Rocking a new star!

Reaching a milestone is always a surreal experience. You instantly acquire 20/20 vision and even the lowest lows don’t look as bad as they once did. With a star plastered on your chest and a heart swell with gratitude you feel invincible…as you should.

Often times, though, this feeling does not last very long. You quickly realise that you still have a lot to learn. Instead of letting this intimidate you, you can harness this into a superpower. Curiosity: the indispensable trait of a life long learner.

 “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”  

Albert Einstein

Today, I have clocked five years standing at the Zambian Bar which essentially means that I am a Senior Advocate. The past five years have been the most insightful years of my personal and professional life. I have been living by the “know better, do better” philosophy and it has taken me to many unconventional spaces.

One stand out place was pursuing a Diploma in Ministerial Studies at Rhema Bible Training Center. Yes, an actual Bible School. Now here is a fun fact, during my time there I was part of a team that was tasked to address a societal issue under justice and equality. We successfully prototyped a legal tech solution. This was particularly monumental for me because legal tech is the specialisation I am growing into.

When the high of passing the Bar on first attempt wore off I found myself disillusioned with the legal profession. A lot of things didn’t work in the way that I always imagined they did. I have progressively been learning how to turn my frustrations into curiosity and mere curiosity into applied curiosity.

It (applied curiosity) means trying to understand how things work, and then trying to understand how they can be made to work better. It means being curious about people and their backstories. It means using insights to build deceptively simple frameworks and models in their minds to make sense of their industry — and all the other disruptive forces shaping our world — so they can explain it to others. Then they continue asking questions about those models, and it’s those questions that often lead to breakthrough ideas. 

‘How to think like a CEO’ – Adam Bryant (New York Times “Corner Office” Columnist)

What big questions burden you? Those lingering thoughts that you can’t quite shake off. Don’t stifle them with the desire to make money. Allow them to haunt you and let your curiosity lead you on a path of endless discovery. You’ll be amazed at what you discover about yourself and how you fit in the big puzzle of the profession and the world at large. You just never know where you find the answers.

What now? Do I still qualify to write for #DearRookieAdvocate? I most certainly do! I am right back at the beginning except this time I am on the other end of the spectrum. A freshly minted Rockstar that makes room for curiosity. So let’s just say that I am a Rookie at rocking this new star, shall we!?

Emmanuela