When I started college I was the girl who thought she would be the super successful all A's well rounded student. I graduated high school in the Top 5 of my class, had never had below an A average, and thought that there was nothing that was too challenging for me to do by myself. Now, I'm not saying that I had it super easy in high school; I worked hard and earned everything I had accomplished, but my hard work had always paid off. After being in college for not even two short months I quickly realized that I was very very wrong. I had decided that because I had taken a psych class in high school and liked it that I would add a psych minor to my major and take a psych class my first semester because I didn't think my other classes would be that hard. I soon realized that college was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and I really had to buckle down in order to try to maintain the same grades I had in high school. I quickly realized that I was working harder than I had ever worked in my classes and my grades were the worst they had ever been. On top of this, I realized that I was having a hard time maintaining my social life and a balance between how much I was studying and how much I was hanging out with my friends.
About halfway through my first semester I realized that I would have to change how I was approaching my studying and the time I was spending hanging out with friends, and evaluate and see if I was really being as productive as I kept telling myself I was being. I quickly realized that all the time I said I was studying, about 50 percent of the time I wasn't getting anything done. Because I realized this halfway through the semester I also realized that I was really behind. After I adjusted my schedule I saw my grades get better, but I was still struggling in a few of my classes. By the time the end of the semester came around, I realized that I had ... gotten my first B. (gasp) I was devastated because I was so used to my hard work always paying off and being rewarded because of the time I had spent working at it.
After realizing that there was no way to change the grade, I looked back on the semester in order to change my plan for the next semester. I realized that from the beginning of the semester I would have to start working as hard as I could if I wanted to continue to get good grades. I also realized that it was okay to get a B, as long as I truly had worked at it and put effort in. I also realized that even though I was so ready to give up on being the over achiever and all A's student, that I couldn't lower my standards just because in my mind I had failed at something. I realized I had to pick myself back up and I had to work as hard as I could in order to try to still be the best that I could be. I also realized that because I couldn't lower my standards just because I failed in my mind that I would have to work not only harder but also work a lot smarter.
