Something that many people don’t know about law school in the US is that very little practical law is actually taught. Because each state is different, students are taught what is called “common law” – which in California is usually not the law in this state. What you are really taught during that time is to “think like a lawyer”. In layman’s terms that is to learn to differentiate facts from emotion, to define issues, and compare circumstances to law to draw a conclusion.
In everything we do, we have to learn the basic structure of how to do something – and then we approach the variables as we gain more experience. For example, in writing we must learn the language and grammar. In painting, we must learn the media and surface requirements. Each particular story or painting, however, has it’s own challenges – and you may be faced with things that you do not know how to handle.
I often hear from people through the Tera’s Wish website who tell me that they cannot succeed in their particular area of interest because they have so much they don’t know yet. My response is to tell them that I hope they never stop feeling that they have a lot to learn – but that is not a legitimate reason not to get started on your goals. It is very powerful to understand that you don’t have to know everything, you just have to know where to find the info when you need it.
By the end of law school students have studied dozens of areas of law and your mind is full of references as to how law works generally. The idea is that if you understand how to think like a lawyer, you can then find the law in any state and figure out how it “should” be applied. This means, however, that most students graduate law school completely unprepared to actually practice law in that state when they pass the bar exam. The underlying idea behind this educational structures is that once you know how to “think like a lawyer”, the only other tool you need is to know how to research to find the information you need, when you need it.
Although I no longer practice law, this is one of the most powerful lessons of my education and I find it applies to virtually every area of my life. I am currently writing a reference book on Decorative painting. Although it is very basic, I have done a great deal of research in putting the materials together. It would have been very easy to talk myself out of doing the book in the beginning by telling myself that I was not qualified because I couldn’t instantly bring to mind all of the answers the book would cover. But, if you think about it, that would be silly. Knowledge is a powerful thing, but the ability to research and learn is more important and more powerful.
In creativity seminars I ask people to raise their hand if they feel that they can’t draw. I then ask them to take a pencil and draw a wavy line. “There”, I say. “Now you can draw!” You see, you may not draw as well as you would like to draw, but that does not mean that you cannot draw at all. In the same way, you may not know everything about what you want to do yet, but that should not stop you from starting to move forward. The most important thing is that you know where to find the information you need. Maybe that is with a research library, maybe an online group, maybe a Society or Guild.
Many of us struggle with insecurities about our art and creativity. The voice inside our head says “You are just a beginner”, or “You could never do that” and suddenly we are paralyzed to take action towards what we really want. If you are stalled creatively over this point, make a list of resources that you have if you get stuck. The most experienced artist in the world uses reference materials in their art. Even if we were capable of knowing everything there is to know, eventually our memories would fail us!
Your reference list might include photo references, an idea nursery, books, photographs, and online resources such as websites, mailing lists, and bulletin boards. By compiling a list of resources you can go to when you need help, you help ease the fear that you don’t know enough to get started. Remember that there is a difference between experience and success. Not moving forward because you lack knowledge and experience is a double-edged sword because you can’t gain knowledge and experience without moving forward to learn more. To be successful you don’t have to know everything, but the more knowledge you get, and the more experience you get, the closer you will come to reaching your goals.