Divide and Conquer
29 Sep 2009 3 Comments
in Daily Encounters Tags: Art, School
As an overachiever, I want to give 100% of myself to each thing I do. That way, the result is no less than outstanding. But I’ve realized that you can’t give 100% to each task because 100% is all you have.
For example, if I dedicate 100% to class 1, I cannot give anything else to my other classes. Each day, I have to compromise:
class 1 = 40%
class 2 = 50%
class 3 = 10%
What happens to class 4? Well, the next day:
class 4 = 50%
class 3 = 30%
class 2 = 20%
By the end of the semester, all the pieces I gave to each class should coalesce into 100%.
This semester, I have more commitments than I can describe in one breath. My life is laid out in lists on my handy dandy sticky note widget. Different colored boxes span my screen and they serve as my memory containers. Otherwise, getting through all my responsibilities would feel like lumbering through a swamp.
Thankfully, one month into school and I’m still smiling. As I drove to my first genetics exam this morning, I felt at ease. I had had 6 hours of sleep, eggs for breakfast, and even had time to pack food for the day. I’m maintaining a steady jog with both my coursework and extracurricular activities.
How? Writing everything down definitely helps. But the ultimate success factor is remembering that I don’t need to give 100% of myself to one task before I begin another.
Let’s say my life was symbolized by a pair of scissors. If I put all my energy towards one section of my life, it would look like THIS. (One handle takes up almost all the space. I painted that in high school, then had to start over for obvious reasons.)
Now, if an oil pastel drawing symbolized my life and I worked on all the different sections a little bit at a time, it would look like THIS. (Another high school piece. Not a Cezanne, but you get the idea.)
———-
I also created this collage in high school. The assignment was to choose a phobia that you most relate with, and illustrate it. What is my phobia?
Try to guess before you look at the ANSWER.
~ Salma
P.S. Just for fun, here is some more old art:
