An important reminder this time of year (and if this is you, you are not alone):

Agonizing about finishing something is not the same thing as actually doing it.

If you've been talking about your applications since September but are only now getting around to writing your first drafts, or you're on draft #27 of a perfectly good essay you could have submitted weeks ago, that's a sign that you're looking for excuses not to finish your essay and send it out. Some tough love:

• Stop spending all that time on discussion boards.

• Stop yakking to your friends and family and colleagues about your essays ad nauseam and seeking more and more input (I promise you, it’s not making your essays better).

• Put your head down and crank out the work and finish it.

• Commit to submitting your first application by the end of November, and the rest by mid-December.

Here's a reality check: Some applicants have already submitted their applications and will be getting offers, while you’re driving yourself crazy with anxiety and make-work instead of finishing your applications and getting them out the door. (This is a function of the crazy system called rolling admissions. If I could abolish it tomorrow, I would.) There is a finite number of offers they can make. I know it's scary to send out your applications and put your future into someone else's hands. If you want to go to law school, you'll have to own that anxiety and get past it.

Most importantly: You might be telling yourself that all this hand-wringing and tinkering will only make your applications stronger. It won't. Continuing to tinker with this word or that sentence in draft 27 of your Personal Statement is not going to have any effect on the outcome.

And finally, as you work on your drafts, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good… or the enemy of done! There's a real danger that perfectionism and procrastination can join forces to hold you back. Don't let them. Know when to stop.

P.S. When you’re a lawyer, you’re going to have to turn important things in on deadline ALL THE TIME and you won’t have the luxury of handwringing or procrastination. Get comfortable with having to turn things in that you’d rather keep working on for… who knows how long.

P.P.S. The best way to get past anxiety, in my experience, is by doing. Talk less, do more. Tinker less, finish.