MODERN MYTHOLOGY 2023
At this current point in time, what specific standards have you set for yourself?
How and why did you come to craft these standards?
How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving these standards?
How do you assess yourself? What adjustments do you make? How often?
The standards that I have in place for myself morphed dramatically over the course of
the past year. The largest area of change for me was in productivity. I realized that what I often
do is overload myself with work and spread myself thin mentally. If I have a large project to work
on I tend to not let myself take a break until I’m finished, a behavior which I noticed contributes
to being easily distracted from fatigue. The standard that I have set for myself in this regard is to
set aside a designated time for breaks and a designated time for working. After a long day at
school, instead of making myself hop into homework right away, I give myself half an hour to lay
around and do nothing. This has been especially effective since I have to hold myself to a high
standard in terms of quality of work especially for college applications. In the past, it made
sense to finish my work as soon as I got home to get it out of the way. Another means to
achieve productivity is the Pomodoro method. I use this when I have a few big assignments due
the next day and I found that the periods of concentration followed by brief relaxation can be
extremely effective when implemented properly.
These standards in productivity lead me to be better equipped to achieve the standards
that I have for myself in life overall. I will only be able to keep up in the competitive colleges I am
applying to if I am able to learn what makes me put out the best work. The same principle
applies to my future career. It isn't easy to hold myself to these standards everyday, but I have
become a firm believer in sticking things through to learn from hardship. As an athlete, I quickly
learn that the best results always come from sustained hard work, even if it doesn't always feel
good to train at the limit. I like to assess myself by being mindful of how often I let myself slip up
and become distracted after I have dedicated myself to a task. After reading Atomic Habits I
became familiar with the concept that habits solidify themselves over time, and using the same
logic I believe that the longer I force myself to focus over a period of time, the better I will
become at it in the long run. The important thing is to know when I’m burning myself out versus
just training my mind. For me this all comes back to sleep, I know that when I don't get as much
sleep as I need, it is far more difficult to maintain the self-control needed to achieve my
standards.
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