Carolyn Lee, Period 2, 12/2/2022

 Atomic Habits & Growth

1. At this current point in time, what specific standards have you set for yourself? How and why did you come to craft these standards?

This moment for anyone is confusing, time-consuming, and stressful. I have my college applications due, scholarships to apply for,  financial aid to complete, and even my last SAT coming up this very Saturday. I don’t think this kind of pressure is something any high schooler would dream of going through but now that I am, it’s time for me to organize myself. Since my freshman year, I’ve had horrible time management skills and a severe lack of motivation due to factors outside of school. Throughout my junior year and especially now, I made it my goal to stop procrastinating and to have little to no late submissions for assignments. I would be able to use the extra time to focus on what I need to get done for college and tasks outside of school. Finishing junior year, I hated the average I saw on my transcript and this year I’m attempting to study more, ace my exams, and beat the class averages I had last year. Besides grades and academics, I also wanted to work on my communication. I was never one to raise my hand in class or speak up about the ideas I had. Now that I’m taking such a big step to my next chapter in life, expression is one of the biggest things I want to work on.

2. How do you demonstrate resilience toward achieving these standards?

I wouldn’t say the work I put into keeping myself on task is a lot, but it’s effective. For example, in the beginning of my junior year I gave myself the goal of constantly updating a note of the work I needed to complete and as time passed I grew to more consistently complete each thing on the list on time. Additionally I’ve been keeping more mental notes about my progress in each class, I was more conscious about my improvements and staying on top of my tasks. Although the changes I put in aren’t exactly a perfect life-changing miracle, sometimes I end up pressuring myself by staring at my grades or seeing the amount of due dates I see in my to-do list. Fortunately, I’m also surrounded by encouraging friends, peers, and teachers to push me to do my best.

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

It’s true that like many other students, I assess myself through the numbers I see posted onto Google Classroom, but I’ve also learned to look back on my personal well-being. At times when I’m truly overwhelmed by the load of work I have to tackle, I take a break. A mental health breather. I forget about work and simply do the things I enjoy. Despite my goals of completing everything on time, I could sacrifice one or two late assignments for my personal health. Additionally, I’ve always been more oriented towards my extracurricular activities rather than school so I’m always out doing some kind of club or performance of some kind. Unfortunately, many of those activities cut a lot of time out of my day but I’ve learned to manage my time better by using available free-time to my advantage. My schedule always changes, I have no idea what kind of work I’m going to be given in a week or what kind of event I’ll have to show up to but I’ve learned to make adjustments by reflecting on my personal progress. I’ve learned that scores aren’t everything and I now judge myself mainly on my work-ethic and mental health as a result of that work.