15
KNOW Job
I had something to prove—to myself, more than anyone else. I was on a one-way road to destiny, and whether that road was paved with Cadbury bars or barren as hell, covered in gravel and half grown over with me walking it barefoot and half-crazed,
I was going to make the journey. Yep, the whole way. (Cheap polyester suits and all.) Even when nobody was holding poster boards and cheering on the side- lines for those of us passing by in the parade for poten- tial. (It was more like irrita- ited looks and angry whispers.)
I am not a quitter. I may have thought it at least 1,247 times—but a quitter, I am not.
I wanted to let you know if you find yourself wanting to quit, you aren’t alone.
You can’t go from being the “Curator of the Impos-
sible" to some shmuck slinging a reasonable amount of work that can actually be done in a day. You can’t go from making magic happen and saving attorneys’ lives ( figurativ- ly) to being okay with hitting a punch clock at
a “normal” job where you do all of the work that awaits you because it is possible. And you can’t ride the rails of mediocri- ty. Not any anymore.
You can’t go from doing the best work you’ve ever done in your life—work that matters, filled with the inherent highest and lowest of lows, to normal people stuff anymore—not once you’ve assailed the ranks and made it to the paralegal promise land. You just can’t.
If you stay, day after day, and live through all of those times you wanted to quit, you become a rare breed A type that all of those “regular” types of people can only attempt to understand.
I don’t quit. I stay and slay. Nothing will make you more proud than having an esquire pick you time and time again as his paralegal. “ My current esquire has chosen me to be his paralegal 3 times now, at 3 different firms. That feels like
success. To have conquer- ed enough impossible tasks that you can take control over your own legal destiny. You can pick your boss. You can pick your firm. You can pick your office furniture. The reason you can pick them is simple: You never quit. Not once.
I am not a quitter. I hope you aren’t one, too.
But if it’s too bad a firm, a horrible boss, or an ugly situation, there is no shame in quitting.
So, when you find yourself seated at that large, helm of paper pounding glory, deciding to quit one more time, just smile, shrug it off, make another tally on that wall and stay. It's what we do best. It’s who you are.
I just hit 1,248. (But who’s counting…)
I just hit 1,248. (But who’s counting…)