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Hi All,

This is going to sound very trivial, and I apologize for that. I started at a new job today- a great job in fact. Big law, involves doing exactly what I'm interested in, has great pay, and very genuine people working there.

Long story short, as soon as half the day went by, the thought of "I could be doing something better with my time" implanted itself. I know this is the wrong mindset and I need to get out of it. I have a few friends and cousins that have gone into business for themselves (real estate investing, trading, amazon), and I now think that I'd be happier doing that. I do not want to self-sabotage and I do not want to throw away what I've worked so hard to achieve. I feel part of it is me being hugely ungrateful. At this time, some real world advice / performance coaching would be great!

You probably can be doing something better with your time. For some reason, however, you did this instead. Maybe you had good reasons for making your choice.
Biglaw doesn’t need gratitude or humility. Just do your work to the best of your ability and go home as much as you can. In any event, you’re unlikely to be there more than a few years so make the most of it while you’re there.

I get your feeling and it may even be right, but you need to give it more than half a day before you decide what you think of the job. It takes a little while to get an accurate sense of any job.

None. Biglaw is the most overrated job ever. Good that you're mentally planning your exit. Keep thinking about it over the next few years and you'll figure it out.

The sooner you accept that Biglaw is going to be a shitty job for 3+ years, the better your mindset will be. It's just a necessary evil to get to the next job.

smokeylarue wrote:The sooner you accept that Biglaw is going to be a shitty job for 3+ years, the better your mindset will be. It's just a necessary evil to get to the next job.

I think this is the crux of the issue. On the transactional side at least, was the point of law school plus 3 years at a "shitty job" all worth it for the end game of becoming an in house cost center at some company? Maybe, but it's hard to keep that perspective sometimes.

*plink* *plink* *plink*

That's the sound of pennies dropping into your piggybank.

I'll tell you that even working in-house (an objectively better job than biglaw), I sometimes need to focus on the sound of pennies dropping into my piggybank. I'd much rather be out hiking or chopping down a tree or building a cabinet than doing paperwork. Sitting at a desk all day sucks, but it's better to be sitting at a desk all day making $190k a year than doing so and making $35k a year.