Just Do It by Aria

Just Do It by Aria - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

Less think, more do.

Although this sounds like something that Kevin from The Office might say (Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?), it’s something that rings incredibly true to me, a mantra I have to repeat to myself every time I get stuck in my own head.

I am a chronic overthinker. I try to think through things logically, examine every aspect. But most of the time this thinking becomes excessive, unnecessary. Good things may come to those who wait, but there comes a time when the waiting becomes stalling. No amount of planning will make up for a lack of action.

This tendency of mine has truly cost me. Unfinished applications, procrastinated projects, deadlines that pass me by because I was thinking, waiting, stalling. I think about practicing my violin, knowing I should, and yet I don’t. I keep to-do lists but only one or two items have been crossed off.

It seems like I have this mental hurdle to overcome, like a switch hasn’t turned on in my brain to make this connection that I actually need to get up and act. But me waiting for my brain to fully grasp this idea before I do something is just me proving my point again that I wait instead of acting. The only way to change this habit is in fact to act. Wanting to be different means that you have to do something different. I cannot continue to act the way I have in the past, I cannot repeat my own history. Things might have worked out in the end, but I could have avoided so much unnecessary stress, I could have been prepared, had I just acted.

If I could, I would tell my past self, even myself just from a few months ago, to just start. One word on a page. One scale on my violin. One step on the treadmill. If I could tell my future self to just start the paper, to send the application, to take it out of my mind and make it reality, I would in a heartbeat.

I recently read an article off of Substack titled “literally just do things.” The author reflects on her own ability to seize the moment, to take advantage of the momentum of inspiration. Her friends admire this ability of hers, that she chooses not to delay what it is she wants to do but instead just get the thing done. I myself have a friend like this. She is a very contemplative, thoughtful person, but she still acts on her desires. It’s almost like she’s Alexander Hamilton and I’m Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Aaron Burr seems to always be waiting, holding off until the moment is right. But Hamilton never stops acting. He doesn’t wait for the time to be right, he simply does the thing he wants to do. I apologize for the Hamilton reference by the way – I can’t get it off my mind and I have been annoying my family by constantly singing the soundtrack.

These past few months my parents have constantly wanted me to get things done, especially college applications. I kept holding off on research and writing, uncomfortable with the fact that this made the reality of going to college very real. All that thinking and waiting ended up costing me big time, though. Several rejections later I felt the sting of waiting.

Although it’s too late to tell my past self what I wished I had known this whole time, there is still time for my future self to take this message to heart. As I head off to my college tomorrow for orientation, I know this message will be incredibly important for me to realize these next four years. I am looking ahead to a future of action, of taking what’s inside my head and making it a reality.

I guess then, funny enough, that my piece of advice could be summed up nicely by the Nike slogan: “Just do it.”