Wenyan Li, Period 7, 10/20/2021

Goal Setting & Growth 

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

At this current moment, the main goal I hope to achieve is time management. For me, it has been hard to readjust to in-person learning. I was so used to the luxury of waking up ten minutes before a class started or having two or three cycle days in between each homework assignment. Now the reality is waking up at 5:30 every morning, commuting two hours, being on the volleyball team, college deadlines, and at the same time passing all my classes. In addition to that, I’m also trying to get a part-time job and make time for my friends and family. I feel very overwhelmed but the idea of having to juggle all my responsibilities have not caught up to me. Time feels as if it’s passing very slowly but I know my time is very limited to what I can and cannot do. I want to be able to prioritize my responsibilities and work out a schedule that can incorporate everything that I need to get done.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?) 

I feel like the past month has been extremely stressful especially because of early action deadlines and a lot of the time I feel unmotivated. I would come home and just sit for a good hour before starting my homework. It doesn’t help that I get easily distracted and zone out a lot. However, in order to keep me motivated I have set aside rewards such as if I finish this within a certain time frame I get 10 or 15 minutes to do what I want. A lot of my friends have started using something called a productivity tracker and I feel like this has grown onto me. It allows me to plan out what work I need to complete and keep track of deadlines and assignments. It’s also satisfying to cross things off the tracker. I also have tried to maximize my time as much as possible such as I would do homework or study on the bus ride.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal?

The world around me affects my perception of this goal as my lack of time management has really taken a toll on my mental health. With my schedule, I get home at 7:30 pm on a good day and with my workload, I don’t sleep until 2 am some days. I average 4 to 6 hours of sleep every day and this has really affected my relationship with my friends and family as I feel like I don’t see them and that all I’m doing is homework. I feel very on edge as every free moment I have could be going towards homework, studying, or my college applications. I know that the first couple of months of senior year can be tough as that’s when the deadlines are in your face and the feeling of being pressed for time is constantly there. But what’s really is getting me through it is knowing that in a couple of months I’m going to be graduating and that I should enjoy the time I have now.