Time Management and the Overachiever: A Love Story by Maria

Time Management and the Overachiever: A Love Story by Maria - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

I’d always said that “idle hands are the devil’s playthings.” It was a saying I turned to whenever anyone said I was over-scheduling myself (most frequently my mother). I’ve always felt my best when I’m busy, and junior year was no exception. In addition to my full course load (seven classes, all honors and AP courses, which meant no free periods) and leadership roles in several organizations from Hispanic Affinity Group to the school newspaper, I decided to take on a part-time job as a cashier at a small boutique. After several lectures on “academic responsibilities,” I felt ready to take it on in stride. After all, I needed the money in order to pay for voice lessons, lessons which would guide me in my true passion, theatre.
I began both school and the job in August, and September passed without incident. In fact, you could often overhear me talking in the hallway about how I was “learning the value of a dollar” and “setting aside money each week.” Bragging rights aside, I was happy to be able to contribute financially towards my passion.
Now, T.S. Eliot says that April is the cruelest month, but let me tell you: October hit me like a sack of potatoes. The arrival of mid-semester meant heaps of testing. The impending PSAT meant weekends devoted to studying. Upcoming musical auditions (for one of my dream roles, Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!” meant more voice lessons, and to pay for said voice lessons, more shifts at work. It was a perfect storm of stress.
I’d long prided myself in my time management skills, but it seemed like there simply weren’t enough hours in the day. On top of everything, I found myself in the middle of a unit in physics that I simply could not wrap my head around: forces. I went in for tutorials, I stayed after school for help (when I didn’t have work, of course), I spent weekend nights in while my friends were hanging out together.
Then the test came. I got four questions in and realized I’d never been so confused in my life. I turned in the test at the end of the period, resigned to my inevitable C (or worse), and headed off to stress cry in the bathroom before calculus.
My stress levels seemed insurmountable. I loved everything that I was doing and dropping any activity seemed like a capitulation. But holding onto everything only got in my way. I freaked myself out of success on easy assignments. I convinced myself that I didn’t understand. I couldn’t see the horizon for all the little blocks I kept stacking in my way.
During lunch, I decided to throw in the towel on Physics I (H) and talk to my teacher about dropping to regular. Something had to give. I was only a few sentences in on my explanations when my eyes began to water. And as much as I tried to hide my emotions, I began to cry.
Think of the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done. Multiply it by three, add a dash of mortification and a pinch of failure, and you will arrive at how I felt in that moment.
Fortunately, my ever-benevolent teacher saw the source of my struggle.
“Irene. You know how to do this problem,” he said, pointing to one of the questions I’d left blank. “You’ve just psyched yourself out. Do you think you could come back tomorrow and finish it?”.
I, ever the emotional mess, shed a few more tears as I agreed.
That afternoon, I went to my voice lesson and cried a little bit more from the sheer madness of it all. I returned to school the next morning and discovered that with a slightly clearer head I could in fact do both of the problems that I’d left blank.
If this sounds like you or someone you love, it’s time we sat down and had a chat.
Your first instinct, upon being told that you need to give something up is probably to seize tighter control of your life. Trust me, like a compressed spring, that stress is bound to explode (I did end up doing well in physics). But at the end of the day, you have to prioritize. Sure, marathoning Law and Order is great, but when test day comes, you’ll never wish you were less prepared.
Sometimes you just have to sit down and examine your life. Sure, my modicum of financial independence was important to me, but in the here-and-now, it wasn’t the most pressing thing in my life, and I had let it take time away from things I needed to be doing. I made myself a list about the things that were important, both long- and short-term and a calendar, where I then scheduled even the most minute things. Seeing the time broken down on a calendar made me see how much I was doing and how I could better organize my time. I took on fewer shifts at work. Spaced out my voice lessons. Went out a little less (which made the time I did spend with my friends more special). Organizing my life made me feel like I was in control of it all, which made me calmer and a better student.
Your time is valuable, dear reader. Just like you.