By Alex Pugh

You are about to enter another dimension, a dimen-

Oops, wrong show.

You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The people are real. The cases are real. The rulings are final. This is Judge Judy.

I have spent the summer imbibing the teachings of the great Judith Sheindlin, more commonly known as Judge Judy.

I must have watched 50 episodes or so over the past few weeks. My inner monologue is starting to sound like her. I’ve started dealing with day to day matters in the manner of Judge Judy. My friends can’t fathom why I like it so much.

I’ve decided, as I’m about to embark on a(nother) year at SCA, to take what I’ve learnt from this fantastic television show and apply it to the months ahead.

Judge Judy has stated that if there is one message viewers should take away from her show it is that each individual must take responsibility for his or her actions.

You are responsible for yourself — how well I do this year depends almost entirely on me. Triple v important, this one.

“It’s just fun, it’s still a fun job. I’ve been so lucky. I’ve enjoyed a couple of great careers. Really, three — a prosecutor, a judge in the Family Court and then here. I enjoy going to work every day and each of those jobs were fun the day I said goodbye.” — Judge Judy on how she still finds the job fulfilling after almost 20 years.

We all need to work, earn a living. If you can’t hold down a job how can you expect to effect any change in the world? Enjoying what you do is key. Although SCA will be hard work, if you don’t find it fulfilling, do something else.

Judge Judy started out as a notoriously tough-talking Family Court judge in New York city. She caught the eye of CBS, and they invited her to do her own television court show after the success of now defunct court shows on other networks.

Find your ‘thing’. What’s your Unique Selling Point? Judge Judy is Judge Judy, she’s irreplaceable. In this industry, people buy people. David Ogilvy says, “If you can’t advertise yourself, what hope do you have of advertising anything else?”

“I think young people who watch maybe will say to themselves, listen, life is relatively a short journey, it’s not a long journey and if I do it right it can be fulfilling.

Judge Judy, at 71 years old, has 5 children, 11 grandchildren, has written 5 books, has 10 million viewers a day, her show has been running for almost 2 decades and she is the highest paid television personality in the United States earning almost $47m a year.

In the words of Stan Lee, ’nuff said.