Given the pandemic upheaval that has occurred over the last few months, you may find yourself struggling to stay motivated in the face of uncertainties or the sheer amount of work ahead of you. Perhaps you feel like your career goals and timelines have been derailed; maybe you feel like some of your goals are no longer achievable; or maybe you are daunted by how long the road to licensing appears. You aren’t alone.
Even in a non-pandemic environment the road to Canadian licensing can feel very long and overwhelming for internationally trained lawyers and NCA students! Staying motivated during the long-haul can be challenging unless you learn to celebrate the success and completion of each step along the way.
Generally, I think NCA students break the Canadian licensing process down into three main milestones:
1) Write the NCA Exams (~6 - 9 months),
2) Write the bar exam(s) (~2 - 4 months), and
3) Complete articling or experiential training (~9 months)
However, I would encourage you to view these activities as a series of smaller goals. Breaking your goals into bite sized pieces and tracking your progress against smaller milestones can help you gain and maintain a sense of accomplishment and stay motivated. By “bite sized goals” I mean celebrating each individual NCA exam, each portion of the Bar exam (if you write the solicitors and barrister exams separately), and each month of your articling or experiential training.
This may seem overly detailed to some of you but the act of “checking off” smaller to-do list items can inspire a much needed sense of progress and motivation in the middle of long six to nine month processes like the NCA certification. Personally, I find having a visual representation of my progress helpful as well; it can be very motivating to “see” how much you have accomplished compared to how much is left in your licensing journey on days when you feel tired or demotivated because the process is taking a long time.
That’s why I created a “Licensing Process Goal Tracker” to help me keep track of where I am in the licensing process and provide a visual representation of my progress. It looks something like this…
If you’d like to start your own tracker, feel free to download my template by clicking here. You will be able to customize it to meet your needs by adding/removing activities depending on how many NCA Exams you have been assigned and the number of Articling months you are required to complete. You can also use the same format to break-down your study goals and milestones if you want to get super detailed!