The idea of a vision board is not to have an exhaustive list but to have some goals that you can easily visualise and find an image for and which help you see yourself in the future doing what you had planned.
Some ideas to help you get started with your vision board is to collect newspaper clippings of stories that contain legal issues you would be interested in working on and also reported cases that are within your desired areas of law. You could have the door to your favourite Chambers (or any chambers that is like one you want to practise from) or a picture of a court that you want to appear in (like the Old Bailey or the Supreme Court). You could even have a picture of the kind of briefcase you want to carry or suit you want to wear. Creating a vision board is a personal decision and you should put on anything that aligns with your personal goals and ambitions.
Where to put your vision board
Your vision board should be somewhere that you can see it regularly and can draw motivation from it. This can be in your bedroom above your desk or even on your fridge. You can have it in your notebook or diary or keep it somewhere private so only you can see. You should be able to pull it out at any time and also keep it safe – treat your vision board with care because it is an important representation of where you want to go with your career.
The great thing about modern technology is that if you don’t feel like having a physical vision board you can use Pinterest to create one. It allows you to collect images and links from all over the web and add them to your board. A digital vision board is great because there is no limit to what or how much you can add to it.
Happy vision boarding!
I hope your vision boards look great and that you achieve everything that you desire for yourself. To see my vision board (and other boards and pins for aspiring barristers) follow BATB on Pinterest.
Until next time,
Ps, Don’t forget to watch the BATB GDL and BPTC VLOG with LawCareers.Net on Youtube! Link here: (http://bit.ly/BATBYT) and follow BATB on Twitter! (@batthebar)
