Humans are incredibly short-sighted creatures.
For example, Region Band Auditions are Saturday. I’m extremely set on doing extremely well. Yet, instead of taking the time to walk over to my backpack and pull out my mouthpiece to at least buzz along with the recording, I’ve spent the past hour doing, effectively, nothing of note. Not necessarily of no value or consequence, but still…
We have things we consider extremely important to us, yet I don’t think I’ve ever completely hit that one-minded focus that has allowed me to shirk all other concerns to focus on that goal. And I think that’s the consequence of the wonderful idea of “good enough”.
Assuming you’re one of my close peers, then the perfect example is college apps. College is important. For me, at least. Yes, I can say that no matter where I go, I will leave there saying that that was the best experience I could have possibly had, and that I absolutely made the right choice. Regardless of my own rationalizations though, I want to make the best choice now, and I have more choices the more places I’m accepted. Even so, I’ve been vaguely on top of the work for it. Like everyone else, I’m getting held up on the essays, and right now, I only have one left to truly get “into shape”. But instead of getting that done, and getting it into perfect shape, I’m writing in my blog about it. For all I know, my opportunity cost for writing this blog entry might be 4 years at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.
So if you haven’t figured this out, this is basically just a much too complicated analysis of procrastination. I just find it really odd that within our big priorities, we have second-to-second priorities, where cheap, short, momentary impulses take control. And of course, being “far-sighted” is often seen as a good trait. Keep your eye on the long-run. Put the work in now, not later.
Procrastination.
Overcome that.
On a less abstract note, I’m really happy that I made the AD team. I’ve come to realize how incredibly difficult it is to give AD everything, though. AD isn’t one of those “good enough” events. More is always better, yet that often feels like such an unattainable, lofty goal. Diminishing returns hurts. You can’t achieve perfection, or even a stopping point in AD. It’s a limit, approached from the left.
Up until now, my justification has been marching band, which I think is fair. Then we had Thanksgiving Break, when I managed to keep myself busy with a variety stuff. Last week up to districts, school was quite time-consuming, and due dates on college stuff were coming up. This week, I have region band. Next week, who knows?
And I know that after AD is done, I’ll look back, and wish I had done more.
Darn me.