The entirety of season one disproves your position though! For the duration of seasons one, Jimmy spends an insane amount of effort, and lives on minimum level of paychecks, trying to do the right things and make his way the way his older brother tells him will let him build a career. He literally goes to an office that can't fit a desk every day, staring at a phone, in the hope of being able to build a clientele, because his brother told him that's how you start practicing law if you want to become a good lawyer. He drives around in a horrible car, has no social life, left behind all his friends and family (except the brother), has no dating life (how could he, with that car he drives and no paycheck?), all because he trusts his brother is helping him finally succeed on the straight and narrow. Every day, trying. Literally, LITERALLY, the only positive feedback Jimmy has with any other individual on earth is from the occasional few minutes spent smoking with Kim. The rest of his life revolves around following his brother's path to success. He occasionally had to bend a rule, but you have to remember, he was literally looking at empty bank accounts and inability to pay for food / phone / car / heat, and he always felt both guilty about it, and resolved not to do it again (if only he could get a break going straight and narrow!)
And then it turns out that his brother has been lying to him. His brother set him up to work in a shitty office, with no money, friends, car, ability to pay for dates or self-respect, working shitty cases... because his brother thinks that's all he deserves.
Jimmy has already proven that had he been given the chance, he would have gone on to be a lawyer on the straight and narrow.
Season 2 shows that even when he does! get a job as a real lawyer on the straight and narrow, Chuck is still there to watch over Jimmy. In Jimmy's mind now, he has to just be waiting for the moment that Chuck is going to take it all away from him. Either by sabatoging the case, so Jimmy doesn't get anything, or by calling in a favor to get Jimmy fired, etc.
Season 2 is Jimmy being prideful enough to want to do a good job knowing he finally got his chance, vs Jimmy believing Chuck is going to destroy his dream once again anyway, so why not just hasten the downfall and get it over with.