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Parable of
the turtles and runners
At the start of a race the runners line up…elite runners
at the front of the pack, and all the way at the back, the turtles.
The elite runners have trained 75 to 100 miles per week, while
the turtles have put in very little training…maybe walking
from their cars to the starting line. It would take very little
additional effort for a turtle to improve. If they started walking
three times per week it could drastically improve their marathon
time from 6 hours to 4 hours. While 2 hours is a huge amount
of time, that 2 hour improvement is relatively insignificant.
The world would not sit up and take notice.
As runners climb up the competitive ladder from turtle to middle
of the pack to front runner, the amount of preparation required
to compete at the next level drastically increases; however,
the gross amount of improvement becomes less and less. Ironically,
runners will work increasingly harder for decreasingly smaller
incremental improvements. Ultimately, their improvements will
be measured in seconds, not minutes or hours. At that point,
runners look for every advantage or edge they can find—even
looking to shave ounces off of their shoes, or use different
shoe laces. No opportunity to improve by even a second is overlooked
or dismissed. Even though the improvements are relatively small,
they become very significant and could possibly mean the difference
between winning or losing an Olympic gold medal. At that point
the world does sit up and take notice.
Similarly, you are climbing the ladder of academic competition.
The field has improved all around you and you are competing
against an ever-increasing group of elite, talented individuals.
Your new, highly competitive circumstances require larger amounts
of effort for smaller gains, but those gains become more significant.
Just like a few seconds can make the difference between winning
and losing a championship, a few extra points on the LSAT can
open more doors of opportunity for you.
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