My Motivation by Sarah

My Motivation by Sarah - April 2024 Scholarship Essay

As a kid, I was always eager to be an adult. I was excited for everything that my parents experienced, being able to drive, having a job, starting a family and more. However, I never took into account the amount of work I would have to do if I wanted to achieve all those things. Throughout my high school career, it felt as if everyone around me knew what they wanted to go to college for. Even in middle school people would come to me and tell me how they knew exactly what they were doing for college, where they wanted to be in 10 years and what their passions would be for the rest of their lives. I was always envious of those people and often compared myself to others and had no idea what I would be doing with my life. However, in spite of that I made sure I was always trying new things with the hopes of eventually discovering my true passion.
I would try many new things, such as badminton, joined honor societies and even school productions. Once I discovered stage management my entire attitude changed. I always enjoyed the performing arts but acting wasn’t really my thing. I joined stage crew to have a new experience but never realized how interesting the behind the scenes of productions were. There is so much thought and creativity that goes into major scale protections and I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed my time there so much that I wanted to learn more. There is so much about the professional career of stage management I don’t know but the idea of being able to learn more and experience new things keeps me invested in my craft.
I firmly believe that what motivates me to continue learning new things about others and the world we live in is the fact that I don’t know everything. There will always be something new to learn which always keeps me on my toes. Having these motivations is a great tool to have in life but that's only half the battle. The other part is being able to stay focused on the thing you set your mind to. The way I keep my mind focused on a particular thing is before I get to work, I make sure I have eaten, and I have a drink of water with me. This helps limit my reasons to feel the need to get up and go do something else. I then set a specific time for me to do nothing but get work done. For example, if I have a school assignment to do, I will set a 25-minute timer and do nothing but that assignment for the duration of that time. Once the timer goes off, I spend 5 minutes taking a quick break, whether it's using the restroom, refilling my water, or looking at my phone. Then I set a 25-minute timer again and repeat the process. Focusing is something that isn’t always easy so I strive not to beat myself down if I’m not able to focus on something as well as I could. Sometimes if you work yourself into the ground long enough, you’ll feel burned out and that's okay. The answer to that predicament is to simply attempt to lighten your load and try not to be so hard on yourself.
Being motivated means a lot of things for different people. For myself personally, what keeps me motivated is the thought of being able to try new things and learn as much as possible. So, I kept myself busy and gave myself many options for my future. Now, I’m graduating high school knowing what I want to do as a career and with many more goals I’m ready to fulfill.