This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, Co-Founder and CEO at LawSikho.

In the ancient Roman empire, when generals will cross a bridge to invade a new territory, they would order the bridges to be burnt after the troops crossed the river. Why is that? When the bridges go up in smoke, the troops know that there is no option to retreat. It is either win or perish. Losing or running away is not an option, right from the beginning.

In some cases, generals will burn their ships after landing in the enemy territory. This is what Hernan Cortes did during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Does such a strategy pay off in real life?

I think so. That’s how the big successes in my life have come. There needs to be a single-minded focus when you face really hard and very important challenges. Things that distract you, take away from that focus, compete for your time, cannot be indulged in.

When Abhyuday and I started the online courses’ business under the banner of iPleaders, after quitting our jobs at Trilegal, initially we were getting a decent bit of legal work, thanks to our network with other startups as well as the blog. We did several assignments that helped to pay the bills for the first few months as well. However, after that when such work really started to flow, we made a conscious decision of doing no other paid work apart from iPleaders.

This was because we knew services will keep us busy, give immediate money, and eventually we would fail to get the education platform off the ground. So we turned away paying clients and told people we have stopped doing legal work and single-mindedly began to work on iPleaders.

Not only that, for the first 3 years of our life as a fledgling startup, we offered only one course, and kept making it better. We were tempted to launch more courses but didn’t though, as it would have probably given an immediate short-term boost to our revenue. We had only one goal – make this one the best that is there, set a new standard for what online courses can be. Only after we were convinced that we have hit that target that we began launching more courses. The latest version of that business law course is available here. Go through the syllabus and perhaps you will figure out how much work went into making something like that.

Putting all your eggs in the same basket is not always a terrible idea. Think of One Plus. Unlike other mobile companies that launch many different versions and products, they launch only one phone. They focus on launching only one great phone every year. They do not have 10 different versions in different shapes and sizes and price ranges. Result? In India, they rule 50% of the premium phone market. In the world, it is one of the fastest growing technology companies. Quite similar to Apple, which launches 1 great phone at a time. Putting all their eggs in one basket at a time? It pays off.

When I talk to our students over a call, I face this question a lot. “I like 3 different courses. I want to do M&A, but I also want to do Cyber Law. And how about that general business law course also?” I want to be a litigator, but I like the idea of working for a company also. Well, that’s great. I have 10 different dreams too. Every other month I come up with a fabulous idea I really want to work on. However, at a time I can only pursue one fantastic idea. Chasing two rabbits at the same time is a terrible idea. If you chase one at a time, you may eventually go home with a dozen though.

It is high time that you put your actions, resources, money and time investment in one pre-decided, well-aligned, laser-focused goal. That’s much more likely to produce results than waiting for the universe the decide it for your through coincidences.

Recently Tanuj Kalia of Lawctopus wrote on a Facebook post that it is not a great idea to drop a year to prepare for CLAT. I registered my disagreement. I strongly recommend dropping out, taking a break from everything else to work on one thing with single-minded dedication, especially if that will change the course of your life. “But is it advisable to burn all bridges and put all your eggs in the same basket?” a friend commented.

I am glad she asked that. We are so scared to burn bridges, so eager to keep our options open, we often do not make the decision to pursue what is most important to us with a single-minded focus. That is surely a good recipe for remaining comfortable and perhaps even safe, but that guarantees mediocrity.

Make a commitment. Burn some bridges so you have no option to turn back. Chase your passion with single-minded passion. If you fall, get up and chase again. Never turn back.

In what area you could take such action? Maybe your career? Maybe in a relationship? Maybe it’s about the business you want to start?

Let’s see what happened in the year when I burned bridges and decided to prepare for law entrances to the exclusion of everything else (my parents got me admitted to a night college, technically, but I stopped going for classes after the first week, didn’t appear for any of the exams, hence burnt all bridges):

I was very poor with English, having studied in a vernacular medium till then. I focused on improving my vocabulary and managed to learn all the words in the Webster Collegiate Dictionary. I would not only read the dictionary, but mark out the words that are new to me, and learn to write a sentence with it. I will write a very funny sentence with the newly learnt word so that it is memorable. The goal was to spend enough time with the word so that it is committed to my memory. I also worked on my grammar, read a lot of books in English (got a membership of British Council Library), studied books that copywriters read for style and usage, watched only English movies (at least 2 every week, again picked up from British Council Library). By the end of that year, you can imagine, my English writing was transformed. I still struggled to speak fluently in English, as I got next to nil practice, but I could understand and write perfectly. I could explain complex ideas in simple English. I scored almost full marks in the entrance test in English section, but the benefits were far-reaching and not just limited to getting through to a law school

I read up on the laws. I started reading contracts law and law of torts. I read the constitution and commentaries. I read up on Indian constitutional history and history of India like nobody’s business. I read a lot of biographies. At that time it was about scoring well in GK and legal GK sections, but in reality, this helped to develop my nascent worldview. It was the beginning of an intellectual development.

I used to write poetry, but that was the year perhaps in which I wrote the highest number of poems.

I was anxious. I was worried and afraid. People around me shunned me and underestimated me because I didn’t write JEE and didn’t join a good college even. To manage the stress, I turned to meditation. That was the only year in my life when I consistently meditated every day. I wonder how much that helped in shaping my ability to stay calm under stress and danger. I also learned to not rely on social validation, learned to stand against the world in favour of my conviction.

By the end of the year, I was the 2nd topper in national admission test held by NUJS (we didn’t have CLAT back then). But the benefits of the drop year wasn’t really just that. I joined law school on a much more sure footing. I was ready to take the challenges head-on. The confidence that I can figure out and survive, only if I prepare hard, serve me well in life after that.

How much of all that do you think I could do if I had also taken admission in a college, and attended classes, did homework, kept writing exams there and prepare for law entrance on the side? I had decided to become a lawyer, and I made productive use of that 1 year. I may have learned more useful things in that one year compared to the next 3 years combined.

Do not be afraid to make your own way. The guy with the best preparation wins. Give yourself time, space and resources to prepare.

If you could take a one year break right now in life and prepare, what would you do? It’s ok if you cannot take a one year break. Can you take a 1-hour break every day and invest that time into your development? What could you do for 1 hour every day for the next 1 year that sets you apart in your career or serves you for a long time?

Think about it. Take a pen and some paper and write it down.

Here are some suggestions from me.

Develop a habit such as exercising or meditating for one hour every day.

Start writing! In 1 hour, you can write at least 400-500 words. In a year, that will add up to more than 400 pages of content. It could be your first book. Have you considered what a great break it can be if you write a popular book in your niche? Let’s say you are a criminal lawyer. What if you write a book on your courtroom experiences? If you are a law student, how about writing a book on an emerging area of law? When I was studying at NUJS, two sets of seniors published two different books, one on biotechnology law (5 years students), and another on SEZ laws (4th-year students). It not only made their CV bulletproof and eligible for amazing scholarships from foreign universities, they also bagged a handsome signing amount of a few lakhs from the publisher.

Take up an area of law that has potential, and develop yourself in it. Let’s say you are really interested in M&A and want to be the next Harvey Specter. You got to invest at least 1 hour a day learning more about M&A law, capital markets and other aspects of corporate law. Let’s say you recognize that technology companies are on the rise and you want to land a job as an in-house counsel at such a company. You need to develop your knowledge about emerging technologies, regulations around the work, fintech, block-chain, GDPR – a bunch of things. Can you not spare an hour a day learning? Is it not important to write articles from time to time in an area in which you are trying to develop your expertise? Studying from a course can help, as that will streamline the learning process.

Or if you can, take a real break. Take a month off with the only goal of writing a book. Take up a 6 months challenge to transform your CV. Take a year off to explore a business you always wanted to start.

We incorporate these approaches in our courses. Especially the new generation courses we have started. Our students get to do these things, with expert support and regular feedback from our side. Our courses are now more about doing and less about reading or watching videos passively. Those of you who already did our courses before, and loved it for the great content, will now have another much more powerful to love our courses. That is: you will get things done when you sign up for course.

You will write articles, publish in good platforms, find your clients, impress lawyers and industry stalwarts, increase your professional network, bag dream internships and jobs you want, make your dream CV, experiment with business ideas. All of these as a part of the 1 year courses your pursue.

See these courses that you can finish by giving 1 hour a day every day for the next 50 weeks:

Batches beginning from July 1, 2018

LAWSIKHO DIPLOMA IN M&A, INSTITUTIONAL FINANCE AND INVESTMENT LAWS (INCLUDING PE AND VC TRANSACTIONS) – only 6 seats left out of 20

LAWSIKHO DIPLOMA IN ADVANCED CONTRACT DRAFTING, NEGOTIATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION – only 4 seats left out of 20

Batches beginning from August 1, 2018

LAWSIKHO DIPLOMA IN CYBER LAW, FINTECH AND TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTS

LAWSIKHO DIPLOMA IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT LAWS

Join us, burn the bridges you use to retreat. Commit, enroll, start the learning process. Give yourself the room and opportunity to grow. Don’t let lack of time, work pressure, laziness win over your ambition to become an extraordinary lawyer, entrepreneur or professional.