Steven Chen PD2, 11/18/22

 Steven Chen  

Period 2

11/18/22

Modern Mythology 2023

Atomic Habits & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific standards have you set for yourself? 

This year has been the most stressful for me in my high school career, and thus I’ve made many specific standards for myself. As this is the last year before we enter college, things such as the college application, final SAT, financial decisions(in terms of college tuition), and goals for the future are constantly on my mind. At times, it almost becomes suffocating, so creating certain standards allows me to breathe knowing that I’m not behind in any of the stress listed. For the college application, I’ve made it so that I would spend at least 40 minutes each day after lunch on the college application, whether that is the common app or any aid so that I don’t forget about it after I’ve completed my schoolwork. In terms of my final SAT, I’ve made it so that after I’ve completed my school from work that is due the following day I will take around an hour to study the content that I’m not confident in. Finally, every other week I’ll find a time, usually during the weekend, to talk to my parent about my plan financially for college, and listen to their suggestions/thoughts. 

How and why did you come to craft these standards? 

I crafted these thoughts based on my weak point. For instance, my rigid system makes it so that I don’t forget to do anything and regret it later, knowing I’m a forgetful person. In order to create the specific timing in terms of what task come after the other I based it on the importance of the task. For example, I value the college application the most simply because the deadline is strict on it, and it determines which school I’ll be going to in the future. Next is the completion of my schoolwork because if I don’t complete them in a timely manner, then they’ll pile on and give me less time on the other task. Then at last I’ll study for the SAT, which I still find important, but because I already have a score I’m satisfied with it at the bottom of the list. Knowing procrastination is unavoidable for me I try to make it so that it’s harder for me to push everything back if I get used to this schedule. 

How do you demonstrate resilience toward achieving these standards?

Although I wouldn’t say that I have total resilience toward achieving this standard, there is definitely progress being made. I created the system of work I mentioned around mid-September, and I can proudly say that I’ve kept to it up to now. There are times when I can definitely be more efficient because of distractions such as social media and video games with friends. Overall although, I push myself in everything, thinking that if I don’t do this, I’ll be disappointing my own beliefs and that my future will be ruined because of my lack of attention in arguably one of the most significant parts of my life. 

How do you assess yourself?  What adjustments do you make? How often?

I assess myself by looking at the results I’ve made. For instance, every week I would check google classroom and look at my grades for the assignments given during that week and see if I’ve kept on to standard. In my opinion, the completion of the work is not the only thing that matter, the quality of the work and the improvement are what I deem as important. In addition, I check my common app/aid to see did I complete another college every week so I don’t accidentally miss a deadline for a certain thing. And for the SAT I usually take a practice exam and compare the results to my previous one to see where I need to improve. I make adjustments to the system and that is by feeling out if I’m doing too much or little. By that, I mean that if I’m constantly feeling pressured by the number of tasks I put on myself, I would try to cut down on the time of work or increase the number of breaks so that I don’t overwhelm myself. In terms of how often I make this change depends on how I’m feeling, whether I feel overwhelmed or too complacent.