Was LeBron James Talking About the Bar Exam?
LeBron James was talking about basketball. But he might as well have been talking about the bar exam.
At media day yesterday, James used oatmeal to explain what it takes to become great.
“You just put the oatmeal in the bowl, you put the water in and throw it in the microwave and a minute and a half. You got something to eat. You're ready to go.”
That's fine if you want oatmeal. It's not how you become great at something.
James continued:
“If you want to do something special, it takes time and it takes like every single day doing things that you may not want to do because it's like the same thing over and over and over and over and over, repetition after repetition after repetition.”
Welcome to bar preparation.
There is a lot of repetition in preparing for the bar exam. Learn a rule. Answer a multiple-choice question. Review the explanation. Retrieve the rule again. Apply it to a different set of facts. Write an essay. Review it. Figure out what you missed. Do another one.
Then come back tomorrow and do it again.
That repetition can become frustrating. Students sometimes interpret it as a sign that they aren't progressing. I've already studied hearsay. Why am I doing more hearsay questions? I've already written an essay on negligence. Why do I need another one?
Because knowing something once isn't the goal.
You need to be able to retrieve it when you need it, recognize it when it appears in unfamiliar facts, and apply it under time pressure. That ability doesn't usually come from encountering something once. It develops through repetition.
But James's second point may be even more important for bar takers.
“In order for us to be great,” he said, “we have to do things that are just not comfortable.” He added that you have to “fall in love with doing things that's uncomfortable.”
That sounds a lot like effective bar preparation, too.
Students naturally gravitate toward what feels comfortable. Rereading an outline can feel comfortable. Watching another lecture can feel comfortable. Practicing your strongest subject can feel comfortable. Looking at your notes while answering a question can feel comfortable.
But some of the most valuable learning happens when you remove that comfort.
✅ Close the outline and try to state the rule from memory.
✅ Do questions in the subject you've been avoiding.
✅ Write the essay without looking at your notes.
✅ Put yourself on the clock.
✅ Commit to an answer even when you're unsure.
✅ Take the simulated exam before you feel completely ready.
✅ And, perhaps hardest of all, be willing to get things wrong.
Getting a question wrong is uncomfortable. Struggling to remember a rule is uncomfortable. Writing an essay and discovering that you missed an issue is uncomfortable.
But those moments expose the gap between what you recognize and what you can actually retrieve and use. Once you see the gap, you can work on closing it.
That's why productive bar preparation often shouldn't feel easy. The goal isn't to prove to yourself every day how much you already know. The goal is to discover what you don't know well enough yet—and then work on it.
Which brings us back to LeBron's oatmeal.
There really isn't an instant-oatmeal version of bar preparation. You can't microwave doctrinal knowledge, legal analysis, timing, endurance, and confidence for 90 seconds and suddenly be ready for the exam.
Those things accumulate.
One question. One essay. One rule retrieved from memory. One uncomfortable practice session. One mistake corrected.
Then another. And another. And another.
LeBron James was talking about becoming a great basketball team. But his formula works pretty well for becoming a successful bar examinee, too:
Do the repetitive work. Do the uncomfortable work. Then come back tomorrow and do it again.
The bar exam isn't instant oatmeal.
